Refresher: Why EPO Staff is on Strike This Year (Aside From the EPO Acting Like a Corrupt, Above-the-Law, For-Profit Corporation That Violates Its Own Charter)
Autumn already; industrial actions carry on
One core issue at the EPO is erosion of purchasing power because the EPO, which essentially acts like an unaccountable company (with diplomatic immunity!), wants to increase profits. The EPO isn't meant to be profitable, only cash-balanced. But it made money its sole purpose. One way it does so is break the law, set up fake new courts that it controls, and disregard tribunals which try to enforce international laws in international organisations.
The "WORK TO RULE" initiative, set out below by the union in Berlin, speaks of how to curb EPO greed by rejecting illegal orders and instead obeying the EPC.
How much money is at stake:
Pensions also:
As the Local Bureau Berlin put it: this "summarizes the losses that the new proposed Salary Adjustment Procedure would create to individual employees, in case that it would be finally adopted."
At the end it was. It's an ongoing travesty.
In the US, depending on which part of it, minimum wage is still $7.25/hour. Living without debt is not feasible anymore and "living with debt even less feasible at minimum wage," I have been told. At the EPO, the salaries aren't rising or barely rising despite the EPO making more money by granting illegal patents. If this sounds like the "American Dream" (or model), that's because a lot of this agenda is driven by American companies that export their culture and their policies to Europe. They call it "harmonisation". It's a form of corporate colonialism and it serves them well at the expense of European citizens.
EPO colleagues and SUEPO Berlin members live in a very expensive area (Munich also), so for a family of 5 it's not clear what the future holds.
Don't call them greedy, these are qualified people; the more senior examiners often have doctoral degrees and some had worked in academia before they joined the EPO. █
Image source: Richly colored and detailed illustration of a tree full of fall leaves of different patterns and textures