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Affiliates of UNI Europa’s Professionals and Managers’ (P&M) group have taken part in a European conference for researchers and representatives of European institutions to engage in dialogue and network-building among researchers across the region.



Almost 100 trade unionists, employers and representatives of academic and research institutes from 21 countries gathered in Brussels, from 21-22 November, to hear about the outcomes from a European Commission funded project to identify ‘Industrial Relations for EU Excellence in Research Sectors (IREER)’.



The conference was organised by Eurocadres (the European Council of Professional and Managerial Staff), which was set up by UNI Global Union in partnership with the European Trade Union Confederation and has social dialogue partner status in the EU institutions.



In undertaking the IREER work, Eurocadres embarked on an inclusive process that involved consultations, workshops and surveys among researchers. This has led to a series of practical recommendations that are designed to underpin excellence in research contracts or agreements across the region.



It was these concrete recommendations that were presented at the conference in an effort to ensure they were understood and taken up by key actors in the region who included the European Research Council, and UNI affiliates, including SETCA (Belgium), CFDT Cadres (France), Ver.di (Germany), CGIL FILCAMS (Italy), Solidarnosc (Poland) and PCS (UK).



Among the speakers who addressed the conference were: Octavi Quintana-Trias, Director of the European Research Area; Stefaan Hermans, Head of the Skills Unit in the DG Research and Innovation at the European Commission; Luca Visentini, the ETUC’s Confederal Secretary, and Carlo Rizzuto, President of Sincrotrone Trieste.



Also speaking at the event was UNI Europa P&M President, Martin Jefflen, who is from UNI’s Swedish affiliate, Unionen: “The participants at this IREER conference are united in our belief that society and enterprise needs to recognise the importance of excellent research contracts as an essential condition for sustainability across all European research sectors.



“The IREER project’s recommendations go part of the way to making a material difference to the working conditions in the research sector, as well as generating a greater level of interest for others to seek employment in this field of work.”



Other participants who engaged in the discussion about Eurocadres’ research emphasised that the recommendations in themselves were not the final answer, but a work in progress which needed more debate and development in order to develop an employer by employer, country by country application of the collective principles.



Committing themselves to pursuing this aim among their own unions, UNI’s affiliates agreed to seek the removal of barriers to mobility and to improve the consistency of working contracts.



UNI Europa P&M and Eurocadres will continue in their efforts to support all interested partners to establish a strong network that can work to realize the step by step recommendations for excellence in research.

A report summarising 12 crucial elements for an excellent contract or agreement is available at: http://www.eurocadres.org/IMG/pdf/Benchmarks_for_best_contracts.pdf