European Patent Office (EPO) Strikes Persist, EPO Management Tries to Give False Impression of "Happy Staff"
Last month: European Patent Office Management Mocked for Trying to 'Bribe' Staff With a Little Food
Earlier this month: The "Alicante Mafia" at the European Patent Office (EPO) Experiments With New Methods for Crushing Industrial Actions
Further to yesterday's part, consider how management of the EPO is trying to broadcast to the world a totally phony image of itself, as per the Local Staff Committee Munich:
Örtlicher Personalausschuss München Innenstadt, Haar und Brüssel
Local Staff Committee Munich City, Haar and Brussels
Le Comité local du Personnel de Munich Ville, Haar et BruxellesMunich, 19-05-2025
sc26011mpA Free Croissant to forget about the Salary Erosion Procedure
The EPO offers free breakfast at the Campus Days while cutting our employment package at the Budget and Finance Committee
Dear Colleagues
On 20 and 21 May, the delegates will meet with the administration at the Budget and Finance Committee (BFC) to discuss the planned new salary adjustment procedure. The proposal of the President is set to make significant cuts to all remuneration elements every year: salary, pension, and allowances.
EPO staff has been invited by line management to join, or even organise the fun during the Campus Days (19 and 20 May) which happen to overlap with the Budget and Finance Committee. Free breakfast and entertaining activities: the program is extensive, and all this to be done on staff personal time. Management encourages colleagues to join the Campus Days and then displays the onsite presence statistics and uses the photos of the event as evidence of staff engagement and contentment. The President even sent mass-email on 11 May which sounded like a desperate attempt to obtain the “happy staff image”.”
All the while, the EPO has been “reforming” the Amicale. The 76-year-old staff association in charge of social activities all year round has been “internalised”, i.e. its independence strongly reduced and the administrative hurdles multiplied. During negotiations with the Amicale, the administration showed little willingness to invest in the association, in particular when it came to time budget for non-examiners, in contrast to the budget provided for the management organisers of the Campus Days.
Will you trade a free croissant for the skinning of purchasing power?
The Local Staff Committee Munich
That same image appeared in a recent presentation about the status quo, namely slide #14 below:
For some context, the above presentation was given to about 500 workers. Quoting a report from around that time:
Örtlicher Personalausschuss München Innenstadt, Haar und Brüssel
Local Staff Committee Munich City, Haar and Brussels
Le Comité local du Personnel de Munich Ville, Haar et BruxellesMunich, 12-05-2026
sc26010mpReport on the General Assembly of Thursday 7 May
Salary Erosion Procedure – The Fight Continues
Dear Colleagues,
On Thursday 7 May at 14.00 hrs, the Local Staff Committee Munich (LSCMN) held a general assembly gathering 500 attendees.
The LSC Munich reported on the planned new salary adjustment procedure which will be discussed in the next meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee on 19 and 20 May and analysed the narrative of management on the reform. The presented slides can be found at the link below:
• Salary Erosion Procedure – The Fight Continues
The Central Staff Committee (CSC) has now submitted its opinion to the President and SUEPO sent a proposal to the President.
If this is what they do when all indicators are green, what will they do when they are red?!
The trade union SUEPO continues with the industrial action plan to fight the erosion of salaries, pensions and benefits with
• Work-To-Rule actions,
• Days of strike on Friday 15 May, Monday 18 May and Friday 22 May
• Two days of strike per week (Mondays and Friday) in May and June
• Demonstration on Tuesday 30 June in front of the Isar building, all Munich staff is invited and staff from other places of employment will also join
They cannot ignore us if we stand together
Sincerely yours,
The Local Staff Committee Munich, Haar & Brussels
Yesterday there was a strike in both major EPO sites.
We'll soon resume a series about cocaine use in EPO management. █