Bonum Certa Men Certa

News From the Frontline: EPO Continues Unabated on Its Destructive Path

Guest-authored

Old train



Summary: An EPO outline of recent events, courtesy of readers

PD 43 Bergot's latest "cunning plan"



You may not believe it, but this is true stuff: visibly totally disconnected from reality (or perhaps under medication which alters her perception of our world), Mrs Bergot recently organised two sessions in Munich and The Hague to gather staff recently recruited (many of whom are still in probation period), for a rather challenging task: convince new comers to abandon their permanent employment conditions and instead accept a time limited contract!

And to motivate them (hahahaha) the only "benefit" that PD 43 was capable to propose to them was (and this is no joke): should these staff members decease prematurely, with a time-limited contract their survivors will receive a lump sum higher by 2% compared with the one paid for permanent staff.

A truly killing deal, is it not?

Obviously this is pure non-sense but at this stage of her Amoklauf, Mrs Bergot fears nothing, no one and can safely make herself a fool in public without fear (the rumour has it trusted circles that Mr Campinos is considering keeping her as PD HR since the fear factor makes EPO staff produce like hell and if he were to remove her, production figures may fall).

Of course as can reasonably expected, the members of staff gathered (euphemism for summoned) by the Grande Dame des HR did not believe what they were given to hear and no one accepted the "offer".

More pressure by DG1 management on examiners in probation



Currently DG1 Directors have been instructed by their PDs (and as can be expected from servants, they act zealously to satisfy their masters) to refuse (yes you read well REFUSE) examiners in probation to take their accrued holidays.

Why this? Because if examiners are off they cannot produce and targets cannot be met. Logical. As a result many new comers now sincerely consider leaving the EPO.

Well done Bergot et al.! Not only do they fail to attract top profiles any more (due to both EPO's terrible reputation on the work market coupled to far less attractive working conditions due Bergot et al. new policies) but now they even manage to motivate the few who got in to leave the EPO!

Sincerely we can only advise newcomers to run away before they become unemployable somewhere else, and they the longer they stay at EPO, the more unemployable they are.

Also from reliable sources, DG1 team leaders currently receive training from DG4 staff about how to “interpret” the Codex (read refuse), to avoid complying with legitimate requests by examiners who ask for special leave enshrined in the EPO Codex as rights (eg for sickness of a child, a spouse etc. Obviously the first ones who are affected (and cannot protest without compromising their future) are probationers and staff under contract.

Who said that EPO HR is anti-personnel?

Negative feedback upon Campinos: more of the same in sight?



Over the past 6 years, the EPO has been severely affected by the current top management team but it might continue to be destroyed big time under Campinos, due to the level of "competency" of those in charge.

Indeed from reliable sources, Campinos seems to fear that if he changes the current team (responsible for the mess we know), production figures will plummet and he will look like the one responsible for the drop.

As a result, Campinos is thus said to consider keeping them (e.g. Bergot, Chabod, Bauer etc) at their current positions or swap posts between them (!) so that with the "fear factor" going-on as-is, production targets remain at their current unhealthy levels.

Only a “detail” - which no one may have had the guts to bring to Mr Campinos’ attention: the level of exhaustion of EPO staff and with it, the genuine risk for new suicides (hundreds of EPO staff office-wide are currently in psy-related therapies to hold the pressure they face at their EPO desks).

If this feedback materializes, then Campinos – who was first selected with on its agenda as highest priority: restore social peace – will just be another bureaucratic puppet, incapable of taking real managerial decisions to preserve the interests of both the Organisation and Public, and EPO staff will remain parts of a mechanic which are to be thrown away when defect.

Legitimate reward of a true talent



Another "Good News": Sebastian Bauer who first worked in Investigation Unit (rebranded - don't die laughing - "Ethics and Compliance") as an investigator.

Always prone to serve his master Elodie Bergot whilst satisfying her most unhealthy wishes (e.g. Mr Bauer was heavily involved in the fake files generated by IU which served as basis to sanction several staff representatives and union officials (leading to several dismissals, downgrading etc), Bauer was recently promoted to Director level for his “good” performance.

But this was not the end of his success story yet: Now Mr Bauer has just been promoted Principal Director ad interim of Dpt. Ethics and Compliance (internally branded by EPO Staff as STASI) following the retirement of the previous PD.

Who said that true talents are not rewarded at EPO?

Recent Techrights' Posts

Last Week's EPO Strike Was the Biggest (Highest Participation Rate), Hours Ago General Assembly Discussed Next (Growing) Intensity of Strikes
Well done and well attended
 
Gemini Links 23/03/2026: "Mandatory" Bad Things and Dangers of Perfection Aspirations
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 20 Out of 200: All Roads Lead to Rome and to GAFAM Funding
Now about 10% into this series
Mass Layoffs at HashiCorp, IBM Hid Them
The media did not mention those layoffs
Microsoft Downgraded on Concerns (Lack of Growth) Amid Silent Layoffs in 2026
The press isn't functioning anymore
Links 23/03/2026: Gulf Water at Risk, Heatwave in Malaysia
Links for the day
Slop Means False, New Article by Cybershow
"We are living in a world that is rapidly divesting from reality."
Debianism election 2026 community poll created, everybody can vote
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 23/03/2026: "Shocking Peter Thiel Antichrist Lectures", Robert Mueller Remembered
Links for the day
The Scandal Bigger Than IBM/Red Hat Layoffs is the de Facto "Media Blackout" About Those Layoffs
So we have a media crisis, aside from the economic crises
Gemini Links 23/03/2026: Geminispace/Elpher Enhancement and the Cerberus Cinco
Links for the day
Fear is Not a Legitimate Factor
Smart people know that trying to prevent moral people from doing the "Right Thing" will backfire
Fuel Autonomy and What It Teaches Us About Software Autonomy (or Software Freedom)
Need we wait until a "software Pearl Harbor" or protect ourselves proactively by weaning ourselves off of GAFAMware?
Scheduled Maintenance This Coming Wednesday
Other than that, all is the same and we carry on as usual
Most Press Articles About IBM Are LLM Slop, Sometimes With Slop Images
IBM basically laid off almost 1,000 people last week [...] At the moment about 75% of the 'articles' we see about IBM (in recent days) are some kind of slop
Links 23/03/2026: Security Breaches, Energy Shortages, Another SRA Scandal, and Patents on Nature
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 22, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, March 22, 2026
Streisand Effect and Justice
This weekend this site has served over 8 million Web requests
Gemini Links 22/03/2026: "Woman of Tomorrow" and "First Steps in Geminispace"
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 19 Out of 200: They Were Ill-prepared for Tough Questions in Cross-Examination
Very ill-prepared for the deteriorating situation caused by their clients' past behaviour towards many people, including high-profile figures who offered to testify
The Media Sold Out to Slop Bros
If you wish for the hype to stop, then stop participating in it
EPO Strike a Week From Now, After That Strikes Can Become Permanent
A week from tomorrow there will be another strike
The Only Non-IBM Staff in Fedora Council/Leadership Attacks Booting Freedom (Just Like the Master Wants)
Last week IBM laid off almost 1,000 people in Confluent and the media didn't write anything about it, so don't expect anyone in what's left of the media to comment on Fedora's demise and silent layoffs at Red Hat
Just Like a Founder of XBox Said, Microsoft XBox is Collapsing, Management Continue to Jump Ship
Nowadays Microsoft tries to promote this idea that Windows is XBox and XBox is Windows
Links 22/03/2026: Slop Triggers Emergency at Meta, Energy Prices Rise Sharply
Links for the day
Links 22/03/2026: Microsoft 'Open' 'AI' in Legal Trouble (Plagiarism, Distortion, Misrepresentation); Facebook/Meta Kills Off "Horizon Worlds"
Links for the day
Racism Dressed Up as "Choice"
Racism is rampant at IBM
Probably an All-Time Record
Our investment in our own SSG is paying off
Your Site Should Implement Its Own Search (Before It's Too Late)
GAFAM was never trustworthy
Gemini Links 22/03/2026: LLM Slop Attacks USENET, Announcing Pig (New Game in Gemini Protocol)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 21, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, March 21, 2026
SLAPP Censorship - Part 18 Out of 200: Third Parties Funding Attacks on the Messengers, Lawsuits Against GAFAM-Critical Voices That Uphold Real National Security
Women are like kryptonite to them
Never Trust People Who Write Their Own Wikipedia Pages (Vanity Pages About Themselves) or Ask Friends to Do So. Also: Jono Bacon is Married to Microsoft.
We'd hardly be the first to point out Wikipedia isn't what it seems
No Tolerance for Attacks on Family Members
Being a Free software activist ought not lead to "collateral damage" like attacks on family members, including doxing
Sirius Open Source is Just a Zombie Firm With Shell Entities
Many companies fake their health and their size
Communities Can Only Survive When Trust Prevails
PCLinuxOS is still a vibrant and authentic community
Techrights Was Always a Community Site
The harder we're attacked, the more people participate in the site
Maintenance Reminder
We'll carry on publishing
Behind the PR Smokescreen and Microsoft-Sponsored Chaff, Microsoft Layoffs in "AI" Alleged This Month
In an age when ~1,000 simultaneous layoffs aren't enough to receive any media coverage, what can we expect remaining publishers to tell us about Microsoft layoffs in 2026?
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part VIII - Mobbing and Silencing of Dissenting Staff
that's the very cornerstone of functional democracies with real opposition parties
Bluewashing at Confluent: Some Workers to Leave Within 3 Months (IBM Mass Layoffs)
Is the "era of AI" an era when none of the media will mention over 800 layoffs? [...] There's a lesson here about the state of the contemporary media, not just IBM and bluewashing
Microsoft OpenAI, Drowning in Debt and Forced to Make Significant Cuts (as Reports Reveal This Month), Does Hiring Disguised as "Takeovers" to Fake Value or Alleged Potential
Remember what happened to Skype last year
Reader Shares Recent Memes on Slop and 'Coding' by LLMs
"just some funny memes I thought were relevant to current coverage."
Slop Does Not Replace Art, It Contaminates Everything With Reckless Nonsense
many Computer Scientists do not want programs to get contaminated by slop
Coders Don't Just Reject 'Vibe Coding' Because They're "Luddites", They Just Know the True Cost of Slop
if some programmer says slop sucks, don't rush to assume selfishness or defence of one's occupation
When Nobody Else Covers the News
There's an obvious "media blackout" regarding the mass layoffs
Links 21/03/2026: David Botstein Dies, Slop as Censorship Apparatus
Links for the day
Links 21/03/2026: Metastablecoin Fragmentation and Crescent Moon
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/03/2026: Historic Ada Docs; The Lurking LLM on the SmolNet
Links for the day
HSBC the Latest Failed Bank Using Slop as Excuse for Its Financial Failure
"HSBC is planning on cutting as many as 20,000 jobs in the near future as the company allies with AI revolution."
Invitation to General Assembly After 1,200 EPO Workers Participated in the Demonstration 3 Days Ago
"the strike of 19 March was also very well followed."
A/Prof Susan G Kleinmann, Enkelena Haxhija & Debian-private risk to MIT
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, March 20, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, March 20, 2026