The autocrat in chief, Benoît Battistelli, 'pulls a Putin' (or Francisco Franco) again

Summary: The statements made by Benoît Battistelli to his staff are said to be (once again!) a big lie, based on people familiar with these matters

TECHRIGHTS repeatedly asked for a translation of the report from Heise (article about the firing of staff representatives) because the author is insightful and has covered these matters for quite some time. He is not easy for the EPO and its aggressive PR team to bamboozle, unlike some other journalists (more on that later).

Here is a complete English translation of the article:

European Patent Office fires union leadership

The head of the European Patent Office has imposed harsh sanctions in disciplinary proceedings against three trade unionists: two of them are dismissed and the treasurer is downgraded.

The dispute between management and union representatives at the European Patent Office (EPO) has escalated. EPO President Benoît Battistelli has now taken drastic measures in disciplinary proceedings against three trade unionists. According to the information of Heise Online, Elizabeth Hardon, the chairman of the EPO’s trade union Suepo, and her predecessor Ion Brumme, have been dismissed. The treasurer of the trade union, Malika Weaver, is downgraded.

Sanctions "justified"

In a letter to which Heise Online has access to, Battistelli writes to the around 7000 staff members of the EPO that he took his decisions based on the recommendations of three disciplinary committees, in which both representatives of management and employees were involved. [According to Mr. Battistelli], these came to the conclusion that the accused committed serious infringements. The serious penalties were thus “justified and proportionate”.

According to information from the IPKat blog, Battistelli has however exacerbated the penalties which were recommended by the disciplinary committees (for all three unionists).

[In addition to what was proposed by the disciplinary committees], also Mrs Hardon’s pension rights were reduced, Mr Brumme should "only" be degraded and for Mrs Weavers, it was only recommended to put her career advancement on hold. They may appeal against the decision at the International Labour Court ILOAT, however that’s a process which takes years.

"Malicious slander campaign"

The office’s management accuses the trade unionists, among other things, to have threatened or bullied employees and to have informed third parties of the internal investigations. "I carefully took into account that the employees concerned are staff representatives and that they enjoy a higher degree of protection and freedom of expression, in accordance with their tasks" Battistelli said further. However, as he said, they were involved in a "very damaging smear campaign against the organization." The Administrative Council of the EPO had recently shown concern and had recommended Battistelli to keep a low profile.

The Administrative Council recommended Battistelli to keep a low profile? Is that it? If this is the best they can do (similar to the way BBC covered up for Savile and FIFA did for Blatter), then contact delegates immediately and demand urgent action.

Remember that EPO management once banned linking to Heise (it threatened SUEPO for merely linking to an article from Heise). The EPO under Battistelli is absolutely nuts. Nuts! ⬆

"Don`t let people drive you crazy when you know it`s in walking distance."

--JAuthor Unknown