EPO Management ("Alicante Mafia") Not Properly Sharing Information on Scale of Strikes by EPO Staff
Yesterday morning: Almost 1,600 EPO Employees Went on Strike Last Week
Yesterday afternoon:
Yesterday a letter was sent to the ringleader of the "Alicante Mafia", EPO President António Campinos, who covers up cocaine use. He was reminded of the need for transparency and cautioned against disproportionate (double) deductions in salaries against people who participate in strikes, which are protected by law.
EPO staff was told by the Central Staff Committee:
Open letter to the PresidentDear Colleagues,
The staff representation and the SUEPO trade union are only notified of the statistics on the strike participation via the intranet publication to all staff on the intranet. In order for the organisers of the strike to have a better understanding of the participation, the Central Staff Committee (CSC) requests in an open letter to the President that disaggregated data be provided.
In addition, the CSC requests confirmation that the fundamental right to strike of part-timers is respected on strike days that coincide with a planned part-time off day.
To put the contents found in the open letter in text-only bulletins, GemText, and HTML:
European Patent Office
80298 Munich
GermanyCentral Staff Committee
Comité central du personnel
Zentraler Personalausschuss
centralSTCOM@epo.org
Reference: sc26013cl
Date: 05/02/2026
European Patent Office | 80298 MUNICH | GERMANY
To: Mr António Campinos (President of the Office)
Cc: Social DialogueBy email:
To: president@epo.org
Cc: socialdialogue@epo.orgOPEN LETTER
Transparency on strike statistics and situation of part-timers
Dear colleagues,
We are writing to highlight one issue of transparency and one issue of clarity.
On the issue of transparency, the staff representation and SUEPO are only notified of the statistics on the strike participation via the intranet publication to all staff on the intranet. In order for the organisers of the strike to have a better understanding of the participation, we request that disaggregated data be provided to us, whereby the participation rates on the basis of a number of groupings are provided, including;
• job role (examiners, FOs, other)
• contract status (fixed-term, permanent)
• managerial status (managers, non-managers)
• years of service (0-5, 5-10, 10-15, 15-20, 20-25, 25-30, 30+)
• grade
Each of the groupings, including the place of employment, should also include the total eligible number in the group.
Access to such information would be appropriate to allow us a slightly improved view, moving towards the full overview of the administration, on the participation of our workforce in the strike action.
On the issue of clarity, we ask for confirmation regarding the status of colleagues working on part-time arrangements who participate in the strike actions. The information provided on the intranet states:
Time not worked due to participation in strike action will result in a corresponding deduction of remuneration:
• For staff on part time work schemes, the deductions will be made proportionally to their working hours.This has created concerns among colleagues who fear they could have double deductions for a day of strike that coincides with a planned part-time off day.
As a concrete example, we consider colleagues who have an 80% part-time arrangement, working 8 hours per day Monday - Thursday and not working Fridays. The fundamental right to strike of these colleagues shall be respected by allowing them to declare themselves on strike. The pay of the colleagues shall remain unchanged compared to their usual part-time salary and the strike participation of these colleagues be included in the administration-published statistics.
We request confirmation that the HR Department proceeds this way.
We request that we receive a response to the email by the 10th February, in good time before the next planned strike of 23rd February.
Sincerely yours,
Derek Kelly
Chairman of the Central Staff Committee
He will need to respond by next week (they say "the 10th February"). Hopefully he won't be too stoned to keep track of the dates. █