01.27.23

European Patent Office Staff Losing Hope

Posted in Europe, Patents at 2:06 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Video download link | md5sum 503e18c16f942729aa694e85c07cb717
EPO Deteriorates Every Year, So Does Its Propaganda
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0

Summary: The EPO’s management with its shallow campaign of obfuscation (pretending to protect children or some other nonsense) is not fooling patent examiners, who have grown tired and whose representatives say “the administration shows no intention of involving the staff representation in the drafting of the consultant’s mandate” (like in Sirius ‘Open Source’ where technical staff is ignored completely for misguided proposals to pass in the dark)

The Central Staff Committee, or the staff representation at the European Patent Office, is unequivocally unhappy about António‘s reign, which turns 5 in July. Benoît Battistelli in 2014 or 2015 was starting to struggle to the point of attacking the staff representatives. Campinos shouted the f* word at staff representatives last year, so maybe he’s even “ahead of the curve” (so much for social/negotiation skills).

“Campinos shouted the f* word at staff representatives last year, so maybe he’s even “ahead of the curve” (so much for social/negotiation skills).”Here in this site we worry about European software patents being granted to fake 'production'. But we also worry about patent examiners being bullied into doing stuff in violation of the EPC.

At the moment there is the following new document circulating among staff of the EPO, asserting that “almost every review in recent years resulted in fragmentation and deterioration of our working conditions”. Here’s the full letter, which is also discussed in the video above:

Zentraler Personalausschuss
Central Staff Committee
Le Comité Central du Personnel

Munich, 23/01/2023
sc23007cp

Social Agenda 2023

Hope dies last

Dear Colleagues,

In December 2022, the CSC sent its input for the social agenda 2023 to the President, who replied shortly before the winter break. As in previous years, the administration set its social agenda without any real discussion with any social partner. It has to be said though that some of the points that we mentioned in our letter did make it into the administration’s agenda. We had also suggested a review of the computation of sick leave and an impact study of the New Ways of Working, but these were not included in the agenda.

As in previous years, we are not yet aware of the gist of any of the new reforms or reviews listed in the official social agenda 2023. In theory, it should be possible that these reforms are neutral towards staff, one could even dream of improvements. Since the administration has integrated some of our points in its agenda, one can only hope that this would be a first step towards a genuine social dialogue. It would be a marked break with past practice and a welcome surprise for staff, which is increasingly distancing and disengaging from its employer.

Past experience indicates otherwise: almost every review in recent years resulted in fragmentation and deterioration of our working conditions, often at the expense of our younger colleagues and families¹.

The social agenda 2023 mentions a financial study as a recurring topic. We can only hope that this one will not be attributed to Mercer-Wyman, the very same ones who could not have been more wrong with their 2019 attempt, even despite an unforeseeable global pandemic that ensued. Once again, the administration shows no intention of involving the staff representation in the drafting of the consultant’s mandate.

The first indications for 2023 are, regrettably again, not so positive: “Bringing Teams Together” does not live up to its name at all, but proves to be a particularly divisive exercise as more and more details come to light.

We will of course keep you posted if and when we are invited to working groups and get to see the ideas the administration will pull out of their magic hat. Against all odds, the hope for the better remains until the end.

The Central Staff Committee
_____
¹
Welcome to EPOnia – an overview of our recent reforms

The video above takes a journey through the latest EPO propaganda (warning: epo.org link), which was published almost every day this past week. The quality of the propaganda has rapidly fallen.

As for the agenda, as noted above, this is what’s planned for the rest of the year:

SOCIAL AGENDA 2023

ONGOING FROM 2022

1 NPS/SSP Study
2 Update circular 356 – Communication and Resources for Staff Representatives
3 Staff Committee Election Framework
4 Health Services Adjustments
5 Diversity & Inclusion

NEW TOPICS

6 Home Loans
7 Dependant’s Allowance
8 Review of the regulations regarding on-call work
9 Review of the benefits in case of physical (cross-site) transfers

RECURRING TOPICS

10 Actuarial Study
11 Financial Study

REGULAR UPDATES ON IMPLEMENTATION

12. Implementation Matters
▪ ECR
▪ New Ways of Working
▪ Bringing our Teams Together

Here’s what the original looks like (as an image with colours). █

csc and epo site 2023

Video download link | md5sum
EPO Deteriorates Every Year, So Does Its Propaganda
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0

Summary: The EPO’s management with its shallow campaign of obfuscation (pretending to protect children or some other nonsense) is not fooling patent examines, who have grown tired and whose representatives say “the administration shows no intention of involving the staff representation in the drafting of the consultant’s mandate” (like in Sirius ‘Open Source’ where technical staff is ignored completely for misguided proposals to pass in the dark)

The Central Staff Committee, or the staff representation at the European Patent Office, is unequivocally unhappy about António‘s reign, which turns 5 in July. Benoît Battistelli in 2014 or 2015 was starting to struggle to the point of attacking the staff representatives. Campinos shouted the f* word at staff representatives last year, so maybe he’s even “ahead of the curve” (so much for social/negotiation skills).

“Campinos shouted the f* word at staff representatives last year, so maybe he’s even “ahead of the curve” (so much for social/negotiation skills).”Here in this site we worry about European software patents being granted to fake 'production'. But we also worry about patent examiners being bullied into doing stuff in violation of the EPC.

At the moment there is the following new document circulating among staff of the EPO, asserting that “almost every review in recent years resulted in fragmentation and deterioration of our working conditions”. Here’s the full letter, which is also discussed in the video above:

Zentraler Personalausschuss
Central Staff Committee
Le Comité Central du Personnel

Munich, 23/01/2023
sc23007cp

Social Agenda 2023

Hope dies last

Dear Colleagues,

In December 2022, the CSC sent its input for the social agenda 2023 to the President, who replied shortly before the winter break. As in previous years, the administration set its social agenda without any real discussion with any social partner. It has to be said though that some of the points that we mentioned in our letter did make it into the administration’s agenda. We had also suggested a review of the computation of sick leave and an impact study of the New Ways of Working, but these were not included in the agenda.

As in previous years, we are not yet aware of the gist of any of the new reforms or reviews listed in the official social agenda 2023. In theory, it should be possible that these reforms are neutral towards staff, one could even dream of improvements. Since the administration has integrated some of our points in its agenda, one can only hope that this would be a first step towards a genuine social dialogue. It would be a marked break with past practice and a welcome surprise for staff, which is increasingly distancing and disengaging from its employer.

Past experience indicates otherwise: almost every review in recent years resulted in fragmentation and deterioration of our working conditions, often at the expense of our younger colleagues and families¹.

The social agenda 2023 mentions a financial study as a recurring topic. We can only hope that this one will not be attributed to Mercer-Wyman, the very same ones who could not have been more wrong with their 2019 attempt, even despite an unforeseeable global pandemic that ensued. Once again, the administration shows no intention of involving the staff representation in the drafting of the consultant’s mandate.

The first indications for 2023 are, regrettably again, not so positive: “Bringing Teams Together” does not live up to its name at all, but proves to be a particularly divisive exercise as more and more details come to light.

We will of course keep you posted if and when we are invited to working groups and get to see the ideas the administration will pull out of their magic hat. Against all odds, the hope for the better remains until the end.

The Central Staff Committee
_____
¹
Welcome to EPOnia – an overview of our recent reforms

The video above takes a journey through the latest EPO propaganda (warning: epo.org link), which was published almost every day this past week. The quality of the propaganda has rapidly fallen.

As for the agenda, as noted above, this is what’s planned for the rest of the year:

SOCIAL AGENDA 2023

ONGOING FROM 2022

1 NPS/SSP Study
2 Update circular 356 – Communication and Resources for Staff Representatives
3 Staff Committee Election Framework
4 Health Services Adjustments
5 Diversity & Inclusion

NEW TOPICS

6 Home Loans
7 Dependant’s Allowance
8 Review of the regulations regarding on-call work
9 Review of the benefits in case of physical (cross-site) transfers

RECURRING TOPICS

10 Actuarial Study
11 Financial Study

REGULAR UPDATES ON IMPLEMENTATION

12. Implementation Matters
▪ ECR
▪ New Ways of Working
▪ Bringing our Teams Together

Here’s what the original looks like (as an image with colours). █

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