Bonum Certa Men Certa

SUEPO Reiterates Call for Independent Mediation and “Doubts That There Can Ever be Social Peace With Mr Battistelli as President”

Scorpion's instincts

Tortoise and Scorpion The Scorpion and the Frog



Summary: The staff union of the EPO (SUEPO) expresses its views on the bogus “Union recognition talks”, which seem to promote a false sense of trust and leave the union leaders ever more exposed to union-busting

AS we promised a couple of days ago, EPO coverage is going to increase in terms of pace and depth. Next week we intend to look deeper inside the institutional corruption and also the granting of patents that never should have been granted. In the mean time, over the weekend perhaps, we wish to organise the Wiki based on themes, in order to make it simpler to navigate. The uninitiated should be able to promptly appreciate just how abusive the EPO has become.



One of the longstanding issues at the EPO is that the management always attacks the messengers who 'dare' to question the decisions of management. They are too arrogant to accept constructive criticism and instead they try to crush any morsel of dissent, criticism, disobedience, or the simple act of unionising (which is perfectly legal and protected by European standards). "The road to social peace," as SUEPO calls it, would require "high level, independent mediation." Here they are stating:

Mr Battistelli and Mr Kongstad have hailed “Union recognition talks” as the solution to the social conflict in the Office. SUEPO was sceptical from the beginning, for several reasons. One is that the prior reforms that caused the current problems are explicitly excluded from the present and future discussions. Another very fundamental reason is that any agreement or contract is meaningless if it cannot be enforced. We have already seen Mr Battistelli violates even rules he himself established as soon as they no longer suit him, and invokes “immunity” in order to uphold illegal practices. Blind trust is therefore not an option. In this context the “Memorandum of understanding" proposed by Ms Bergot (PD43) is quite revealing. Quite early on it states that “The union officials shall be bound by the legal framework applicable by the EPO” – a framework that the President can unilaterally change as he sees fit. The ongoing accusations of (and investigations in) alleged harassment amongst SUEPO officials and staff representatives (!), apparently targeting the better-known SUEPO representatives, also show that Mr Battistelli is more interested in destroying SUEPO than in recognizing it.

Thus far Mr Battistelli has refused to take on board any opinions other than his own. He has notoriously refused to respect unanimous recommendations of the Internal Appeals Committee and of the Disciplinary Committee – if these were in favour of staff. He has repeatedly refused to accept findings of invalidity by the Medical Committee. By now SUEPO very much doubts that there can ever be social peace with Mr Battistelli as President. But if there could be a road to social peace, it would have to come through high level, independent mediation. SUEPO has repeatedly expressed its willingness to participate in a mediation process. Here we do so again.


Having watched this for well over a year, it seems abundantly clear that neither Battistelli nor Kongstad would be interested in ever recognising a staff union. Battistelli's bulldog, Željko Topić, went as far as saying that “SUEPO has no standing in this office.” How can they ever pretend otherwise? As long as there is no acceptance of any sort of input from 'low level' staff (meaning, in the case of the EPO, highly technical people), there won't be peace. It's a shame that the management is too thick (or perhaps arrogant) to grasp this.

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