While the EPO Decreased Budget for Steps and Promotions by 36% the Staff Spoke Out (Patent Examiners Lacking Incentives to Improve Their Work)
More on that later this month. Motivation is low when there are no rewards or barely any payoff for hard work.
THE new year brings back our coverage of patent affairs in Europe, including the welfare of workers whose job is to obstruct bad requests for monopolies (patent applications), which means software patents too. In yesterday's article we took note of ILOAT and its "stakeholders" (remember where ILO derives income from!), reminding readers that EPO "Presidents" (autocrats with immunity) have a history of meeting ILO and ILOAT leaders behind closed doors.
As per a publication from this past autumn, with context in this long document, ILOAT (the "court" or "tribunal" of ILO, designated for international organisations or IOs), workers were encouraged to challenge decisions made by the management. To quote the union: "Although the career system has been deemed to be legal by the ILOAT, it is still possible to have individual decisions relating to lack of rewards overturned. If you have not received a career advancement or bonus in summer 2023 and either received a good performance report for 2022 or contested your 2022 report, you have a chance of reversing the decision and receiving a step or promotion with retroactive effect. [...] You will have to provide arguments showing any of the following criteria for challenging discretionary decisions: Abuse of power; Breach of procedure; Error of law; Error of relevant fact; Consideration of irrelevant facts; Discrimination; Failure to consider relevant facts; Manifestly wrong conclusion based on correct facts" (like those hoax 'studies' of the EPO).
Speaking from personal experience, the employer my wife and I had began lying a lot. I kept confronting them about it and they would never admit the lies; it became so chronic that not only staff was lied to but also clients. As it later turned out, the company committed fraud against present and past staff. Around the time I exposed this the workers at the EPO seemed increasingly concerned about the state of pension schemes in the UK. But that's a subject we shall cover tomorrow. As clarified as recently as yesterday, we're far from done; my colleagues and We intend to pursue this in court if necessary, maybe even class action.
I personally wish to commend EPO workers for organising and fighting back against abusive autocrats who hide behind diplomatic immunity - an issue that became prevalent in WHO as well.
Workers worldwide are under attack. Some fight back, some don't. EPO workers do fight back. █