Bonum Certa Men Certa

Unrest at the European Patent Office as School Costs Eat Away the Income

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Oct 14, 2024

"Letter to the administration on the Education Allowance - DISDH - German School"

Some background:

When reality strikes:

DISDH fees are set each year at the general meeting when the budget for the coming school year is approved

Some time in recent days, maybe even the weekend or perhaps this past Friday, this letter from the Local Staff Committee The Hague (LSCTH) was circulated among colleagues. The letter itself isn't very new (the date on the letter is weeks ago) but the issue is still very much relevant. "This letter on behalf of the Local Staff Committee the Hague was sent to the administration on 6 September," they say, "with a reminder on 26 September. On that day the administration replied that they will revert back to us in the coming weeks."

We're already in the middle of October and EPO management seems not to care. Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos never cared about staff.

Here's the full letter, dated about 5.5 weeks ago:

European Patent Office
Patentlaan 2
2288 EE Rijswijk
NETHERLANDS

Local Staff Committee
The Hague

dhstcom@epo.org

Date: 06-09-2024

To: Ms Simon, Mr Rowan,

Cc: Ms Cadenau, Mr El Hadouchi

By email

Education allowance – DISDH: German School The Hague

Dear Ms Simon, dear Mr Rowan,

I am writing to bring to your attention a new ramification of the Education and Childcare allowance reform which is creating some unrest for the colleagues concerned.

When the reform was launched back in 2021, not all the schools covered by former Art. 120a ServRegs were included into the transitional measures regulated by Art.20 CA/D 4/21. The amount of the direct costs invoiced by the school being above the education allowance ceiling was the discriminating factor giving entitlement to the transitional measures. The Office was of the opinion that schools below the ceiling did not need any transitional measures and never would.

However, only 3 years after the launch of the reform, we have a school (i.e. DISDH – German School The Hague) with costs originally below the ceiling, now being above. This leaves the colleagues who were excluded from the transitional measures in 2021 with needing to finance the difference between the ceiling and the direct costs invoiced by the school. In our opinion our colleagues should not be in this situation or at disadvantage when compared to others, and it is only fair to apply promptly appropriate remedies.
Additionally, in the DISDH there is a particular situation stemming from the structure of the school. The school year for children 4 to 5 years old is considered a kindergarten year with associated costs well above the ceiling. This was already the situation back in 2021 (see Annex 1), and it is the situation today (see Annex 2). This could lead to the situation where some children are included in the transitional measures while others are excluded, depending on their 2021/22 school invoice and year in the school. We are ready to meet you to shed some light into this situation and find an agreeable solution for our colleagues.

Thanks in advance for your assistance,
Kind regards

Isabelle Brandt
On behalf of the Local Staff Committee The Hague

There are several more pages in the full PDF. The school costs gnaw away at the workers' income. 3 children can easily cost about 100,000 euros a year (when working overseas), not taking into account just schools but also peripheral costs.

As we shall show in the next article, the EPO is slashing and cutting things despite high inflation and despite the EPO having record "profits" owning to it breaking the law to grant many fake patents. The scheme isn't just illegal; it is extremely harmful to Europe. It's not the staff that's benefiting from the corruption; few people at the top (and their friends in "the industry") do. When an institution is so eager to gradually reduce or spoil something for profits' sake, even break the law, it's time to put an end to it.

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