Bonum Certa Men Certa

Union-Busting Strategies Backfire: After Additional EPO Protests/Actions (Over 2,000 in Attendance With More to Come) a STRIKE is Being Planned

The latest EPO protest photographed

EPO protest in 2016
This picture was taken in the Erhardtstraße in Munich, in front of the EPO seat



Summary: The unrest at the EPO escalates as after many public protests/demonstrations even strikes are in the making

YESTERDAY evening we gave some details about the latest EPO protests and more that have yet to take place. The anger is justified and the actions have been rather effective for numerous reasons we covered here before.



Based on the latest status report, which we have seen thanks to some readers, there is a strike petition is managed by an independent lawyer. It's probably going to happen considering the success of recent petitions.

Call for strike in accordance with Circular 347 “Lawfulness at the EPO”



The undersigned, noting:


  • the dismissal of two elected staff representatives on 15 January 2016 and the severe downgrading of a third


  • their lack of confidence that the procedure conducted against these colleagues complied with sound European legal principles based on Human Rights


  • the sustained deterioration of the legal framework under which EPO staff work since the current President took office


request:

  • the immediate suspension of the disciplinary measures against the three staff representatives
  • a truly independent review of the cases against the staff representatives by a body that enjoys the full trust of both the management and the staff of the EPO
  • the revocation of all recent changes to the Service Regulations and their implementing texts concerning the legal framework, including:
    • Social Democracy
    • Strike regulations


    • Internal Appeals Reform
    • Health and sick-leave regulations
    • Investigation guidelines
    • Reform on invalidity
  • the initiation of open and fair negotiations between management and staff representatives, led by an internationally recognised mediator/conciliator


For the above reasons, the undersigned call for the organisation of a ballot among all staff at the EPO on the question of a single day of office-wide strike during the month of March 2016.


In addition to that, we have become aware of another action/protest. It took place a day before the Munich protest (pictured above). We've learned from sources about actions at The Hague for example. "The announced GA that took place Tuesday 19.01," we've learned, "was [went] very well a ended and the with all seats filled (ca. 700-800 persons)."

"Munich," in addition to that, "joined by colleagues from Vienna," had "the announced Demonstration on the 20.01 in front of the Bayerische Staatskanzlei" and it "was as usual peaceful and very well a ended with 1300 participants according to the police.

"A petition was handed over to the German authorities, repeating the claims that had earlier been approved by staff in a General Assembly on 17.11.2015, now calling on the Bavarian government to use its influence to find solutions to the present situation."

There was also action in Berlin as "despite the freezing weather, the second “Mahnwache” in this new year was well a ended," we've learned.

Based on the above, despite the sacking of representatives, the actions are only intensifying, demonstrating yet again that EPO managers fail to understand the Streisand Effect. Their union-busting efforts backfire in a very major way and may culminate in strikes (cessation of work) in a couple of months from now. It gets even worse for EPO managers, for reasons we shall mention later (in a separate post).

"Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship."

--George Orwell



Recent Techrights' Posts

Representing and Speaking for Animals
If I ever choose to take this matter to tribunal with animals-centric NGOs on my side, it'll get some press coverage for sure
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Slop Images in VentureBeat, Linux Foundation Spam Made With LLM Slop and Slop Images
The only relief or upside - if any exists - is that the pace of slop was down a bit this week
Richard Stallman (RMS) Talk in Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress Will be Remote
This past week RMS received lots of accolades online
Links 28/08/2025: Chatbots Distorting/Fabricating History and Also Driving Suicide
Links for the day
 
Links 29/08/2025: Arti 1.5.0, War on Public Health (CDC), and Slop 'Bros' Made to Pay for Their Mass Plagiarism
Links for the day
No, 4Chan is Not Fighting for You by Lawyering Up Against Ofcom (UK)
Don't mistake proto-fascists for people who "fight for you". They don't.
Downlplaying the Impact of "UEFI 9/11" is a Losing Strategy
we won't publish much whilst on holiday
In Many Places in the World Vista 11 "Market Share" is Going Down, Not Up
In some countries Windows is already down to third place or lower
More Microsoft-Connected Layoffs, at Least Third Time This Month! (Also Another Death on Campus)
Microsoft as a "gaming" company is where studios, projects, games, and even developers come to die
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 28, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 28, 2025
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Poems, Games, and Java 25 Performance
Links for the day
Links 28/08/2025: Greenland 'Interferences' by US and Skinnerboxes to Get Banned in Korean Schools
Links for the day
The Register MS (Run by Microsoft Operatives): Free Software is Putin, Hence Evil and Dangerous
The current editor in chief is an American Microsofter, the previous one went to work for Google (US)
Gemini Links 28/08/2025: Back in Japan and Why "Hacker News" Sucks
Links for the day
A Much-Needed Wake-up Call to Users of Wordpress.com, Blogspot, Substack and All Those Other Outsourced (and Centralised) Platforms
There are several lessons in there
The UEFI 9/11 - Part II - Campaign of Censorship and Defamation Against Critics
In dictatorships, humour serves an important role. It's tragic.
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Resists Software Freedom, Even by Attacking Its Own
The OSI is compromised
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 27, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Slopwatch: linuxsecurity.com, Slopfarms in Google News, and More
Some readers of ours end up sending us links that are from slopfarms, not realising those are slopfarms
Gemini Links 27/08/2025: Katrina Memories and Google Versus Software Freedom
Links for the day
Links 27/08/2025: Police Against Media Freedom in the UK, Energy-Hungry Countries Targeted by China
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows Fell to All-Time Lows in Egypt This Summer, Vista 11 Adoption Decreases While GNU/Linux Increases
Vista 11 is going down rather than up
Links 27/08/2025: Microsoft Demoralises Staff With Slop Demands, Leaving Mastodon Explained
Links for the day
12 Hours Ago The Register MS Published a Fake (Paid-for) Article, But This One for a Change Did Not Promote a Ponzi Scheme
There are also Free software alternatives, but they don't pay The Register MS for "synthetic" so-called 'journalism'
More People Need to Call Out and Put a Stop to Serial Sloppers
Unless slopfarms are stopped, people will read and share Microsoft propaganda made by chatbots
Gemini Links 27/08/2025: Headphones and Tartarus
Links for the day
Morale at Microsoft is Terrible (Proprietary Plagiarism Machines Have No Future, LLM Slop is a Bubble)
The slop sceptics/critics are going to have lots of "told you so" moments
GNOME "governance issues, staff reduction, etc." amidst Albanian whistleblowing and women trafficking
Notice the connection to Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) and GNOME
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 26, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 26, 2025