12.04.20

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

Posted in Europe, Patents at 4:19 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

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:

May 16 strike [PDF]
May 2019 FICSA letter to EPO Campinos [PDF]
USF latter (2019) [PDF]
Strike letter, June 2019 [PDF]

Here’s everything as images as well.

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. █

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