Italian fights Max Planck Society discrimination in Germany
A letter from Andrea Raccanelli, Germany
Dear JUST Response,
Re:
Discrimination
in Germany
I
would like to draw your attention and that of your readers to a battle which I
am currently fighting concerning discrimination on the basis of nationality
against PhD students at the Max-Planck Gesellschaft (MPG). Any support, advice
or offers of collaboration from anyone who has come up against such problems in
Germany would be greatly welcomed.
The
MPG gives different contractual possibilities to PhD students systematically,
depending on their nationality. German students are hired on a regular working
contract whereas non-nationals (regardless of whether they are EU or non-EU
citizens) are given only a fellowship or "stipendium", with all the
disadvantages that this implies. A short summary of the problem is available on
the MPG PhD student Network, which I set up last year with a former colleague in
Heidelberg [1].
Two
Parliamentary questions have been submitted by MEPs Antonio di Pietro and
Giorgio Calò (Italia dei Valori - ELDR) on the discriminatory treatment of
Community research students in Germany [2
or 3]. The Commission’s reply to the
first question stated that such discrimination is actually a violation of Art.
39 of the Treaty, but they could not find evidence of this policy on the MPG
website [4
or 5]. That was the only investigation the
Commission made (!) and they requested further documentation, which is why a
second question had to be asked.
The
second question (Discriminatory treatment of Community research students by the
Max Planck Society [6
or 7]) was duly lodged by the same two
MEPs but lapsed in accordance with Rule 185 of Parliament's Rules of Procedure (too
close to the elections). This second question was submitted again a few weeks
ago.
In
the meantime, and with the aim of providing the written evidence that cannot be
enclosed with a question, I wrote a petition to the European Parliament and a
Complaint to the Commission. A copy of the latter was also sent to the head of
the Commission’s unit E/3. I received confirmation that my petition had been
filed. I also received an answer to my letter from the head of unit E/3, stating:
(1) that there is indeed a violation of EC law; (2) that they intend to contact
the German authorities to hear their position; and (3) that on the basis of the
reply of German authorities the Commission will decide if additional measure
will be taken.
Since
going to Court with a Constitutional violation claim could be very expensive in
terms of time and money, I sued the MPG at the Arbeitsgericht. We had our last
hearing on July 15th and the next one is scheduled for October 1st, when I hope
there will be a sentence.
The
national and international press gave a poor response to the issue. Nevertheless,
an interview was published by The Scientist, titled "Discrimination
claims at MPG" together with the shameless answer from the head of the
personnel division at MPG [8].
In
one of the last issues of Laborjournal: Service-Magazin fuer Medizin und
Biowissenschaften there is an article on patents, licences and the (few and
little known) rights of PhD students-inventors, which is based on my experience
with MPG and Garching Innovation. There are therefore some details on one of the
aspects of my personal legal action against the MPG. Another interview was
published by News Italia Press.
The
following points recapitulate some of the evidence for the existence of
discriminatory policy in Germany.
Firstly, through the first national network of MPG PhD Students that I myself initiated I collected statistics from about 30 Max-Planck Institutes. On a sample of just over one thousand students (1/3 foreigners and 2/3 Germans), 84% of the foreigners are given a stipend whereas 99% of the Germans have a regular contract. These figures are only indicative and represent a lower limit as I often did not get any answer from those institutes that are most affected by the problem.
Secondly, as I wrote in question E1301/2004 (and also in the Petition and Complaint), the discriminatory rules are stated in an official written form in the pages of the Personalhandbuch of the Max-Planck Gesellschaft.
Thirdly, the MPG openly admitted the existence of this rule, e.g. in the answer by the head of the personnel division to my interview in The Scientist (but also in many letters signed by Professor Gruss, the president of the MPG).
Fourthly, during the second meeting of the MPG PhD Students Network (Dresden, Nov. 2003), the president of the MPG stated that "any exception to this rule (i.e. foreigners with a contract and Germans with a stipend) has to be considered illegal" – Illegal with respect to the MPG internal rules, of course, and not with respect to the law. At the MPG, people have a very weird perception of illegality. Professor Gruss’s contribution is recorded on film.
Fifthly,
despite all the furore my battle has caused, in a recent official circular (Rundschreiben
35/2004) the MPG says that "concerning the possibility of giving contracts
also to foreign students and stipends also to German students, a decision has
not been taken yet."
Best regards,
Note:
This letter was published by JUST Response on September 7 2004.
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