Bonum Certa Men Certa

What Really Happened Last Year When Workers of the European Patent Office, Europe's Second-Largest Institution, Were About to Go on Strike

Summary: The full story of what happened behind the scenes around the time of the call for strike (less than a year after a "new" (recycled) and "better" president had been appointed, perpetuating the same abuses)

LAST year we wrote that after less than a year at the EPO there was already a plan to go on strike against the António Campinos regime, in spite of barriers put in place by Benoît Battistelli (to suppress strikes). As noted here at the time, the strike was barely averted, but it served to show the growing sentiment among staff (that Campinos had failed). The latest effort to go on strike was derailed by a pandemic. Those nihilists who run the Office (unqualified officers who just "know the right people") are destroying thousands of lives directly. "Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily," Napoleon Bonaparte said. Frenchman (also Portuguese) Campinos says he has principles; what principles and whose principles?



"Talks broke down. There's nobody left to talk to."Today we publish 4 files. It has been over a year, so it's time to 'declassify' those sorts of things, showing the general public what's happening behind the closed doors and diplomatic immunity.

We have:



Here's everything as images as well.

May 16 strike




USF letter 2019




FICSA letter to EPO's Campinos Page 1

FICSA letter to EPO's Campinos Page 2




EPO strike June 2019 Page 1

EPO strike June 2019 Page 2

EPO strike June 2019 Page P3

The latest letter (above) was from June, bearing the following message (accompanying context/background):

To Strike or Not To Strike - That is the Question



Things have been moving fast these last weeks.

Triggered by the rather disappointing meeting with the President on 16 May, SUEPO Central submitted a call for strike. Due to the EPO€´s rather special strike regulations (Circular No. 347) such swift action was necessary for planning a strike to coincide with the June-meeting of the Administrative Council.

This call for strike – and no doubt also the letter from FICSA and the resolution unanimously adopted at the recent USF Congress – seems to have focused senior management€´s minds. Earlier foot-dragging turned into several meetings being organised at short notice, culminating in a meeting with both CSC and SUEPO Central on Monday 3 June.

During this meeting the President showed understanding for several points. This resulted in some concrete commitments and limited progress.


As readers are aware, there are now renewed actions and heightened tensions. Which is partly what motivated us to publish many documents. Better late than never. Talks broke down. There's nobody left to talk to.

Recent Techrights' Posts

You Need Not Be a Big Company to Defeat Microsoft If You Can Successfully Challenge Its Core "Ideas"
Maybe that's just a sign that the ideas of RMS have become too effective and thus "dangerous"
Links 10/05/2025: Germany Considers Smartphone Ban in Schools, Right to Repair Bills
Links for the day
 
Links 11/05/2025: China's Fentanylware (TikTok) Tells Kids to Vandalise Schools' Chromebooks and Increased Censorship in India
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/05/2025: Yeeting Oligarch Tech, Offline Browsing
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 10, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, May 10, 2025
One is Simply Doomed to Fail When Working for Violent Men From Microsoft and Attacking Women as Well as People Who Merely Expose Crimes or Report Real Crimes
Imagine saying to people that you "practice law" or "exercise law"
The Tariffs Are Accelerating Microsoft's Decline in China
Judging by the way things are going, there will be considerable adoption of GNU/Linux in years to come, China being one major contributing factor.
Control Your Systems, Control All Your Data
what does it take for us to control our own systems and data?
Misplacing Blame for Security Problems, Sometimes With LLM Slop That Blames "Linux" for Microsoft's Failures
Broken telephones and stochastic parrots beget plenty of Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD)
Links 10/05/2025: WW2 Revisionism, Further Tit-for-tat in India-Pakistan Conflict
Links for the day
Gemini Links 10/05/2025: Git Server and Great LLM DDoS of 2025
Links for the day
Blizzard/Microsoft Unions Grow Ahead of Mass Layoffs at Microsoft, Apparently Starting Next Week (as Many as 30,000 Workers Laid Off by Year's End)
Microsoft already fired about 5,000-6,000 workers this year by our estimates; that's not counting resignations compelled through pressure (i.e. pushed, did not jump) and contractors
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, May 09, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, May 09, 2025
"Victory Day" - Part II: Abject Defeat to Hypocrites and Objectionable People Who Strangle Women Whilst on Microsoft's Payroll
Someone is going to have to pay for this; it won't be us
Rust Propaganda Now Amplified by Slopfarms Powered by Microsoft LLMs, Encouraging the Outsourcing of GNU/Linux Distros to Microsoft/GitHub/NSA (and a Shift Away From GPL/Copyleft)
Moving to Microsoft GitHub and adopting unfinished, untested code for highly critical bits
Links 09/05/2025: Inflation Rising and Rights to Protest Curtailed Some More
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/05/2025: Good and Evil, LLMs Made the Web Worse Yet Again
Links for the day
IBM is Rotting With "Zero Internal Jobs" and Many PIPs (Performance Improvement Plans) on the Way, Typically a Fast Track Towards Layoffs Without Severance
At risk of giving air(time) to tribal sentiments, the internal joke at IBM is that to IBM "AI" stands for "All Indian"
European Patent Office (EPO) Faked "Revenue Expansion" by Granting Loads of Invalid, Illegal Patents; Staff Still Wants to Know Where That Money Went
Only about 30% of the EPO's patents are for EU entities/people
The Gerstnerisation of Microsoft: Seventh Wave of Microsoft Layoffs (Over 20,000 to be Cut) Allegedly Going to Start Shortly, Probably Start of Next Week, Microsoft Spreads Chaff and Noise Before the Big Axes Fall
we might be looking at about 50,000 people that Microsoft gets rid of this year
Links 09/05/2025: TeleMessage Blunder, More Distractions From Impending Mass Layoffs at Microsoft
Links for the day
GNU (and the FSF) Still Changing the World
Today, in 2025, GNU powers almost everything
Military-Grade Anti-Linux Microsoft Propaganda Using Microsoft LLMs in Fake 'News' Sites (Slopfarms)
This is part of a pattern
Links 09/05/2025: Analog Computer and First time at FOSDEM
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, May 08, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, May 08, 2025