Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Management Wants to Introduce 'Code of Conduct' With Which to Impose Censorship of Staff Representatives' Communications With Staff

Yet more censorship at the EPO (the term "Code of Conduct" is used), where Techrights is still blocked for providing accurate information to EPO staff

António the unsteady



Summary: António is still "unready" for real dialogue (more than two years later!) and he's still exploring new ways to keep EPO staff misinformed

"Dialogue with a drug addict" is what our source called the following publication from the Central Staff Committee (CSC) of the EPO (not SUEPO), echoing the nickname “powder nose”. The other day an EPO insider spoke of "[a] “riffle man” Battistelli and “powder nose” Campinos."



Certainly not alluding to drug use, albeit considering this rumour about an incident on a plane last summer there might be a drinking problem. The term "drug addict" refers to the behaviour rather than anything that staff representatives saw and here's what they circulated a few days ago, having met António Streisand-Campinos 12 days ago (Streisand as in 'Streisand Effect'):



Report on the meeting with the President



of 16 July 2020



“Social dialogue is when you listen to me.”



Mr Campinos invited the newly elected Staff representatives of the central (CSC) and local Staff committees (LSCs) for an inaugural meeting which took place by video-conference. Mr Campinos set the tone of his presidency for the next 3 years to come by stating his readiness to push his coming reforms concerning the Education and Childcare allowances, the Appeals Committee (ApC) and the New Normal.

“Social dialogue is when you listen to me” Mr Campinos initiated the meeting by explaining the “rules of engagement” of his model of “social democracy”. According to him, social dialogue is not co-decision and it is the Office which has the power of making proposals. These proposals will be sent to “Working Groups” and the GCC, where the Staff representation can give its opinion, and may in the end be amended or not amended: “If we all understand these rules, then we can have social dialogue”. Although the Staff representation didn’t ask for it, Mr Campinos added that in his view co-decision cannot work, and the “Staff representation has the right to listen, to think and to give comments”.

We explained that we request early involvement in the preparation of reforms and that we never asked for co-decision, but Mr Campinos did not acknowledge the difference.

Education allowance – A consultation as short as the summer holidays Mr Campinos explained that the topic of the Education Allowance is “an important and a sensitive one to be handled with care”. However, the consultation had not even started, yet the final GCC meeting had already been scheduled for the 1st of October. This fast timeline clearly aims at putting the negatively affected parents in front of a fait-accompli once they are back from their summer vacation. Mr Campinos’ intention to define a flat rate on the reimbursements will definitely impact the International Schools (mostly in The Hague) and the (private) crèches, and is anything but fair.

Career system and PhD recognition Mr Campinos plans to standardise a “catch-up measure” for those deprived of pensionable rewards and to recognise PhD experience. As a prerequisite, Mr Campinos puts forward his principle of “affordability”. As the analysis of Ernst & Young has proven, this principle is based on a Financial Study which distorts the EPO finances with the purpose to reduce Staff benefits.

Travel budget All meetings must continue to take place via video-conference. Until end of 2020 travels will remain extremely exceptional and the 2021 travel budget will be dramatically reduced.

Appeals Committee – Still room for improvement Mr Campinos intends to address the question of a potential conflict of interest of the nominees sitting in the Appeals Committee (ApC). The proposal would allow that the nominees of the Staff representation may be chosen among all Staff, and not only among elected Staff representatives. This was a long standing request of the Staff representation.

However, the proposal he puts forward also prescribes that members of the ApC may not have pending appeals during their term. This would put our nominees in the following dilemma: either they will have no pending internal appeal or their term of office in the ApC will end. In our opinion, this requirement could make it very easy for the Office to get rid of nominees and could endanger their independence. We acknowledge the problem of a potential conflict of interest but believe that a better solution must and can be found.

Mass-emails for Staff representatives – A proposal devoid of any real effect Since 2013 both the Staff representation and SUEPO have been deprived of free access to mass-emails, a unique situation in the world of international organisations. Mr Campinos declared that he is ready to make a proposal for Staff committees but set out three conditions: 1) No access to push emails, only pull access requiring explicit request from individual Staff members and the possibility to opt-out anytime, 2) A “supervisory committee” will check compliance with the EPO code of conduct – and be ready to enforce them, and 3) Establishment of a code of conduct on how to write mass emails. These conditions, if implemented as stated, actually make the proposal devoid of any real effect. Staff already has access to pulled information via the RSS feeds and our publication requests are already routinely checked and may eventually be censored.

Five year contracts – To be or not to be permanent By the end of 2021, Mr Campinos plans to establish “clear and transparent” guidelines for the renewal of 5-year contracts, and their conversion to permanent contracts. We hope that Mr Campinos and his administration take this topic serious and for once provide guidelines that are clear and supportive to our colleagues with the aim of having a committed work force for the future of the EPO.

New Normal – Staff is the last stakeholder A first draft on the New Normal is already available but won’t be presented to Staff or Staff representation until after Mr Campinos has reviewed the result of a Staff survey planned in September and consulted all external stakeholders and the Member States. This should be interpreted as Mr Campinos’ clear answer to our request for early involvement.

Conclusion To conclude, Mr Campinos declared that social dialogue will be successful if everyone sticks to his role. He considers himself as being the one in charge of social dialogue. The site managers and the Vice-Presidents shall be met for local issues only, and “not to be addressed on the same issues again and again”. Despite some efforts on our part during the meeting to restart social dialogue, the President still does not clearly acknowledge the full meaning of genuine social dialogue.

In any case, we will continue to work for Staff’s rights and the mission of the EPO during the next three years. We are looking forward to a fruitful collaboration with the President and we would like to assure you that we will tirelessly insist upon transparency, honesty, integrity and professionalism. We will keep an eye on Office decisions and policies. We will shed light on changes, question in detail the actions of the administration and inform Staff accordingly, for the best of the Staff and the Office.

The Central Staff Committee


In short, not much has changed more than two years since Streisand-Campinos replaced Benoît Battistelli. SUEPO said "we are back to Battistelli’s times” and an upcoming survey shows that Streisand-Campinos is even less popular/trustworthy than Battistelli (after two years in charge of the Office). No wonder internal sources of ours say that EPO insiders already explore careers outside the EPO, seeing impending layoffs and institutional collapse. This can really hurt Europe. The conspicuous lack of media coverage and absence of oversight led to it.

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Register Bill
The Register MS - putting the "MS" in your centre of the universe
Analogies for "Memory Safety" in Rust
Don't worry, it's Rust! It can do anything!
 
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, Linux Journal, and the Serial Slopper
Google won't tackle the issue because Google participates not only in relaying slop but also in generating lots of it
Links 07/09/2025: Google Fines in EU and "Your Internet Access Is at Risk"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/09/2025: Little Brother and Corporate Theatre
Links for the day
Links 07/09/2025: More Harms of Slop and Anthropic's Nightmare Scenario (Huge Legal Liabilities for Slop)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 06, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, September 06, 2025
Microsoft Sites Now Talking About September's Mass Layoffs at Microsoft
It's noteworthy that even Microsoft's MSN now covers the latest revelations about mass layoffs
Gemini Links 06/09/2025: SpellBinding Moving and "The Cloud" Ridiculed
Links for the day
Slopwatch: On "the Apology Industry", Chatbots (Punchbag for Customers), and Fake Articles About "Linux"
"news reporting priorities changed"
Links 06/09/2025: "Covid Incidence on the Rise" and Many Attacks on the Press Worldwide
Links for the day
Nobody Denies That SecureBoot Will Cause Problems After September 11
Not even Microsoft
Gemini Links 06/09/2025: Infinite Scrolling and Posting from Emacs
Links for the day
Links 06/09/2025: GitHub Meltdown Over Slop, "U.S. Jury Says Google Should Pay $425 Million in Privacy Lawsuit"
Links for the day
Despite Its Severe Financial Problems Gnome Foundation Inc Paid Rosanna Yuen Over 100,000 Dollars Last Year
maybe relocation should be considered
The "Left" and the Right"
It poisons everything
Mozilla and Rust Are Not Leftists
they're part of the mass consumerism machine
Disposable to Microsoft
There is an extensive set of people who got used by Microsoft, only to be thrown away a month later or a year later or a decade later
The UEFI 9/11 - Part VII - This Coming Week Many PCs Will Refuse to Boot "Linux" (Because of Microsoft's Expired Certificate)
The real solution is, disable "secure boot" or "SecureBoot" while it's still possible. [...] Just like submarine patents, a lot of this problem was "hibernating" for a while
The Thing Nobody in Red Hat Wants to Talk About Openly
There is a real sentiment or worry among Red Hatters, Europeans and Americans in particulars (because of higher salary expectations)
Slopwatch: Small Parade of Fake News About "Linux" and Scams Borrowing the Name (or Word) "Linux"
In practice, LLMs are a risk
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 05, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, September 05, 2025
Genini Links 05/09/2025: Community, ROOPHLOCH, and PITkit
Links for the day
Links 05/09/2025: Vaccine Sceptics Poison the Well, Two Exploited Vulnerabilities Patched in Android
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/09/2025: Logitech Lift and DIY Gemini Servers
Links for the day
Links 05/09/2025: Sainsbury's Caught Spying on In-Store Shoppers and Microsoft "OpenAI is Using Legal Threats to Harass its Critics"
Links for the day
BASIC Predates Microsoft by Over a Decade, Microsoft-Controlled Sites Like The Register MS Don't Want You to Know This
The state of the media is really bad when it relies a lot on oligarchs' money and is appointing editors who are working for oligarchs
Brian Kernighan, "Only Third to Dennis Richie and Ken Thompson" (UNIX), Agreed With Someone Who Said Rust Was Just Hype, Should Not Replace C
17 hours ago
Reminder: Microsoft's "Secure Boot" Certificate for "Linux" Will be Expired in One Week
Many PCs won't manage to 'rotate' to another certificate
"Many of the Red Hat Employees Are Still Looking for Work"
Shame on IBM's CEO
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 04, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, September 04, 2025
Microsoft Started With Code Literally From The Trash, Nothing Has Improved Since
The reality is, there are systems and code that are reliable. But they're not Microsoft's.
Hypothesis That New McKinsey/Microsoft Executive Inside Red Hat Will Outsource Research and Development Operations to India (Like They Do in IBM)
IBM is floundering
Slopwatch: Scams, Fake Articles About "Linux", Plagiarism, and Worse
Perhaps some time soon the LLMs or the "Big LLMs" will run out of money (to borrow) and go offline, leaving those slopfarms in a tough place