Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Time Coronavirus Helped EPO Management Prevent Staff From Protesting and Going on Strike (March 26th)

The suspension of the right to demonstrate and to assemble has negatively affected many, even EPO workers

Romano on Elodie Bergot Elodie Bergot is still bullying EPO staff, sometimes in the name of “diversity” of course… (corporate surrogate or substitute for actual ethics)



Summary: "In view of the spreading of the New Corona Virus, the planned General Assemblies have to be cancelled," the Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO) wrote in the wake of the crisis across Europe back in March (weeks ahead of a planned strike)

OVER the past three weeks we've published a number of articles based on internal EPO documents. We showed that a campaign is now underway (mass-mailing management) and that António Campinos dealt really poorly with risks and moreover exploited a crisis for the same oppressive measures we saw -- and got accustomed to seeing -- in the Benoît Battistelli era. In simple terms, Campinos puts workers at risk while at the same time crushing their rights, breaking countless laws, and taking their money away. He's a vicious dictator like the ones his father proclaimed to have fought.



"The strike never materialised."Today we'd like to share a document predating the lock-down by not so much (depending on which country). At the start of March SUEPO, the staff union, wanted to march (or protest by means of a general, office-wide strike). It said: "SUEPO is now proposing a common Action Plan for all sites. We had planned to put the Action Plan to the vote in SUEPO General Assemblies at all sites. In view of the spreading of the New Corona Virus, the planned General Assemblies have to be cancelled. SUEPO intends to organise an electronic ballot among its members on the common Action Plan. The local Executive Committees will inform SUEPO members accordingly in the coming days. Tomorrow Friday 6 March an important meeting will take place, where the future Salary Adjustment Procedure will be discussed with management. We will keep you posted."

This was almost 9 months ago. The strike never materialised. But that did not alleviate staff anger, which only accumulated further.

With yellow highlights (ours), here's what was circulated back then.



05 March 2020 su20009cp – 0.2.1

Action Plan



The SUEPO members

Note that - None of the issues listed in the SUEPO’s call for strike of 8 November 2019 (successfully balloted on 28 November 2019) have been solved, nor has substantial progress on these issues been made; - Management, on the basis of a biased Financial Study, wants to erode the salaries and the pensions despite the very healthy financial position of the Office and irrespective of real future economic development; Management has failed to repair the NCS; - The discussions in the WG on Financial Measures followed by the technical WG on Salary Adjustment Procedure (GCC Sub-Committee on SSRP) do not show any sign of evolution towards an acceptable compromise with respect to the Salary Adjustment Procedure.

Decide

- To adapt their output/production in line with the (cumulated) losses endured as a result of the new Salary Adjustment Procedure (SAP), the NCS and the SSP financing.

Decide

- To go on a first day of strike on Thursday 26 March 2020, to draw the attention of the Administrative Council to the discontentment of Staff.

Mandate the Committee

- To inform management accordingly; - To organize all other appropriate actions, including demonstrations; - To consider, in cooperation with the SUEPO committees, submitting a new call for strike at the end of the period specified in Art. 4 of Circ. 347.

Empower the Committees

- To liaise between the SUEPO committees to accelerate or suspend the above mentioned actions (including strikes) depending on the progress of the discussions with management.


The staff of the EPO isn't too happy or complacent about being robbed by EPO management. COVID-19 has not only helped the rich get richer but also crush resistance.

"There’s been class warfare for the last 20 years, and my class has won."

--Warren Buffett

Recent Techrights' Posts

Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Serial Sloppers Are Killing the Web (They Probably Don't Care, Either)
Slop is a disease on the Web
IBM's Debt Ballooned by 8.5 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months!
Hallmark of a company in a state of disarray, trying to spend its way out of trouble
Big Trouble in GNOME
even GNOME people admit the CoC went wrong
 
The Cost (to Linux) of LLM Slop
Slop 'artists' like Fagioli are far from harmless
Links 25/04/2025: Ubisoft Spyware, Hegseth Fails at Tech on Every Level
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Food Forest Update and Facebook Destroying the Net
Links for the day
Streaming Apps Are “Investor Fraud” That Kills the Planet
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Things Get Increasingly Nasty at Microsoft Ahead of the Fake Results and May's Mass Layoffs Wave
They try to get people to 'resign' so that they won't count as layoffs and the company's 'wellbeing' will seem better
Slopping the Trough: Disney Plus Loses Billions and the Decline of Physical Media in America
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 24, 2025
Links 24/04/2025: GAFAM Problems and No Peace (or Ceasefire) in Sight
Links for the day
Slopfarms on the Web Almost Always Generate Anti-Linux FUD When They Produce "Linux" Output
Welcome to the dying Web
Richard Stallman's Oxford Talk Has Just Ended, Here Are Some Photos
he might hop over to another European country
Gemini Links 24/04/2025: Birthday and Good Work of Academia in Esotericism
Links for the day
Links 24/04/2025: EU fines Apple and Facebook, Another Microsoft GitHub Security Blunder
Links for the day
New Article Explains How the GPL Came About and WordPress Having Copyleft Obligations
Having been involved in the WordPress development community since almost the beginning, I know why it chose the GPL and how it restricts abuse by Automattic
IBM Gained Almost 6 Billion Dollars in "Goodwill" Value in Just 3 Months, According to IBM
Congrats to the management!
In Belarus, Yandex is Now Measured as 50 Times More 'Popular' (by Usage) Than Microsoft
Yandex continues to gain, whereas Bing cannot even register at 1%. Last month it was registered or measured at a measly 0.65%.
IBM Cannot Lie to Shareholders Anymore
"I would not be surprised if we see a layoff every quarter this year."
Dr Richard Stallman (RMS) Gives Talk in Oxford University in 4 Hours
If you live nearby, go there (it's free as in gratis)
Using a Law Firm's Licence to Exercise Politics Through Frivolous SLAPPs and Nastygrams (to Silence People, Remove Pages, Demand Fake or Forced 'Apologies')
Things must be getting really bad when lawyers act for raving antisemites
We're Working to Make Full-Site Search Available
This site has over 1,000 'wiki' pages, many thousands of documents, several thousands of videos, and about 50,000 blog posts or articles. We need to make them easier to find/navigate.
Links 24/04/2025: IBM Loses Many Contracts, Intel to Lay Off Over 20% (Not Counting Those Who Leave 'Voluntarily')
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Can Explain to Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society Why LLM Slop is Not Artificial Intelligence and Why It Hurts Society
another 'crop' of LLM slop that damages GNU/Linux and facts
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Promoting Microsoft and Proprietary Software Using Microsoft Operatives
Because nothing says "Open Source" like GPL violations facilitated by Microsoft
Another Site Bites the Dust: "Open Source For You" Becoming a Slopfarm (LLM Slop)
What a shame. Another dead site.
Links 23/04/2025: Crackdowns on Dissent, Palin Loses Libel Retrial Against New York Times
Links for the day
Links 23/04/2025: Hard Times and Digital Amnesia
Links for the day
The GNU/Linux Site Formerly Known as "linoxide.com" is Back... as an LLM Slopfarm!
Better for linoxide.com to go offline than to do this
Richard Stallman to Speak in Oxford University Exactly a Day From Now
outsourced to GAFAM
Links 23/04/2025: "Hiding Corruption" and "The Cost of Defunding Harvard"
Links for the day
Microsoft 'Studies' Again? Leon Musolff is Writing Papers With Microsoft.
Even if one can see/find a link to "the study" (in the Bezos-controlled publication), most people won't look any further and just take everything at face value.
Towards GNU World Domination
The FSF led by Geoffrey S. Knauth with his friend Richard Stallman in the FSF's Board [...] Let's encourage people to adopt GNU/Linux. There has never been a better time.
statCounter Helps Visualise Just How Deep in Trouble Microsoft is (Especially in Africa)
Microsoft sabotaged efforts to connect Africans and equip them with GNU/Linux laptops
The Register is Using Linux-Hostile Clickbait in Articles of Linux Proponents
Don't be a "whore" to advertisers, team El Reg
Microsoft Windows in Cyprus Lacking a Future
Most people access the Web there from mobile
Matrix Has a Severe Problem With Illegal Images
If Matrix cannot get the CP problem under control, many projects and people will dump Matrix
Never Try to Justify Strangulation of Women (Not in the US and Not in the UK)
Joint post by Mrs. Rianne Schestowitz and Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Links 23/04/2025: Tesla Profits Plunge 71%, Intel Ready to Lay Off 20% of Staff, Microsoft and IBM Layoffs
Links for the day
Microsoft's Most Profound Issue is That People Moved to 'Mobile' and "App Stores" (Microsoft's Presence There is Negligible)
Expect a wild ride for Microsoft this year
Google News is Amplifying FUD and Lies About Linux (and OpenSSH/SSH) by Promoting Slopfarms With Machine-Generated FUD and Slop Images
Google should know better
Gemini Links 23/04/2025: Librarians, Anubis, and Refactoring a Gemini Capsule
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 22, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 22, 2025