News from the NWO Central Works Council (Inside NWO-I September 2019)
Last summer, the NWO Central Works Council (COR) under the leadership of Fons Kuijk issued advice about the fleet renewal at NIOZ and considered the introduction of the new job classification system at NWO-D and for the non-scientific personnel of NWO-I. The Central Works Council also made contact with the works council of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).
Fleet renewal for NIOZ
NIOZ currently has two vessels that have reached the end of their working lives and no longer satisfy the criteria for sustainability. So there is good reason to replace these vessels with two new ships. Wouter Kruijt and Peter Smit from NIOZ gave a presentation, and NWO COR critically examined the proposal. The design of the two new ships has been made as sustainable as possible. In the future, it will also be possible to equip the fleet with as yet to be developed sustainable energy supplies. We are very pleased about that.
Our view is that replacing the current fleet is vitally important for NIOZ as an institute, the portfolio composition of NWO-I, the realisation of the NWO mission and last, but not least, for the Dutch marine and maritime research field. Our only hesitation concerns the budget. NWO COR has asked the NWO executive board representative to carefully monitor the budget so as to minimise the risks to the other institutes.
Consultation with the KNAW works council
Following the portfolio evaluation and the findings of the Van Rijn Committee (report in Dutch only), and because the boards of NWO and KNAW often issue joint responses, NWO COR thought it was a good idea to consult at the works council level too. During the first introductory meeting, the institute DANS –an institute jointly managed by KNAW and NWO – was discussed. An external adviser is investigating how DANS, the institute for access to digital research data, should and could proceed further. We believe that NWO COR has little to say about this matter at present and that for the time being the subject lies with the KNAW works council because DANS is currently embedded in the KNAW structure.
Review of the job classification system
A new job classification system has now been implemented at NWO-D, which contains a limited number of positions and new descriptions for each of these positions. The introduction of this new system for personnel in the operational departments of the institutes and personnel from the NWO-I office will be completed this year. NWO COR has received all the documents about this, and the question arose as to whether a request for approval should have been made after all. In good consultation with the NWO executive board representative, we have submitted this question to an external expert. This was not done to enforce anything in retrospect, but our intention is rather to ensure we are properly prepared for when the job classification system for the scientific personnel will be adjusted in the future. To be continued…