03.14.23
Gemini version available ♊︎The EPO Treats Its Own Staff Like Trash and Quality/Legitimacy of the EPO’s Work is, Expectedly, Reduced to Trash
Video download link | md5sum 573d697aa3946018dd94eb0b44d98c01
Cannot Even Get a Seat and Desk at EPO
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0
Summary: The Central Staff Committee at Europe’s second-largest institution (which grants European monopolies to corporations from all around the world) is very upset about a collective assault on the staff, which is already besieged and overworked, urged to grant as many monopolies as possible as quickly as possible, thus defeating the purpose of patent examination (if insufficient time is allocated, the patent application is assumed novel and presumed valid, hence granted)
THE VIDEO above goes through this new letter from the Central Staff Committee (CSC) of the EPO, dealing with the notorious “Bringing Teams Together” initiative, which will have many casualties and already had some (including very high-profile ones).
The CSC’s letter speaks for itself and the video above speaks of related facts, background, and context. Is the EPO ‘certifying’ monopolies that are unjust if not outright illegal in order to fake 'production'? This whole situation is a stain on Europe’s reputation. We intend to keep it our top priority for coverage even though we now have other stuff to cover or do, e.g. 1) 2 site migrations; 2) coding; 3) Sirius series and 4) GitHub exclusives. GitHub is already collapsing; not just financially, there are also layoffs, as last noted earlier today. At one point we’ll get around to finishing our long series (ongoing since 2021) about GitHub.
We don’t worry about lacking material, we only lack time. The EPO-friendly ‘media’ has been covering some EPO scandals lately — a trend which gives us more hope and motivation. We’re not unearthing stuff as much as sharing what already circulates among staff.
Here’s the full open letter dated 5 days ago:
European Patent Office | 80298 MUNICH | GERMANY
Ms Nellie Simon
Vice-President Corporate ServicesBy email
OPEN LETTER
centralSTCOM@epo.org
Reference: sc22031cl
Date: 09/03/2023“Bringing Teams Together”:
Three days per week for a fixed workplace
Dear Ms Simon,
The project “Bringing Teams Together” remains a major cause of concern and unrest among staff. We made concrete proposals in the Working Group meeting of 18 January 2023 (see our report here) and were expecting further meetings to take place. Until now, we have not received an invitation.In your letter of 3 February 2023 you confirmed the statement you made in front of the Administrative Council1 and reaffirmed that “as a guiding principle it makes complete sense that staff members who work at least three days per week at the office or have special needs determined on a case-by-case basis will be allocated a fixed workplace, while staff choosing to come less often will use workplaces for the day.”
However, at line management level, your statement is neither guiding nor a principle.
Some line managers have decided not to allocate any fixed workplace. Some line managers have such a limited number of offices available that only staff coming 4 or 5 days a week could be allocated a fixed workplace. Sick employees are trying to seek support from Health & Safety, but the department replies that it cannot be involved in room allocation.
____
1 CA/96/22, par. 76, “VP4 said that the Office did not encourage or discourage staff to come to the premises. Staff could choose what was best for their well-being. Only staff that came one or two days per week had to book an office for the day, the others were allowed a permanent office”
We believe that the project and its chaotic implementation will not improve the atmosphere in the Office or the trust in the upper management.
We urge the Office to be consistent with its own statements, to fulfil its duty of care and to convene a Working Group meeting in due course.
Yours sincerely,
Alain Dumont
Chairman of the Central Staff CommitteeCc: Mr Florian Grundies, Principal Director General Administration
Is Grundies the latest person willing to attack human beings on behalf of special interests, relying on cognitive dissonance to justify abusive actions in pursuit of money and power?
The CSC has shared this with staff this week. “Dear colleagues,” said the representatives. “The project “Bringing Teams Together” remains a major cause of concern and unrest among staff. Vice-President Corporate Services announced that “as a guiding principle it makes complete sense that staff members who work at least three days per week at the office or have special needs determined on a case-by-case basis will be allocated a fixed workplace, while staff choosing to come less often will use workplaces for the day.” However, at line management level, the announcement is neither guiding nor a principle. In this letter, we urge the Office to be consistent with its own statements, to fulfil its duty of care and to convene a Working Group meeting in due course.”
The only explanation that we find plausible here is that EPO management is trying to crush the staff and bust the union, as noted in the video. This is possibly illegal where the EPO does this, but the managers claim to have diplomatic immunity, so they assume they can get away with it no matter what. And at what or whose expense?
The Central Staff Committee’s letter to Madame Simon shows contradictions or, put another way, lies. Lying is how a person can get promoted at the EPO when nepotism is lacking. Diversity at the EPO alludes to bedroom politics. █
ᶃ Gemini Space
This post is also available in 
Content is available under CC-BY-SA