12.28.17
Gemini version available ♊︎Raw: EPO ‘Democracy’ With No Separation of Powers and No Access to Justice
Summary: While the EPO’s autocrat attempted to frame the European Patent Office (EPO) as a “social democracy” in reality the Office was the exact opposite of it, explains the staff committee (CSC)
Working Group “Social Democracy”
Dear Mr Battistelli,
As indicated by the CSC delegation in the meeting with you on 20 November, we would like to reiterate our position with respect to the Working Group “Social Democracy” and express the following reservations concerning our participation.
As a preliminary remark, we remain of the opinion that it is not the right time to start discussions on reforms of the staff representation when we are in the middle of an intense social conflict, the causes of which are in no way related to the Staff Committee structure. Additionally, we see no need for haste in the view of the recent elections in Munich and Berlin which are valid for the next two years.
Further, Staff would appreciate not to be confronted with a further reform which will be perceived as ill-conceived1 and hastily introduced. In the light of the Office poor track record over the last years, we consider that the extremely tight time constraint you propose (end of discussions before February 2014) is over-ambitious and cannot guarantee proper discussion of such a complex matter under suitable conditions.
Beside the above issues of timing and timeframe, the CSC has fundamental concerns about the scope of the matter to be addressed in the working group. So far, you seem to consider that “Social Democracy” is limited to reforming the structure, modus operandi and the election rules of the functioning Staff Committee institution2.
The CSC disagrees with such over-restrictive understanding. In our view the mandate should be put into conformity with the key principles of “Social
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1 as symptom please see the large number of appeals regarding Circ.347 or the “Well-being” policy
2 see Communiqué 35
Democracy”3 and must contain at least the following elements which are pillars of any democratic system:
- Separation of powers
- Access to justice (repair of the EPO appeal system)
- Fundamental rights (Investigation Guidelines, freedom of speech and communication, right to strike, disciplinary threats or measures on staff and their representatives, access to information)At the moment none of above points is addressed in a satisfactory manner. Under these circumstances the CSC considers that a meeting with you should be dedicated to defining both the scope, i.e. mandate, and time-line, of a future discussion in a dedicated working group. This first step would also contribute to restore an atmosphere of mutual trust between management and staff.
Yours sincerely,
[omitted]
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3 “is defined as a policy regime involving a universal welfare state and collective bargaining schemes” promoting “stakeholders sufficient rights of co-determination” – Wikipedia
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