Bonum Certa Men Certa

Independent Dutch Investigation to Commence Into the Working Conditions at the European Patent Office in Rijswijk

Photograph below published by Dutch media today

EPO protest



Summary: Dutch politicians are taking further steps in order to tackle extreme abuse at the European Patent Office (EPO), where staff is being herded like sheep and staff representatives are facing mock trials

AS we have anticipated for a while, after increasing levels of communication with European officials, political actions against the EPO are starting to become more visible as plenary investigations finally bubble up to the surface. While there's plenty more on the way, today we are being notified of Dutch actions, in addition to ongoing actions in France (there's more on the way from the UK and other countries).



"Battistelli clearly touched a nerve when firing Hardon, who is Dutch."This post, as one might expect given the location of today's protest, will focus on the Dutch actions. So far we have published two articles about the outcome in the media (even television) and some background information was posted before the protest.

Battistelli clearly touched a nerve when firing Hardon, who is Dutch. Now he has a Hardon problem that no bodyguards and limousines can make up for. Another article about the EPO has been assigned for translation and gradually we expect to have more pieces of this latest Dutch storm. According to the following article and its translation, an independent investigation is coming. Hardon asked for it.



Martijn van Dam (Secretary of Economic Affairs) begins in March an independent investigation into the working conditions at the European Patent Office in Rijswijk.

He will shortly also a meeting with the chief executive of the European institute, whose staff has long been dissatisfied with the business.

Thursday protesting workers from the poor working atmosphere and against the dismissal of colleagues who criticized the Frenchman Benoît Battistelli, the boss of the European Patent Office. The agency is reorganizing and the Cabinet and parliament showed earlier that it would be more careful.

To improve the situation the next six months will be given to all matters that could affect the ''social situation'' of their employees, career development, remuneration and the position of the trade unions. Van Dam expects the investigation was completed before the summer.

The European Patent Office is an international organization with 38 Member States, including all members of the European Union. The office in Rijswijk with its 2800 employees, mostly highly skilled engineers and scientists, the largest international organization in the Netherlands. The agency protects the patent rights of inventors.


As one person correctly put it: "Dismissing Mrs. Hardon - a Dutch citizen - has really touched a raw nerve with the Dutch." Another person said: "The "independent enquiry into the situation at the EPO" announced by the Dutch Minister is the so-called "social audit" agreed upon by the Administrative Council in December."

"It’s an improvised Stasi put together by the grossly underqualified Team Battistelli.""Details of the Minister's statement can be found here (in Dutch)," the person added. "How "independent" the enquiry will be remains to be seen." This is another thing which probably requires a translation from Dutch into English. It's a statement regarding the abuse of EPO staff in the Netherlands.

"Dutch authorities today have announced an independent enquiry into the situation at the EPO," wrote another person, "which cannot but reveal great mental stress and suffering among staff. Office "doctors" might have a difficult time answering uncomfortable questions about EPO€´s health policy."

We have separately learned that Battistelli downgraded the medical directors of the EPO to technicians in 2015. Elodie Bergot then ordered them to remove any traces of any in-house medical malpractice. She forbade them to log or report medical emergencies from now on. Elodie Bergot oversees all medical cases now. She has access to every employee's medical file, but has no medical background herself.

"The Investigative Unit does have its 'scouts' like Sebastian Bauer, but they don’t do video recordings or anything like that (as far as we can tell based on information we have)."This is a recipe for disaster. It's an improvised Stasi put together by the grossly underqualified Team Battistelli.

"Many journalists and cameramen joined today's demo," wrote this person some hours ago. "Either it was the investigative unit taking pictures of individual protesters, or there will be wider press coverage in coming days."

The Investigative Unit does have its 'scouts' like Sebastian Bauer, but they don't do video recordings or anything like that (as far as we can tell based on information we have).

Noting that Battistelli exacerbated the penalties for staff representatives (discarding the recommendations from disciplinary committees), this one comment said only one dismissal "was (more or less) the recommendation of the Internal Inquistion a.k.a. Disciplinary Committee. Although they actually recommended one dismissal, one downgrade and one "freeze on promotion" for the next three years. The decision of the President was to dismiss two and downgrade the third. In all three cases he exceeded the recommendation of the Disciplinary Committee because he "supplemented" one of the dismissals with a 20% reduction in pension rights."

"There are not only obvious sanctions against union officials and staff representatives but also more subtile ones," a commenter added later, "like denial of awards and promotions despite excellent performance and forced transfers."

We have heard of that before. We also saw how illnesses get shamelessly exploited to punish staff and rob such staff over the long run/long term (e.g. compensation, pensions). Financial sanctions such as these are intended to weaken coordinators, so we strongly urge staff to support sacked representatives and their families. It would ultimately help everyone, collectively. Try to disrupt the union-busting games of Team Battistelli, the Investigative Unit, and external thugs like CRG. Surprise them.

As this comment put it earlier tonight, "you never have 100% of the workforce present but rather ca. 75 to 80 % due to all kind of missions, training, part-time, sick leave + managers + wanna be managers. 900 is therefore a very high number for The Hague. This being said the pathetic VP1 stating "his door is always open" when he is one of the most aggressive ones towards SUEPO officials is an absolute must see" (here is the direct link).

"Try to disrupt the union-busting games of Team Battistelli, the Investigative Unit, and external thugs like CRG."We are working on some video editing in order to make more of this material easily accessible and neatly organised for future reference (some Dutch journalists and politicians evidently access Techrights for information today).

"The Dutch are overreacting," one person wrote sarcastically, in order to highlight what German yis doing wrong. "They should take example from the Germans, for once: no press or TV reports about the last demo in front of the EPO (1300 people), no journalists challenging the press releases of the Office, no politicians expressing their worries, absolutely no reaction at all from the Minister of Justice. Btw, who said in a comment to the other post that "the flow of money from the EPO is what funds (almost entirely) the entire Justice Ministry of Germany."?"

"EPO governance is broken by design," the President of the FFII wrote earlier today, as "money flows to ministries, as long as that flows."

Germany hardly has any incentive to admit that there is an issue and then address the issue. Here is the latest comment in IP Kat. It says:

just seen on SUEPO Facebook : :o)))))))))))))))))))))))))))

AMAZING : Minnoye declaring to the NL TV that should the Cassation case be lost for the EPO they will simply disregard its application ....

and also mentioning the on-going investigations against staff reps in The Hague which would be just a coincidence if they concern SUEPO officials ...

We have a new hero !!!!!

what a bunch of clowns


As one other person put it several hours ago, "Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich = seat of EPO) still silent about the protests in The Hague. Check via http://www.sueddeutsche.de/news?search=[query …]"

Yes, Süddeutsche Zeitung has gone rogue (the writers changed too) and it now seems like the EPO management's mouthpiece in Germany. Either it says nothing (a conspiracy of silence) or it spreads misinformation and libel which suits the Investigative Unit's Inquisition.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Why We Publish Information About the SLAPPs (But Not About the Legal Process), an Abuse of Process by Americans Trying to Silence Critics of Their Employer, Microsoft
It doesn't take thousands of pages to explain something simple
 
Links 02/09/2025: Attacks on Unions, Microsoft TCO, and DDoSing a Growing Problem
Links for the day
Internet Relay Chat Didn't Fall Off a Cliff
IRC will turn 40 in less than 3 years from now
The UEFI 9/11 - Part V - This is Not a Drill (Disable "SecureBoot" Now)
A "9/11" Coming
There's No Obligation to Speak to Anybody
The very fact that "bkuhn" is till spending time in social control media says a lot about his poor judgment
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 01, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 01, 2025
The Register MS Says "AI Web Crawlers Are Destroying Websites", So Why Does The Register MS Help 'AI' Companies? (Spoiler: Money)
People need to call out The Register MS on its hypocrisy
Microsoft Trying to Force People to Resign (Amid Mass Layoffs) a Strategy That Takes Its Toll
Microsoft seems to be circling down the drain and the "final flush" will be the moment the "hey hi" (AI) bubble implodes completely
Google Simply Cannot Be Trusted
Only fools would trust GAFAM
Admission That a Third Party (or Parties) Funds the SLAPPs Against Techrights
This can end up costing them over a million dollars
Modifying and Writing One's Own Computer Programs is Not a Crime (or: Google Proves That Stallman Was Right)
We're generally gratified to see so many positive mentions of him
Why We Stopped Publishing Videos (for Now)
We'll probably get back to videos one day, but it's hard to say when or to what extent
What Animal Rights Activism Teaches Us About Sympathy and Focus
It's possible to believe that the planet is warming, that we must do something about it, and still eat eggs and butter
When You Turn Web Sites About Tech Into Political Sites
A lot of people fall into the trap of catering only for particular groups
Gemini Links 02/09/2025: ROOPHLOCH 2025 and Lagrange 1.19 Released
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/09/2025: News Corp. WSJ and A Month With NixOS
Links for the day
Slopfarms Already Peaked, They Will Die When Slop Companies Run Out of Money to Borrow
slopfarms will lack an actual "engine"
“Sideloading” Never Killed Anybody
There are many online discussions this week about the misnomer "sideloading"
Slopwatch: Google News as FUD Vector Against Linux and Plagiarism Enhancer, Serial Slopper (SS) Uses LLMs to Googlebomb "Linux"
Slop destroys the Web not just by screwing with search engines and helping plagiarists. It's also responsible for de facto DDoS attacks...
Links 01/09/2025: "Attacks on Science" and China's "Soft Power" Grows
Links for the day
Links 01/09/2025: Fresh Backlash Against Slop and "Norway’s Electricity Crisis is About to Hit Britain"
Links for the day
Writing and Coding Isn't Always Enough
Last year we had to assume a role we didn't have before: litigants
Links 01/09/2025: Catching Up (Mostly via Deutsche Welle), "Windows TCO" Effect in UK
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/09/2025: Linguistic Barriers and "Web 1.0 Hosting"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 31, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 31, 2025
Autumn Has Come
Autumn should be exciting in all sorts of ways; it'll also mark our anniversary
The UEFI 9/11 - Part IV - External Interference
They all seem to be playing a role in crushing Software Freedom and self-determination for users
Links 31/08/2025: Baggage Claim Scams, an Insurrectionist’s War on Culture, and a Sudden Robotics Hype
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/08/2025: Reviewing Netsurf and Slightly Less Historic Ada Design
Links for the day
IBM Has Taken Control of GNOME
Don't expect a successor to be found any time soon
Links 31/08/2025: Google Gmail Data Breach and LF Puff Pieces for Pay
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 30, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, August 30, 2025
This is What Google News Has Become
Moments ago