Bonum Certa Men Certa

Insensitivity at the EPO’s Management – Part VI: Fear Climate and Antipathy Now the 'Norm'

Smiling judge



Summary: The so-called "reign of terror" at the EPO (that is what the mainstream media calls it now) as explained by an insider, based on personal experiences

TODAY we continue a long series which explores and details the ethical depravity which prevails at the high 'circles' of EPO management (Team Battistelli). Previously, in part 5, we explained how workers were left to 'rot' after their family had fallen critically ill. This would typically be a good point for staff union/s to step in and help, but at the EPO the sole genuine union, SUEPO, is under severe attacks. Battistelli's union-busting campaign has instated a reign of terror which paralyses not only union activity but also ordinary workers. SUEPO has been writing about exploitation of illness for quite some time, so it seems like a golden opportunity to intervene.



“It hampered heavily both union and staff representation functions.”
      --Anonymous
"SUEPO is also not a focused structure," however, as a source told us because "it has always been torn apart from its inner nature of internal unions; people in it first and utmost care for their position in EPO. Same attitude that in present times translates into fear for themselves. It hampered heavily both union and staff representation functions."

A seatbelt analogy was once used to explain this. Or an oxygen mask. Staff union members -- and especially leaders -- have had to ensure their own safety too, as under Battistelli's notorious reign of terror they can suddenly find themselves wrongly accused and then dismissed in a kangaroo court. What Battistelli has therefore done leaves vulnerable staff (or staff he does not like) almost totally defenseless.

"Now I haven't been paid for months," a source one told us about the EPO, "they fabricated a new rule just for me: they assume that I am not present at my residence (which I am not obliged to be, but nevertheless) and for every assumed day of absence they take away a twentieth of my wage. I have been forced to interrupt my medical treatment and notify myself with a passport to the Office premises. As it is, I won't receive my wage again. They spare themselves the trouble of a questionable dismissal, yet they exert upon me the same type of pressure that a dismissal can cause: no wage. Office rules require that no deduction shall overcome 50% of the wage, but they kept up to 80% in the past and now 100%. They know it: who could ever complain and how? And before which court?"

“They know it: who could ever complain and how? And before which court?”
      --Anonymous
The dubious 'legality' of it aside, it's not hard to see why not many people even bother applying for a job at the EPO anymore. The required qualifications went down by a lot just in order to attract more applicants (low-quality applications).

"I am aware of intimidations and other more or less explicit pressures made onto medical doctors," a source told us, "some I found out about during my activity as a staff representative, some other are those actually following me as a patient right now. I also have evidence that the doctors put in charge by the Office under contract or as internal officers have broken rules of their own professional national order."

Such is the 'joy' of working for the EPO...

“They have their own inconsistent convenience of career interests to preserve: truly it's nothing, but to an emotionally and morally semi-blind creature that has lost any professional profile and moral sense, that's all that matters.”
      --Anonymous
"The Office has been sowing evil and bad acts all over," the source continued, "inside and outside the Office, for over a decade at a point that nothing can be covered, let alone erased for much longer. There is reason for that, which cannot be found at just one level, such as corruption or private interests: everything is made possible by anthropologically well understandable mechanisms, the same type of mechanisms that allow the existence of things such as the Gulags, the Stasi, Auschwitz and the Holocaust: human beings with the soul and mind of worm-like creatures. They have their own inconsistent convenience of career interests to preserve: truly it's nothing, but to an emotionally and morally semi-blind creature that has lost any professional profile and moral sense, that's all that matters."

Antipathy now seems like a recruitment criterion for Team Battistelli, which probably serves to explain why one of the top hires (Vice-President) has corruption indictments against him in Strasbourg and many criminal investigations against him in his home country.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Digital Sanitation Good Practices
leave behind Microsoftism
10 Days Ago Richard Stallman Gave a Long Interview in French (linuxfr.org)
English translation
Science, Not Fast Food/Junk Food
The commercial exploitation of users won't stop until users exercise full control over their software or - more broadly - their computing (including data)
[Video] Dr. Richard Stallman at Technické Univerzitě v Liberci
New/via libre-liberec.cz
Security is Desirable, But Not When the Term Security is Misused to Imply Centralisation of "Trust" (Whose?)
'Security' is not an excuse for vendor lock-in
 
What's Wrong With Liking Parrots or Birds as Pets?
They'd demonise people for speaking about freedom, no matter what they say or do
The Free Software Foundation, Which Has Appointed a 43-Year-Old President, is Looking to Add Another Board Member (or Treasurer)
expect the FSF to add more people
Richard Stallman Confirms Next Week's Talk at Technical University of Munich, We Urge EPO Staff to Attend
That's probably late enough for EPO staff to attend after work
Gemini Links 18/10/2025: Notifications and Geminaut
Links for the day
Many Red Hat People Are Leaving, But It'll Be Framed Publicly as Leaving IBM
Similarly, IBM layoffs (or "RAs" as they're called) include Red Hat layoffs
Expect More Waves of Microsoft Layoffs This Month (at Least Two Rounds Confirmed Already)
From what we can gather, assuming the recent rumours about XBox are true, there will be at least 3 waves of Microsoft layoffs this month alone
Security Issues in Cisco and Jenkins Passed Off as "Linux" Problems
Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD) tactics
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 17, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, October 17, 2025
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, Linux Journal (Slashdot Media), UbuntuPIT, and Google News (Noise)
egregious plagiarism
Links 17/10/2025: Better Answers Sought After Air Crashes, "China Fans Patriotic Sentiment as Trade War With U.S. Heats Up"
Links for the day
Links 17/10/2025: Fentanylware (CheeTok) Causing Problems, Japanese Government Blasts Slop
Links for the day
The Linux Foundation Seems to Have Turned Linux.com Not Only Into a Spamfarm But Also LLM Slopfarm
it's polluting the Web, even important domains like Linux.com, with spam and LLM slop
Links 17/10/2025: UK’s Largest Breach Penalty and Windows TCO Examples
Links for the day
Go Watch Video About Librephone, Get Microsoft Ads
Very ethical company...
Campaign of Defamation Against the People Who Built NixOS (and Are Now Pushed Out From Their Own Project)
We've already grown familiar with - and resistant to - such tactics
Links 17/10/2025: Nestlé Crisis, Canada Post Versus 'Gig Economy' [sic] and Vista 11 Breaks Itself
Links for the day
Tux Machines Has Helped Separate Opinions/Analysis From News
In September 2023 we decided to split things apart and not repeat links in both sites
Tux Machines Has Improved Navigation of GNU/Linux and BSD News
Some more 'wiring' work
What a World Would Look Like If Everyone Used Free Software Only
Freedom is what matters, not "Open".
The Media Helps Microsoft, Amazon and Others (GAFAM and Beyond) Lie About Mass Layoffs Amid Valuation Bubble
The media, instead of saying that there's an "AI bubble" crashing the economy might instead choose the narrative of "jobs replaced by AI"
Bad Tempered? You Might Have Just Given Away That You're Losing the Argument
Brett Wilson LLP is fully aware that it is being investigated
Richard Stallman (RMS) is a Target of Defamation Campaigns Because of His Views on Software (But Politics Are the Excuse for Defaming Him)
Here in this site we try to refrain from politics, except in Daily Links
End of Vista 10 and Rise of GNU/Linux as Client Side Operating System
It seems certain GNU/Linux will grow in popularity over time
Taking Stock of a Week's Worth of EPO Leaks
We remain committed to exposing EPO corruption as long as it keeps happening
Mathieu Parreaux claims FINMA knew since day one
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Calumny, Libel, Joerg Jaspert & debian-private untouchable cyberbullies
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 16, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 16, 2025
Techrights Turns 19 in 3 Weeks
coverage of suppressed topics and protecting all sources/whistleblowers
International E-Waste Day Same Day as End of Vista 10
message from Akira Urushibata
The EPO's Central Staff Committee Presents Evidence That Staff Compensation Lowered While the Office Increases Income by Illegally Granting Invalid Patents
These people become millionaires by doing illegal things
Second or Third Wave of Microsoft Mass Layoffs in October 2025, This Time Portugal
Those are just the ones we know about, there may be several more
'Help Net Security' (helpnetsecurity.com) May Have Become a Slopfarm as Well
Zeljka Zorz, Editor-in-Chief at Help Net Security, was reported to us
Gemini Links 17/10/2025: Rant About Network Solutions, Strange Anomaly on Lagrange
Links for the day
EPO Staff Representation Lacks Social Dialogue With Relevant Management, Controversial and Sometimes Illegal Policies Implemented Without Necessary Input
"In this open letter, the CSC requests that the President submits an agenda item in the next available General Consultative Committee (GCC) meeting on setting up regular meetings between the CSC and the higher management of DG1."
Links 16/10/2025: Political Leftovers and Gemini Protocol Links
Links for the day
Lies Need to be Corrected
the Court never invited us
Slopwatch: Guardian Digital (linuxsecurity.com), Slashdot, Google News, and More
Maybe one day, once the bubble pops completely, Google News will just outright delist all slopfarms
Lufthansa Modern Slavery, Joerg Jaspert (ganneff) & Debian NSB Softwareentwicklung charade
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 16/10/2025: US Starting More Trade Wars With China, CIA War on Venezuela
Links for the day
SUSE Blog is Still LLM Slop, Marketing Manager at SUSE Cannot Write
Would you buy from a company or seek support from a company that cannot even write (or fakes writing)?
Pretend You're Not Dead: Microsoft Spent Almost Two Decades Rebranding Things as "Cloud, Then "AI", Now "XBox" and "Quantum"
"AI" bubble pops, Microsoft harping about "quantum" already
IBM Allegedly Found New Tricks for Silent Layoffs: LPI, Then MIS (Not PIP)
Remember that "Red Hat layoffs" won't be reported after the bluewashing
Links 16/10/2025: Red Lines and Feeding of Microsoft Trolls
Links for the day
MIT as a Propaganda Mill of GAFAM, Paid by GAFAM
"the news" today
Links 16/10/2025: Lies Euphemised as ‘Dueling Versions of Reality’ and Microsoft "Open" "Hey Hi" Resorts to Porn as No Business Model Was Found
Links for the day
The Local Staff Committee Munich (Representation of the EPO's Staff) Explains When Cluster of Pregnancies May Result in Reduced Pay
"...even one week of part-time working is sufficient to reduce the salary you perceive during the entirety of your maternity leave."
Another Black Eye for 'Secure Boot', Microsoft Media Tries to Blame "Linux"
It enables Microsoft to remotely control computers, even computers that don't run Windows and never had any Microsoft software installed
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT, linuxsecurity.com, and Various Slopfarms in Google News Attacking "Linux"
A new survey of the Web said that the majority of the Web is now slop (that's being said in the news this week)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 15, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Links 16/10/2025: Increased Use of Social Control Media Surveillance in US, French Rage Over Pensions
Links for the day