Summary: The enablers of EPO abuses and corruption show no signs of abatement; they crack down on labour rights pretty hard, misusing a crisis to endanger the health of staff instead of becoming more supportive

ALMOST 7 months ago the Central Staff Committee at the EPO circulated the following message regarding the right-hand man of António Campinos, who was supposed to boss/oversee him (Christoph Ernst turned from fake 'boss' of Benoît Battistelli into a butler of subservience, covering up for both Campinos and Battistelli).

The following message (entitled "Leave issues during the Corona Virus - Concern about using leave to maintain productivity") is quite telling. Watch what's being done to already-oppressed staffed, many of whom lost loved ones or were about to lose loved ones:

Publication on behalf of the Central Staff Committee

We repeat and strengthen here a recent same publication by LSCTH:

Staff Representation has been contacted by several colleagues voicing difficulties to maintain their productivity while teleworking from home. The reasons for their difficulty are varied and have already been addressed in different Staff Representation publications and by the Administration itself.

Some of these colleagues, faced with this situation and after informing their Line Manager (LM) of the possibility of having a reduced productivity, have either of their own volition or upon suggestion from their LM decided to take Parental Leave or Annual Leave.

While we understand that one could be indeed tempted to take leave as a form of reducing the psychological pressure due to attempting to keep on producing at a normal pace under these extraordinary circumstances, we maintain that this undermine the purpose of leave, which is to recover and fully dedicate one’s time to other activities than production for the employer. We encourage the colleagues to inform their LM of their situation. First and foremost, we should all take care of our health and insist that everyone is just trying to do their best given the extraordinary circumstances.

Staff Representation is convinced that HR should have already addressed this issue. If the remote working situation is maintained for more than a month – which it looks to be - then it is obvious that even the Parental Leave or Annual Leave are not suited for this unprecedented situation. Instead, if the words of the President and VP1 (“This is not business as usual”) are cascaded down to the Team Manager level in such a way that during the duration of this remote working colleagues are not put under pressure to keep producing as usual, then there would not be any need to use types of leave that are not fit to deal with such an extraordinary situation, or to work longer hours.

We await a clear and explicit statement from senior management, expressing their trust in staff, and confirming that for most colleagues, in view of their particular circumstances, the overall productivity will be lower in these times of a pandemic.

We will keep you posted on the developments.

Your Central Staff Committee

Considering the deep pockets of the EPO, it could just as well offer all staff paid leave for several months, letting people study or focus on their family at difficult times like these. But no... the EPO is merciless and it crushes people regardless of the circumstances. Then it wonders why it's unable to recruit talent. ⬆