The European Patent Office (EPO) Local Staff Committees (LSCs) Remind Staff That They Are Unlawfully Being Censored by the Management Even Years After an International Tribunal, ILOAT, Ruled in Favour of Mass Mail From Representation Bodies to Staff

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Jan 18, 2024

Protecting its power by silencing the staff; that's not the same as staff keeping quiet wilfully so as to avoid uttering something foolish

A DECADE ago the EPO's ringleader, who had brought corruption to the Office, decided to silence staff and prevent even the staff representation from speaking to staff, at least efficiently (like, speaking directly to everybody as those who were legitimately voted to represent everybody).

The ringleader, Benoît Battistelli, whose family has actual Nazi connections (we covered this before), left António Campinos in his place. They swapped some chairs (musical chairs at CEIPI) and fellow Frenchman António continues to cover up while promoting illegal patent courts, promoting European software patents, ignoring courts' judgments, silencing the union, and worsening the work conditions in general. Nothing has truly changed; even the atmosphere is more or less the same, but that became a "new normal". People got accustomed to terrible working environments and low standards.

At the start of the year the Local Staff Committees (LSCs), notably the one in Munich, sent an outline to already-overencumbered staff. And highlighted in yellow: "We are still not allowed to send mass e-mails, so we had to print this to reach you!" (See below)

Here's the full thing:

About staff representation

At the EPO, there are five staff representation committees: the Central Staff Committee (CSC), which deals with matters affecting all sites, and four Local Staff Committees (LSC), which take care of local affairs in Munich, The Hague, Berlin and Vienna. We are the Local Staff Committee Munich (LSC MN). As defined in Article 34 (1) of our Service Regulations, we represent the interests of all staff and maintain suitable contacts with the Administration. We contribute to the smooth running of the service by providing a channel for the expression of opinion by the staff.

To do this we rely on your help: Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us if you have comments, questions, feedback, information, advice or proposals about any topics regarding the workplace. The more information you give us, the better we can work for you. We are here to represent your interests.

We are still not allowed to send mass e-mails, so we had to print this to reach you!

Local Staff Committee Munich NEWSLETTER 1 10-01-2024 This is our first newsletter, we aim to inform you about what we have done, and what we will be doing in the near future:

1. General Assembly

A hybrid General Assembly will be held on Wednesday 24 January 2024 at 15:00 hrs. We will address several topics, including:

1. Unattainable targets and appraisal reports

2. Quality

3. Career Judgments and our response

4. The Salary Adjustment Procedure (SAP)

2. LSCMN met VP4 on 9 November 2023. We discussed several topics:

a. Bringing Teams Together (BTT)

b. Future renovation of BT 5-6

c. The new printers and their restriction to “secure printing” (P5000)

d. Ergonomics of the printing rooms and the use of "pigeonholes"

Concerning BTT, we have requested that floors 6-8 of BT 1-4 be reopened to free up more fixed offices. We also requested a staff survey.

Concerning the renovation of BT 5-6, we expressed a negative opinion on the introduction of glass walls.

Concerning the introduction of the new printers and secure printing (P5000), the LSCMN will be soon publishing on this issue.

Happy new year to all of you and your beloved ones!

---

Contact us at any time per e-mail: mnstcom@epo.org

For more contact options and all other updates, visit our intranet page:

The Office → Staff Representation → Local Staff Committee Munich (LSC Munich) and Announcements

We can give you advice and support you in any work-related issue!

It should be noted that suppression of speech by Campinos and his friends (now colleagues) began only months after he had arrived at the Office. There's so much more that we can talk about, but it would risk repetition, which would be cumbersome to readers.

The Local Staff Committee Munich (LSC Munich) plans a meeting next week. The agenda includes "Unattainable targets and appraisal reports, Quality, Vote on resolution (draft will follow), Career Judgments and our response, Salary adjustment procedure, and Any other business" (direct quote).

Ever since 2018 (believe it or not, 6 years ago!) nothing has truly changed for the better except some superficial things. António covers up for his predecessors and tries to keep judges off their backs - to the point of actually ignoring and disregarding judgments selectively (those that don't suit his and his friends' interests). One might expect this in a country like Turkey, not in Bavaria. █