Almost 1,600 EPO Employees Went on Strike Last Week
And yet, no so-called 'IP' or patent blogs covered this, not even alleged "news sites" like JUVE (in the pockets of Team UPC and the Alicante Mafia)
Heads of Delegations to the Administrative Council were contacted this week regarding EPO unrest. Action is needed. The Administrative Council has the power to oust corrupt officials. Will it happen?
There are now some published statistics about last week's strike, which included a "remarkable 1577 colleagues."
Quoting the union:
Thank you to all staff who joined the strike!
Keep up the pressure and join the Work-To-Rule actions
Dear members, dear colleagues,
The participation in the strike on 30 January was a remarkable 1577 colleagues. This means 27% of EPO staff participated in the strike office wide, or an estimated 35%* of non-managerial, permanent staff members. The participation rate across the last three strikes, all called in response to the salary and pension erosion being imposed by our administration, has been steadily increasing.
Keeping in mind the growing population of fixed-term contract staff, who have shown themselves to be fully engaged and convinced for the need for change, but for whom the decision to join the strike is more sensitive, the increase is yet more impressive. In the Hague, almost 1/3rd of the staff went on strike to send the signal to the administration and the administrative council delegates that we are ready to take collective action to resist the completely unjustified and excessive cuts to our work package.
Lets keep the pressure on and continue with the action plan. The Work-To-Rule action is now in force for the coming months. During this period, we ask that you do not work more than contracted hours, and that you focus on meticulous quality, and the thorough application of the EPC. For examiners, the AC delegations are particularly sensitive to the number of patents granted from which they receive a share of the renewal fees. So, focus on search, or first and intermediate exam actions, as far as possible.
Too much has been cut already. It is time to put an end to the erosion.
[...]
Your SUEPO TH committee
*Estimated via available data12 & assuming striking staff were non-managers & permanent.
There is another strike coming 2.5 weeks from now. █
