Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Non-dialogue: “Staff Representatives Were Intimidated, Persecuted, or Both.” How the EPO Under António Campinos Succumbed to Battistelli Monarchy, Leading to Unrest, Strikes

Part 2 of 3 (see part 1)

The police squad



London protestsSummary: "The President [António Campinos] is the main interlocutor for social dialogue," explained EPO staff representatives. "Having a first meeting only after 5 month from the start of the year, however, is not really fostering social dialogue." They explained that EPO management resorted to aggression and force (at least verbal) within just months of the supposedly 'nice' new President taking Office.

THE STAFF of the EPO took only months to be convinced that another Benoît Battistelli had been put in charge of governing the institution. Here's a letter sent to him after less than 11 months at the Office:



Reference: sc19075cl-0.3.1/1.3.1 Date: 29.05.2019

Mr António Campinos President of the EPO

ISAR - R.1081

OPEN LETTER

Agenda for our meeting on 03 June 2019

Dear Mr President,

The Central Staff Committee (CSC) thanks you for your invitation to meet on 3 June and for suggesting some points for the agenda.

The CSC is very concerned about the latest developments at the EPO, especially concerning the current level of unrest due to continuing anti-staff policies, as well as the lack of improvement in social dialogue. This is also reflected in the recent call for strike. Issues raised therein have been high on the agenda of the CSC for some time and therefore, we propose to first explore with you which actions we believe could either resolve some issues and/or at least reassure staff on your intentions.

In addition, we are extremely worried by an email we just received from a staff representative on which you were copied. We are recognising methods of an era we thought bygone, when staff representatives were intimidated, persecuted, or both. This is extremely disturbing.

If time still allows, we would of course also like to address the agenda points, as raised by you, i.e.:

- Follow up on the staff survey (including your letter dated 10.4.2019) - Strategic Plan - Status of the Working Groups (Resources & Communication, Adjustments to the Performance Management and Procedure for Incompetence)




On the staff survey, we look forward to seeing how we will be involved in the next steps, and to receiving the requested aggregated data.

On the strategic plan, we are convinced that it needs to reflect the staff survey results – and a focus on quality and on staff should be given through a review of some past reforms. We refer to our input and the need to present a timetable enabling to re-establish quickly staff confidence in management.

On the status of the two working groups, we look forward to seeing their mandates clarified (if needed) and some progress booked.

Yours sincerely,

Joachim Michels Chairman of the Central Staff Committee



The message to staff was similar to the open letter (slight variation and additions, especially the first paragraph, left out from the letter for diplomatic reasons):

President meets CSC on 3 June



Agenda items for discussion and worrying developments in treating staff representatives

Dear colleagues,

The CSC appreciates the invitation by the President to meet on 3 June. The President is the main interlocutor for social dialogue. Having a first meeting only after 5 month from the start of the year, however, is not really fostering social dialogue.

The CSC is very concerned about the latest developments at the EPO, especially concerning the current level of unrest due to continuing anti-staff policies, as well as the lack of improvement in social dialogue. This is also reflected in the recent call for strike. Issues raised therein have been high on the agenda of the CSC for some time and therefore, we propose to first explore with the President which actions we believe could either resolve some issues and/or at least reassure staff on his intentions.

In addition, we are extremely worried by an email we just received from a staff representative on which you were copied. We are recognising methods of an era we thought bygone, when staff representatives were intimidated, persecuted, or both. Further agenda points amongst others will be: ● Follow up on the staff survey (including your letter dated 10.4.2019) ● Strategic Plan ● Status of the Working Groups (Resources & Communication, Adjustments to the Performance Management and Procedure for Incompetence)


Staff representatives of the EPO would later suggest going on strike, as we noted last year and again a few days ago.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Links 28/10/2025: Meta and Fentanylware (CheeTok) Age-Restricted Down Under, "Britain Needs China’s Money"
Links for the day
Links 28/10/2025: Mass Layoffs at Amazon and Charter to Cut 1,200 Jobs
Links for the day
The Cocaine Patent Office - Part II: The Person Who Planted Paid-for Fake News for the European Patent Office (EPO) is a Cocaine User, Friend of António Campinos, Now on Record as Having Been Arrested
Background: High-level manager at the European Patent Office caught in public with cocaine, arrested
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 27, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 27, 2025
Google News Drowning in Slop (and Slopfarms That Hijack About Half the Results)
Google News seems to be drowning in this stuff
Gemini Links 28/10/2025: "How to Maximize Your Positive Impact" and ASCII Art and Artist Attribution
Links for the day
PETA and Activism
Being staff or volunteer in PETA isn't easy
Big Blue, Huge Debt
debt will soar again
Links 27/10/2025: Mass Surveillance Sold as "AI", People Reluctant to Lose Physical Media
Links for the day
Parties and Milestones Again
we've begun putting up about 40 balloons
Techrights' 19th Anniversary: Bronze
Time to go back to preparing for this anniversary
Our Latest European Patent Office (EPO) Series Will Last Several Weeks, Will Ask the EPO Management and the European Union (EU) Very Difficult Questions
If nobody loses a job (or jobs) over this, then the EU basically became no better than Colombia or Nicaragua
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, Brian Fagioli, and Google News
We focus on stories that are fake or LLM slop that disguises itself as "news" about Linux
Links 27/10/2025: Wikipedia Vandalism, Bruce Perens Opens up on Childhood
Links for the day
This Site Could Not be Done by LLMs Even If It Wanted to (Because It's Not a Parrot of What Other Sites Say)
LLMs have no knowledge or deep understanding
Microsoft is Disloyal Towards Its Most Loyal Employees
Against its most faithful enablers
19 Years, No Censorship
No factual information is ever going to be removed, more so if it is in the public interest
We Are Not a Conventional Site, That's Why They Hate (or Love) Us
Throughout the week this week we'll be focusing on the EPO
Following the Line of Cocaine All the Way to the Top
Even a million denials and spin-doctoring won't distract from the core issue
The Cocaine Patent Office - Part I: António Campinos Brought Corruption and Nepotism to the EPO, Then Came the Cocaine
High-level manager at the European Patent Office (EPO) caught in public with cocaine, the Office has some answering to do
Purchasing/Possessing Computers Isn't the Same as Controlling Computers
Let's strive to put computers back under the control of their users, no matter who purchased these (usually the users)
Gemini Links 27/10/2025: Alhena 5.4.3 and Fixing Bash
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 26, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 26, 2025
Thankfully We've Made Copies of More Interesting Data From statCounter
If statCounter (the Web site or the 'webapp') vanished overnight, we'd still have something left of it
More Silent Layoffs at IBM/Red Hat
when the media counts such layoffs or presents tallies the numbers are very incomplete
Links 26/10/2025: Microsoft Spies on Gamers, Open Transport Community Conference
Links for the day
Links 26/10/2025: LLM Slop / Plagiarism Programs Continue to Disappoint, CISA Layoffs Threaten Systems
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/10/2025: Gemsync and Joining the Small Web
Links for the day
India.com a Click-baiting, SEO-Spamming, Slopfarming Heap
They do this almost every day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 25, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, October 25, 2025
Without XBox Consoles, XBox is No More, It's Just a Brand (More Rumours of Microsoft Ending XBox, Then Laying Off Lots of Staff)
All signs indicate that Microsoft wants to "exit" the XBox business (not brand), but it does not want to publicly admit this as it would alarm staff and shareholders