Bonum Certa Men Certa

Another EPO Staff Demonstration Planned for a Fortnight From Now When Battistelli Wishes to Make the EPO Even Crazier

Summary: More attacks on the basic rights of EPO staff are in the pipeline and provocative comments or spin about these have begun to emerge

THIS week is an important week for the EPO not just because of the spontaneous protest and what inevitably caused it but also because of tomorrow's 'trial' against a judge, whose 'crime' seems to be saying the truth about the EPO. No dissent is tolerated by Battistelli, not even within boards that are in principle independent from his regime. Battistelli already went as far as intimidating lawyers, staff unions, apparently spouses of staff representatives, politicians, delegates, and even yours truly. This man is crazy and his loyal confidants (whom he typically brought with him from France or 'rescued' from criminal charges in Zagreb) inherited a position with little effective oversight and over the past few years removed any oversight that had remained in tact. It's quite a coup!



For those who believe that things are as bad as they can get, believe no more. It can get worse unless Battistelli, who is arrogant enough to totally ignore the Administrative Council and grossly defy their demands, gets canned. Here is what SUEPO says about Battistelli's imminent plans. "The next attacks on staff," SUEPO calls it, listing the proposals below:

On 29 and 30 June the next meeting of the Administrative Council will take place. The Office has prepared 5 (!) documents for decision that concern staff:

- CA/15/16 on self-insurance for health-care costs This reform, if accepted by the Council, will give the President the full, unrestricted power to change the cover and reimbursement conditions of the EPO’s obligatory health care insurance whenever he sees fits, as he sees fit.

- CA/29/16 on post-service employment restrictions This document proposes to give the President full, unrestricted power to decide whether an employee who has left the Office (resigned, retired or dismissed) may during two years take up a given new employment or unpaid activity. The regulations would apply to staff already in place and as well as colleagues who already left. They could seamlessly combine with the obligation for an active employee “to take the necessary steps for terminating ... any employment exercised by his spouse where such employment is in any way connected with the Organisation and proves to be incompatible with that of the employee”, if the President so decides. A financial compensation is foreseen in none of the cases.

- CA/52/16 “standards of conduct” and investigations The proposed regulations would give still wider powers to the Investigative Unit. They would also impose on staff the obligation to denounce their colleagues for any behaviour that is not in line with ill-defined “standards of conduct” or a long list of possible misconducts. Significantly, this obligation does not apply to “documents, deeds, reports, notes or information covered by specific requirements of confidentiality under the legal framework of the Organisation”, i.e. to misconduct by the Investigative Unit or other parts of the administration. Any references to data protection regulations have completely disappeared. We advise staff to read this document.

- CA/53/16 concerns a review of the disciplinary procedures The change of regulation proposed in CA/29/16, if accepted by the Council, will take dismissals for professional incompetence out of the hands of the disciplinary committee and thereby double the time needed to challenge such a decision via an internal appeal rather than directly to ILOAT. It also introduces a “plea bargain” for employees who accept “unreservedly” the accusations against them. This very much smacks of coercion.

- CA/aa/16 concerns the planned reform of DG3 The document contains all the flaws already criticized in a previous version, and more. The document pretends that the proposals will increase the “perception” of independence of DG3, but in fact limits its independence.


The above seems to be 'custom-made' for particular cases and people whom Battistelli wishes to crush. This isn't the first such incident. For instance, recall the retroactive legislation which we mentioned this morning. This smacks of monarchy disguised or 'dressed up' as politics.

SUEPO is not too optimistic about Battistelli getting the sack later this month and it explains why as follows:

What about the resolution of the Council?

In its March meeting the Administrative Council voted for a resolution clearly signalled Mr Battistelli what improvements were expected from him. Mr Battistelli has not just simply ignored the instructions of the Council but did exactly the contrary on several points. We will have to see how the Council delegates, in particular those of the smaller Member States, will react. Will they accept their responsibility for the Organisation and exercise their supervisory role, or will they bow their heads and be beaten – with free „urgent“ medical and dental care (the €«urgency€» to be decided by the President), prestigious jobs in the Council bodies and a generous share of the EPO’s 13 million Euro co-operation budget as a compensation for their hurt pride?

The Central Staff Committee (CSC) sent all the delegates a letter explaining why the above proposals of the President are wrong, and asking them to vote against these proposals. In order to further encourage the delegates to do the right thing we plan another demonstration on the first day of the Council meeting. Further details will be communicated as soon as possible.

Proposed Article 19 of the Service Regulations

(2) A permanent employee or former employee intending to engage in an occupational activity, whether gainful or not, within two years of leaving the service, shall inform the appointing authority thereof. If that activity is related to the work he carried out during the last three years of his service and could lead with to a conflict with the legitimate interests of the Office, the appointing authority may ... either forbid him from undertaking that activity or give its approval subject to any conditions it thinks fit.

(8) The appointing authority may lay down further terms and conditions for the application of this Article to the respective employees; ...

CA/29/16


With or without consent from staff and delegates, the Battistelli regime is treating the Appeal Boards like unwanted fossils, essentially demolishing these boards little by little. Some further attacks on the appeals process, as mentioned last week by a reputable blog, are now officially being confirmed by the EPO (warning: epo.org link), effective only a day or two after the Administrative Council's meeting. There are two new articles today about the EPO Enlarged Board [1, 2] and it is abundantly clear that these boards are needed. To Battistelli, however, these are probably an obstacle or a nuisance to his 'baby', the UPC, and so-called 'production' (quality control is not desirable when one measures the wrong things with the wrong yardstick).

Looking at IP Kat today, we cannot help wondering; Are there so many Battistelli apologists out there or is EPO management perhaps sending people to IP Kat a week after censorship of the whole blog was attempted? There is a sharp rise in provocative comments and responses to these. Some of these try to spin the above changes as perfectly normal and banal, discrediting those who raise concerns and saying stuff such as this (from someone called "Peeps", whom we never encountered before):

If that activity is related to the work he carried out during the last three years of his service and could lead to a conflict with the legitimate interests of the Office, the appointing authority may...

IF AND MAY...

Simple Boolean logic demonstrates the narrowness of application.


The polite response to it was as follows:

"Simple Boolean logic demonstrates the narrowness of application."

Dear Peeps,

Actually, simple legal analysis demonstrates the narrowness of your logic - but you are probably not used to read and interpret legal documents - let me help you out here.

The problem with the passage that you cite actually is with the words "could" and "legitimate interests of the Office".

How do you decide in advance what "could" lead to a conflict of interests with the Office?

And what are these "legitimate interests of the Office", pray tell me?

But most importantly, who decides what could lead to a conflict and what are these interest?

Yes, the President.

And the only recourse you have against that is the ILO (7+ years).

You're welcome.


Not to overuse the term "Internet troll", is it possible that after the censorship of IP Kat backfired and was quickly abandoned there is a change of strategy managed by the PR agency/ies? watch them throwing more insults [1, 2] at each other, which is probably what pro-Battistelli messaging (or Battistelli apologists) would seek to generate. New pseudonyms like "PB" are being used. We never saw these before...

As we shall show later this week, the huge PR budget of the EPO goes a long way. Prepare for trolls. Imagine how far a bunch of fake letters (or AstroTurfing) can go when addressing the Administrative Council's delegates. Lobbying behind the scenes can be a lot worse (i.e. more powerful) than public spin-meisters because there is no room for scrutiny of said claims. Battistelli's EPO is unethical enough to attempt this.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Pushers of systemd Rewrite History (Richard Stallman Said UNIX "Was Portable and Seemed Fairly Clean")
Unlike systemd
Trajectory of The Register: From News Site/s Into "B2B"... and Into Microsoft Salespeople
Something isn't right at The Register
Doing My Share to Tackle Online Slop and SPAM
Trying my best to 'fix' the Web
 
Links 27/07/2025: FSF Hackathon and "Hulk Hogan Was a Very Bad Man"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: DAW Mixer Chains and Simple Software
Links for the day
The Register MS is Inventing or Giving Air Time to New Conspiracy Theories so as to Distort the Narrative As High-Profile Agencies Fall Prey to Microsoft Holes
But the problem is holes, i.e. Microsoft making bad products; the problem is Microsoft
When You Tell You It's Free, Does That Mean No Charges (If So, Who's Paying and Why)?
there's "no free lunch"
Most Editors at The Register Are American, Including the Editor in Chief, a Decade-Long Microsoft Stenographer (Writing Prose to Sell Microsoft)
It's not easy to tell where the site is based (we tried) because it's hiding behind ClownFlare and CrimeFlare hasn't been well lately
"New Techrights" Soon Turns 2 (A Few Days Before the FSF Turns 40)
We have a lot more to say about LLM bots
When Silence Says So Much
Garrett, a 'secure' boot pusher, will need to defend himself in the UK High Court
The Register in Trouble
There is not much that can be done at this point
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 26, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 26, 2025
Misinformation in Social Control Media
Social control media passes around all sorts of tropes
Slopwatch: Fake Linux 'Articles' and Slopfarms With "Linux" in Their Names/Domains
throwing bots at "Linux" to make some fake articles
Links 26/07/2025: Amazon Shutdown in China, Russian Economy Slows
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: History of Time (1988) and Gemini Games
Links for the day
Links 26/07/2025: 50 Percent Tariffs in Amazon, Dying Intel Offloads Network and Edge Group (NEX)
Links for the day
Blaming Programming Languages for Users' and Developers' Bad Practices
That's like blaming cars for drivers who crash into things
Slopwatch: Fakes, FUD, Duplicates, and Charlatans Galore
The Web as we once know it is collapsing. Some opportunists try to replace it with low-quality slop.
The Register UK Seems to Have Become American and Management is Changing (Microsofter as Editor in Chief)
The Register 'UK' is now controlled by the Directions on Microsoft guy
Many People Still Read Techrights Because It Says the Truth, Produces Evidence, and Does Not Self-Censor
Unlike so many other sites
The Register is Desperate for Money, According to The Register
I decided to check how they're doing as a business
Microsoft Finally Finds a Use Case for Slop?
Create low-quality chaff to shift the media's attention?
Microsoft Windows Lost 400 Million Users in a Few Years, Why Does The Register Double Down on Windows With New US Editor?
days ago they hired a new US editor
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 25, 2025
For Libel Reform One Must First Bring (or Raise) Awareness to the Issues and Their Magnitude
I myself know, from personal experience
Links 26/07/2025: Rationed Meals in the US and TikTok Repels Investments (Too Toxic)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: "Bloody Google" and New People in Geminispace
Links for the day
Response to Solderpunk (Father of Gemini Protocol) About the Gemini Community
Solderpunk responds to non-sequitur
HTML and the Web Used to be Something a Child Could Learn, "Modern" Web is a Puzzle of Frameworks, Bloat, and Worse
When the Web was more like Gemini Protocol
New US Editor in The Register is 84% Microsoft/Windows Booster
It'll be worrying if it carries on like this
Links 25/07/2025: Slop Blunders and China Has Code of Conduct for Lawmakers in HK
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/07/2025: Some Books and Babies and Capital
Links for the day
Links 25/07/2025: NOAA Cuts Endanger Lives, "Europe's Self Inflicted Cloud Crisis"
Links for the day
They Try to Lecture Us on Ethics
They even removed "master" from Microsoft GitHub
The Future of the Web is One Rendering Engine or 'Flavours' of Chrome
The future of the Web does not look bright at all
Best Sites Are Not Optimised for Any Browser, They Work Equally Well With All of Them
Red Hat (IBM) is making rubbish sites
YouTube is a Spamfarm, Slopfarm, and Clickfarm (a Lot of Numbers There Are Fake)
Those who don't fake look unpopular and unimportant
We Don't Do JavaScript and Pages Are Small
Thankfully Gemini Protocol has nothing like JavaScript
'Tech' is Not Technology
Some people use terms like 'Old Tech'
IBM's Debt Rose by Almost 10 Billion Dollars in the Past 6 Months Alone
The "hey hi" circus is coming to an end
Yes, Master
Gaslighting by actual racists
Microsoft Bribes and Buys Politicians to Tell Europe What to Do About Free Software (Which It's Attacking)
Microsoft: we speak for the thing that we are attacking! Follow the money...
Making Backups Quickly and Reliably
Backups are imperative, more so in an age of uncertainty, unpredictable weather, and worsening standards (quality of products going down while prices go up)
Techrights Investigation: Estimating the Point in Time LinuxIac Turned Into LLM Slop (Part of the Time)
Bobby Borisov got lazy
10th Month, Ten Weeks From Now, at Ten AM
In Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 24, 2025
A Nadella Memo Distracts From Microsoft's Cheapening Of the Workforce
Right now the "MSM" (mainstream media) is flooded/overwhelmed by garbage pieces that relay lies for Nadella
Vanishing Faces of GNU/Linux
Free software projects do not depend on any one person or company to still exist
Microsoft Says It Lost 400 Million Windows Users, Now It's Waiting for GNU/Linux to Stop Booting on 'Old' PCs
When it comes to Windows, Microsoft is fully aware of the issue and statements it made earlier this summer suggest it lost 400 million Windows users
Slopwatch: LinuxTechLab, linuxsecurity.com, LinuxIac, and More
Also: The Register's Microsoft agenda (new editor)
Gemini Links 25/07/2025: Gemtext Aware Titan Editor and Gemini Protocol Comeback
Links for the day