11.05.16

Dismissal of Laurent Prunier Worse Than It Seems as Battistelli Almost ‘Pulls a Hardon’ by Taking Away Pension Rights Too

Posted in Europe, Patents at 7:00 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

“Mercifully,” one person writes, Battistelli “decided against reducing pension rights as well.”

Summary: The union-busting resumption by Battistelli, in spite of warning from the Administrative Council of the EPO, means nothing at all has changed and the downfall of the EPO continues

ON the heels of this prank video (humour is the best medicine sometimes, some say) we take a more serious note and adopt a more serious tone in relation to EPO scandals. There’s nothing funny about Battistelli ‘satrocious behaviour, which we wrote about twice yesterday, first when we got the leak (as soon as it was made available) and later on when this leak led to media coverage.

For those who pursue or need background about the case, we have some background in the following older articles:

• Battistelli is Even Attacking the French, and Not Just in Germany But Also on Dutch Territory
• Battistelli is Creating an Atmosphere of Terror at the EPO While Exploiting Terror Attacks to Garner Sympathy
• No Exaggeration Necessary: the EPO Under Benoît Battistelli Has North Korean Standards of ‘Justice’
• The Next Phase of Union Busting: Battistelli Now Cutting Salaries of Yet More EPO Staff Representatives
• Benoît Battistelli is Putting More EPO Staff Representatives in Front of His Firing Line
• Željko Topić Tries to Do to EPO Staff What He Did in Croatia, Now Crushes Staff Assembly in The Hague

Concerned people have sent us additional input about what happened. French MEP Philip Cordery’s statement on Laurent Prunier, for example, was published on the same day. Our source told us that “this statement from MEP Philip Cordery was posted on SUEPO’s FB account. Sorry no translation available but it will follow in a few days.”

Here it is:

Philip Cordery
Paris, France

Laurent Prunier, secrétaire général du syndicat Suepo La Haye de l’Office européen des brevets (European Patent Office) et représentant élu du personnel vient d’être licencié avec effet immédiat. Son seul tort ? Avoir fait son travail de représentant du personnel.

Après une parodie de procédure interne, Monsieur Batistelli vient de délivrer sa sentence, digne des pire procès de notre histoire.

Je veux avant tout exprimer mon plus grand soutien à Laurent Prunier et à tous les salariés de l’ Office européen des brevets.

Je veux aussi dire à M. Batistelli que nous n’en resterons pas là. Il n’est pas concevable de gouverner une organisation internationale dans l’impunité la plus totale, en bafouant constamment les principes les plus élémentaires du droit du travail international.

Comme je l’ai récemment écrit, Batistelli doit partir. Je continuerai, avec mes collègues, d’exercer toutes les pressions nécessaires pour que les choses finissent par bouger et que les salariés puissent de nouveau travailler dans la sérénité.

“EPO Staff Representative sacked today,” said another message to us, noting that “I received sad news regarding Laurent Prunier, SUEPO secretary this afternoon. He got sacked by Battistelli. Update from SUEPO’s Facebook account…”

BREAKING NEWS :

Laurent Prunier, Secretary of SUEPO The Hague and elected member of the Central Staff Committee is fired with immediate effect.

The result of the social conference of Mr Battistelli should thus be upgraded to : 2016 : three union officials and staff representatives fired + one severely downgraded. More are in the pipeline……….

Anonymous comments found on social media:

BB has sacked a staff representative from The Hague for harassing others representatives. Mercifully, BB decided against reducing pension rights as well.

And another one:

Thanks for the info. Indeed, it is confirmed that LP got fired this afternoon! I have truly no words for this , so very sad and tragical.

And a comment posted on SUEPO’s FB was omitted. There’s plenty of information out there, but it’s hard to find it. The media sure isn’t interested and isn’t covering this.

“A further union représentative was fired this morning,” a comment said at IP Kat, “purely by coincidence would Minnoye say.” This alludes to Minnoye’s ludicrous statement to Dutch media.

“Now we know how much respect the President has for the council. Next he’ll probably fire them,” continues the same comment

“Not a chance,” responded another person. “They’ll be fine as long as they keep kissing his a** !”

One more comment links to “The Register: Fresh Euro Patent Office drama: King Battistelli fires union boss – EPO president ignores his own admin council” (so far the only media coverage of this embarrassing move by Battistelli!)

There are comments on this article. One says:

Concrete Decision

Pity this union can’t take a leaf out of one of the old style American unions.

By now Batistelli would have a supporting role in a motorway bridge.

I am amazed that the Administrative Council haven’t fired the sod and had him escorted from the premises.

“It should read: He would have been a cornerstone of the organization,” one person responded.

Again the point about total lack of effective oversight:

Exactly what does he know about the members of the Admin Council?

He’s acting with impunity. Sounds like he has immunity.

A not-so-relevant response to the above we’re omitting, but as usual, people use this to bash the European Union/Commission as a whole, even though the EPO has nothing to do with it.

Consider this:

unofficial but still

Long live the European project!

Also this:

Basta!, buster and board alike

It sounds like ‘disrepute’ is accumulating on the EPO to the degree that the Administrative Council should fire Battistelli for that cause, shortly before they all resign for the same cause. They have all lost face.

The following alludes to skeletons in the closet. Techrights will dive as deep as necessary into this closet to unearth whatever is in there and then present it to the public. It is, at the moment, the principal aim of Techrights. We help Battistelli with the transparency he likes boasting about (in words, not actions). Here is the comment:

You have to wonder …

… what skeletons he knows about, given that he’s lost all ability to influence the staff he is supposed to be leading, especially given that this has been rumbling on for years …

There is no relevant response to the above and there are probably more comments on the way. I have already reached out to journalists in an effort to get them to cover these atrocious moves from Battistelli and I encourage others, readers included, to do the same. It’s about more than one person; it’s about the EPO as a whole and if Battistelli continues going down this path, there won’t be much of an EPO left (maybe that’s more or less his objective amid EUIPO speculations). █

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