This Wednesday 5 October, around 1,500 employees of the EIB, which has 4,200 employees, will simultaneously take half a day off. On that day the bank's management committee is set to decide on a salary increase proposal being made to the board of directors. This step is expected to kick start discussions with the board. 

“There is enormous discontent at the EIB, where we have already lost more than 10% of our purchasing power and where only the members of the management committee benefit from an indexation of their salaries,” say the employees of the (EIB), who are demanding better protection against a loss of purchasing power.

Although the EIB is based in Luxembourg, it is not obliged to apply wage indexation as is the case in the civil service and companies registered in the country. “The EIB believes that it is not subject to the rules in force in Luxembourg, such as salary indexation, but it does not hesitate to choose what suits it in Luxembourg legislation, as in the case of the covid law,” says an employee who says their salary has not been indexed since 2018.

The EIB only employs "EIB agents", i.e. the equivalent of contractual agents in the European institutions, but practically equivalent to European civil servants. "The difference is mainly in terms of job protection," an employee briefly explains.

Another recurring demand of staff is the recognition of a trade union. Unlike other European institutions, such as the European Commission, no trade union is recognised at the EIB, which has nevertheless set up a staff delegation. But here again, employees explain that this provision has no power to act in the case of negotiations.

Management aware of the seriousness of the situation

When asked by Delano’s sister publication Paperjam about this unprecedented employee discontent, EIB management confirmed that it was aware of the seriousness of the situation and the pressure on employees' purchasing power caused by the current crisis. However, even if the management considers staff initiatives to draw attention to the problem as "legitimate", it does not intend to change the bank's overall approach.

Management nevertheless confirmed that it was considering "appropriate measures" and said it was ready to update its support tools. For example, "measures were taken last July for the lowest paid employees. To counter inflation, we are looking at measures that are in line with the Board of Directors' guidelines and that can have a long-term impact," EIB management said.

While some EIB employees enjoy comfortable salaries and other "European" benefits, this is not the case for all. In the EIB's salary scale, support staff such as secretaries, for example, are paid from grade 1 (between €36,461.22 and €54,016.62 gross per year) to grade 4 (between €70,679.01 and €113,086.42). According to the disgruntled employees, this corresponds to 25% of the EIB's total workforce. "The average salary is around €7,000 gross. There are very high salaries for executives and management. But for the others, we are below what is practiced on the Luxembourg market in similar functions, whether at the CSSF, the Statec or the Central Bank of Luxembourg," says an employee.

The executives are in grades 5 and 6. This means a gross annual remuneration ranging from €70,679.01 to €196,569.02 for managers in grade 7. Finally, grades 8 and 9 are reserved for the executive committee with a maximum of €258,151.32 gross per year. "What we are asking for is at least to be heard in order to find a compromise," concluded another employee.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.