Bonum Certa Men Certa

The EPO is Nowadays Trying to Trick Staff Into Settling Instead of Solving the Underlying Problems of Corruption and Injustice

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Jan 20, 2025,
updated Jan 20, 2025

settlement at EPO

divide and rule

THE EPO set aside millions of euros to battle its own staff in court. That sent the wrong message to staff. Now they try another approach, based on this new publication from the union (SUEPO). Here's the PDF version as circulated under a week ago:

Contact us in case of settlement

A similar but not identical version of the above (for GemText and text bulletins too):

Please contact us in case of settlement

Dear members, dear colleagues,

The EPO claims to be striving to reduce litigation[1] and “remains open to explore amicable solutions at every stage of the dispute resolution process, and particularly so for the long-standing cases in the Tribunal’s backlog. Staff wishing to discuss amicable resolution of their cases may contact settlements@epo.org.
We have observed a recent flurry of calls for settlement by the EPO and sometimes also by members of the Appeals Committee.

In case you are invited to such discussions or consider initiating a settlement:

SUEPO committee members have experience in such discussions and are well placed to guide you through the process. Our involvement in other settlement negotiations allows us to give you advice based on the outcomes of similar cases.  And by informing us, you help us gain a complete overview of the various scenarios and possibilities.

[...] Kind regards,
Your SUEPO TH committee – M18B10 and De Bruyn Kopsstraat, 15, Rijswijk

[...]


 

[1] See “Exchanges with Staff Representation on ILOAT”, EPO Intranet, 13.6.2024

This seems like a classic case of "divide-and-rule" or using misled/weak people to harm the whole group (or "the village"). Collective bargaining and coordinated action is very important here. Do not compromise the group (collective harm) for personal comfort. This isn't about 'tribes' or 'herds' thinking alike; it's about exercising collective control for better outcomes.

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

Links 07/02/2025: Amazon’s Stock Collapses and US Government Being Dismantled (Still)
Links for the day
Professor Eben Moglen on How Social Control Media Metabolises Humans and Constrains Freedom of Thought
Nothing of value would be lost if all these data-harvesting giants (profiling people) vanished overnight
Debian Left Twitter (MElon "X"), We Think the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Should Do the Same
What would the FSF really lose if it stopped posting there?
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, February 07, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, February 07, 2025
Gemini Links 07/02/2025: Mid-level Details and Simple Code
Links for the day
Links 07/02/2025: US 'Demolition Crew', e-ID Loopholes, and Sanctions
Links for the day
Social Control Media is Narcissism
Nowadays there's a lot more literature and even press coverage explaining the harms of Social Control Media
statCounter Sees GNU/Linux Share Doubling in China Over the Past Year
It'll be interesting to see what data in the coming months shows
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 06, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, February 06, 2025
Richard Stallman (RMS) Confirms Next Week's Talk in Europe
He gave at least 2 talks in Europe last month
Nationalism As A Service (NaaS) by Microsoft Azure, Gutting the US Government for Profit
Will Microsoft be receiving bailouts as a reward for all this?
Rumours of IBM Layoffs Apparently Confirmed Yesterday, IBM Canada Consulting Impacted (as Rumoured)
when IBM has layoffs we must also read it as Red Hat layoffs
Tons of Anti-Linux 'Articles' Published by Bots (LLMs), Maybe Microsoft's
Upon closer inspection, all this FUD turned out to be LLM garbage
Gemini Links 06/02/2025: Voicemail Sucks and Night of Lights
Links for the day
Ubuntu Desktop Director of Engineering Has Only One Blog Post. It Promotes Microsoft Windows.
Remember that even 15 years ago (more or less, maybe 16 years ago) Canonical appointed a a 'former' Microsoft manager (Spencer) to lead Ubuntu on the desktop
Links 06/02/2025: YouTube Takedowns Out of Control, 'DOGE' Breaking Laws
Links for the day
IBM Red Hat on "era of cloud computing", pushing "hey hi" (AI) hype in Microsoft Azure
LLM slop might actually be more benign than Microsoft promotion
Corruption and Rule-Breaking Prevail at the European Patent Office (EPO), Europe's Second-Largest Institution
The law does not really exist at the EPO; it can be perceived as merely a "recommendation"
statCounter: More Countries Where Windows is Around 1% "Market Share" (People Have Moved to Android/Linux)
in some nations Windows is already 1% or less
404 Media Says "Workers at NASA Told to Drop Everything to Scrub Mentions of Indigenous People, Women from Its Websites" But There's Also Accessibility in the Firing Line
In the case of abandoning accessibility, everyone stands to be hurt and proprietary software can be brought in to replace standards
When BetaNews Writes Real Articles About "Linux" They Promote Windows
The Web is in a bad state. We need to at least try to correct this.
Gemini Links 06/02/2025: Cynicism and "Real Magic on the C64"
Links for the day
Links 06/02/2025: New Sanctions, Layoffs, and Executive Orders
Links for the day
Distros and Desktop Environments, Devices
GNU/Linux focused
New Rumours of IBM Layoffs in 2025, IBM Consulting Still Struggles, Based on Management
"Hey hi" (AI) has been a common excuse for business failure
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, February 05, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, February 05, 2025