Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Non-dialogue: “Staff Representatives Were Intimidated, Persecuted, or Both.” How the EPO Under António Campinos Succumbed to Battistelli Monarchy, Leading to Unrest, Strikes

Part 2 of 3 (see part 1)

The police squad



London protestsSummary: "The President [António Campinos] is the main interlocutor for social dialogue," explained EPO staff representatives. "Having a first meeting only after 5 month from the start of the year, however, is not really fostering social dialogue." They explained that EPO management resorted to aggression and force (at least verbal) within just months of the supposedly 'nice' new President taking Office.

THE STAFF of the EPO took only months to be convinced that another Benoît Battistelli had been put in charge of governing the institution. Here's a letter sent to him after less than 11 months at the Office:



Reference: sc19075cl-0.3.1/1.3.1 Date: 29.05.2019

Mr António Campinos President of the EPO

ISAR - R.1081

OPEN LETTER

Agenda for our meeting on 03 June 2019

Dear Mr President,

The Central Staff Committee (CSC) thanks you for your invitation to meet on 3 June and for suggesting some points for the agenda.

The CSC is very concerned about the latest developments at the EPO, especially concerning the current level of unrest due to continuing anti-staff policies, as well as the lack of improvement in social dialogue. This is also reflected in the recent call for strike. Issues raised therein have been high on the agenda of the CSC for some time and therefore, we propose to first explore with you which actions we believe could either resolve some issues and/or at least reassure staff on your intentions.

In addition, we are extremely worried by an email we just received from a staff representative on which you were copied. We are recognising methods of an era we thought bygone, when staff representatives were intimidated, persecuted, or both. This is extremely disturbing.

If time still allows, we would of course also like to address the agenda points, as raised by you, i.e.:

- Follow up on the staff survey (including your letter dated 10.4.2019) - Strategic Plan - Status of the Working Groups (Resources & Communication, Adjustments to the Performance Management and Procedure for Incompetence)




On the staff survey, we look forward to seeing how we will be involved in the next steps, and to receiving the requested aggregated data.

On the strategic plan, we are convinced that it needs to reflect the staff survey results – and a focus on quality and on staff should be given through a review of some past reforms. We refer to our input and the need to present a timetable enabling to re-establish quickly staff confidence in management.

On the status of the two working groups, we look forward to seeing their mandates clarified (if needed) and some progress booked.

Yours sincerely,

Joachim Michels Chairman of the Central Staff Committee



The message to staff was similar to the open letter (slight variation and additions, especially the first paragraph, left out from the letter for diplomatic reasons):

President meets CSC on 3 June



Agenda items for discussion and worrying developments in treating staff representatives

Dear colleagues,

The CSC appreciates the invitation by the President to meet on 3 June. The President is the main interlocutor for social dialogue. Having a first meeting only after 5 month from the start of the year, however, is not really fostering social dialogue.

The CSC is very concerned about the latest developments at the EPO, especially concerning the current level of unrest due to continuing anti-staff policies, as well as the lack of improvement in social dialogue. This is also reflected in the recent call for strike. Issues raised therein have been high on the agenda of the CSC for some time and therefore, we propose to first explore with the President which actions we believe could either resolve some issues and/or at least reassure staff on his intentions.

In addition, we are extremely worried by an email we just received from a staff representative on which you were copied. We are recognising methods of an era we thought bygone, when staff representatives were intimidated, persecuted, or both. Further agenda points amongst others will be: ● Follow up on the staff survey (including your letter dated 10.4.2019) ● Strategic Plan ● Status of the Working Groups (Resources & Communication, Adjustments to the Performance Management and Procedure for Incompetence)


Staff representatives of the EPO would later suggest going on strike, as we noted last year and again a few days ago.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, and Google News
We've also just noticed more slop from UbuntuPIT
 
Links 09/10/2025: Farewell to Jane Goodall, California Bans Algorithmic Price-Fixing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Lost Wages and a Saga Of Continuing To Use Palm PDAs
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's Talk in Helsinki is Done. Tomorrow Göteborg.
There are scarce details in Finnish about Dr. Stallman's talk
New XBox Leaks Probably Serve to Confirm XBox's Collapse (Many More Layoffs)
It's very much consistent with what many other sites have reported lately
The Slop Song
The train wreck marches on
LLM Slop/Advanced Plagiarism Flooding the Zone With Capital That Does Not Exist
Many publishers out there still participate in this bubble instead of calling it what it is
Links 09/10/2025: Sacked Microsoft Workers Make "Sackbird", IBM Taps CockroachDB for PostgreSQL
Links for the day
"Happy Hacking Day" Richard Stallman Talk This Afternoon (From 14:00 to 16:00) at Haaga-Helia University in Pasila
Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Finland
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 08, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 08, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Impact of Microsoft Layoffs, More Data Breaches
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Autumn Blues and C IRC Bot
Links for the day
Slopwatch Appreciated by Real Authors of GNU/Linux Articles
We do try to keep on top of those things
Upgraded R.R.R.R.R.R. Today
The Web of 2025 is full of garbage, not limited to slopfarms
Freedom From Proprietary Prisons
Forking always an option
IBM's Watson Died in 1956, Now Watson Dies Again
IBM is becoming just a reseller of GAFAM and other stuff
Microsoft Says That Constant Mass Layoffs Are Success, the Media Isn't Buying This Microsoft Narrative Anymore
If people in the media feel an obligation to repeat whatever lies Microsoft tells, what point will there be to the media?
Links 08/10/2025: "Mali Puts Free Speech on Trial" And Apple Enforces Dictatorship
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: ‘Death to Spotify’ and Law to Ban Loud Commercials on Streaming (Dis)Services
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Real Innovation and Nina.chat is Dead
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Y2K38 Bug is a Vulnerability, Chat Control in Europe a Threat
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows is No Longer an Operating System, It's Surveillance Project
Why is this even legal to preload on PCs outside the US?
How and Why Once-Legitimate Sites Turn Into Slopfarms
Many sites will go offline and many social control networks will shut down once they realise or even openly admit they spend money and time gardening a bunch of bots and slop
UbuntuPIT Became a Slopfarm and Gnoppix Tarnishes Its Own Brand With Slop
It fits all the characteristics of mildly-edited (if at all) slop
Slopwatch: Linux Journal and Other Slopfarms
GAFAM needs to go the way of the dodo
Gemini Links 08/10/2025: "Seek Seek Revolution" and Gradient Backgrounds
Links for the day
Qualcomm Arduino Takes Aim at Raspberry Pi
Qualcomm is a Microsoft partner
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 07, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 07, 2025
Stagnation of the Economy and What Free Software Can (or Could) Do For It
If your economic model is based on a pyramid of lies, it won't last very long
Social Control Media is Sinking
it would rightly seem like the era of centralised "social" sites (they're not social, they're about controlling the users) is ending, not overnight but gradually
Participation in Cancel Culture Detrimental to One's Career
A cautionary tale
Passion Wins
we've increased the number of birds we feed to 100+
How Solderpunk and Sean Conner Started Gemini Protocol (and, Collectively, Geminispace) Back in 2019
Based on the "official" history
Arduino is Now a Patent Bully (Qualcomm)
Qualcomm has just bought Arduino
Many Years of Microsoft Cancellations and Faked (Acquired) Revenue "Growth"
XBox is basically the "next Skype"
The Comment TheLayoff.com Has Just Censored for Criticising a Ridiculous Puff Piece of IBM Management
If comments get censored for their "style" rather than their substance, then society will be worse off
The Power of Writing Down Facts
The more we write and publish, the more people will know what happened
Microsoft's Non-Denying Denial About XBox's Death is Already Being Shattered to Pieces
Like Microsoft's 'open' 'hey hi', heralding meaningless non-committing agreements with AMD is little more than vapourware
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT Joins the Slopfarms Club
Slopfarms gonna slop
Links 07/10/2025: Privacy at Risk, GAFAM Remains Off the Hook
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/10/2025: Modern Retro Console Idea and Batch vs Bash
Links for the day
Links 07/10/2025: International Criminal Court (ICC) Convicts Ali Kushayb; Moroccan Imprisoned for 'Offensive' Shirt
Links for the day
Links 07/10/2025: EU' Chat Control is Back, US Cracks Down on Democracy
Links for the day
Techrights Pursues Justice and Truth Because, Without Those, Society Descends Into Chaos
most people reject dogma and pseudoscience
Upcoming Talks by Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Göteborg, and Rome
Join with him and share the software
Something Bad is Happening in the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
The latest OSI blog post is from a Microsoft operative and a few weeks ago the Executive Director left
TLS 1.3 Dominates Geminispace (99% of Known Capsules)
it's nowadays safe to assume almost every capsule can handle TLS 1.3
Why soylentnews.org Has Been Having Technical Difficulties Lately
The network has been going up and down quite a lot this past week
A Statement Against Violence
The facts are on our side
They've Run Out of Things to Rebrand or Label as "AI"
The next few years will be interesting because if Microsoft lays off tens of thousands of workers each year, there won't be much left except mountains of debt and dying brands
The Register MS is Still Being Paid to Participate in the "AI" Ponzi Scheme Which Will Crash the Economy
The Register MS is hoping to get lucky by tricking people into a scam
Richard Stallman Confirms His Talk in Göteborg This Coming Friday
"The hosts say that the list will not be given to the state"
Most of the "Linux" Results This Morning in Google News Are LLM Slop From the Same Slopfarm, Plagiarising Phoronix
The main question is, does Google even care at this point?
Gemini Links 07/10/2025: Civil War and "Goodbye Web"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 06, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 06, 2025