Bonum Certa Men Certa

As Expected, Minimal Pseudo Compliance From EPO Management, Adding Insult to Injury

Earlier this month: Two Months of ILO-AT Non-Compliance at the EPO and a Decade of a Docile Administrative Council That Approves Illegal Proposals

Extension of strike judgments to all staff

Summary: SUEPO Central, the core of the staff union of EPO staff (almost 7,000 workers at the EPO, most of whom are SUEPO members), has strong words about the EPO's attitude and stance, which is perhaps unsurprising but still extremely disappointing

MORE than two months after the historic judgements of ILO-AT the EPO's President, António Campinos, writes internally to staff about Benoît Battistelli's strike regulations being ruled unlawful. Almost a decade too late!



The staff union is rightly upset and understandably circulates another publication among members. We've decided to reproduce it below, in full, as HTML:

23 September 2021 su21024cp – 0.2.1/5.1/5.2

Extension of strike judgments to all staff “No moral damages. No apology.” What next?



In his Communiqué of 14 September, Mr Campinos finally detailed the Office’s approach regarding the strike judgments of the 132nd session of the ILOAT. The Office intends to apply the outcome of the judgments to all staff on strike since July 2013 only insofar as they concern excessive strike deductions or for unauthorised absence on 2 and 3 July 2013. No moral damages will be awarded to those who neither filed a complaint in front of the Tribunal nor an application to intervene1. In a meeting with the Central Staff Committee (CSC) on 15 September, Mr Campinos even strongly excluded any form of apology from the Organisation to its staff.

The Office intends to conclude all payments by the end of the year. For the time being, we strongly recommend that you maintain your pending complaints and applications to intervene. This paper provides more details.

Meeting with the President: Lessons (not) learnt On 15 September, the staff representation could address for the first time directly with Mr Campinos

the ILOAT strike judgments of 7 July. The staff representation argued that all EPO staff had been adversely prejudiced by the violation of their fundamental right to strike and by abuses of power. An International Organisation cannot take a fundamental right from its staff, give it back more than 8 years later and pretend that nothing happened. In his reply, Mr Campinos threatened to reduce cash injections into the pension reserve funds if he were to grant moral damages to all staff. Mr Campinos added that we should understand that in our Organisation, it’s just about moving money from one place to another. One could expect that upper management could be held accountable for designing HR policies violating fundamental rights, but Mr Campinos preemptively warned anyone who could point the finger at his services which he fully entrusts with further reforms.

The staff representation then suggested that the Organisation takes responsibility for mistakes of the past by at least apologizing to its staff. Mr Campinos bursted out in anger and shouted that he would not apologize and that we would never get an apology from him. With this statement, Mr Campinos confirms that he not only takes full responsibility for the continued policies during the first 3 years of his mandate, but also fully endorses the Battistelli administration. Mr Campinos reproached the staff representation to be not constructive when willing to discuss events that happened ages ago and added that we may have won this one but we don’t win 8 out of 10 of our

_____________ 1 According to Laurent Germond, Director Employment Law, the Office identified 38 complaints still pending in front of the Tribunal, some of them being joined by interveners.




cases. Here, Mr Campinos confused quality and production: in terms of legal procedures, some are more fundamental than others.

In the meeting, Laurent Germond, Director Employment Law, recalled that the Tribunal’s statute does not foresee any class action procedure and that complaints will remain of an individual nature. The Office intends to apply the outcome of the judgments to all staff on strike since July 2013 only insofar as they concern excessive strike deductions or for unauthorised absence on 2 and 3 July 2013.

SUEPO expresses its solidarity to all staff in the HR Department who are now striving to conclude all payments by the end of year and have to repair the damages caused by their upper management.

What next?

Concerning the still running procedures against the strike regulations, we recommend the following:

I. Case AT-5 5167: Mr Battistelli abused his power by not organising the UNITY ballot

In his Communiqué of 14 September and as confirmed in front of the staff representation, Mr Campinos excludes the award of moral damages to all staff who were deprived of their right to vote in the ballot for the strike of the “UNITY initative” of 16 May 2014.

SUEPO recommends that complainants and those who file applications to intervene (see instructions here) maintain their procedures.

II. Case AT-5 5179: the SUEPO called strike of 2 July 2013 was lawful

In his Communiqué of 14 September and as confirmed in front of the staff representation, Mr Campinos intends to apply the outcome of Judgment 4433, but only partially, to all those employees who participated in the industrial action of 2 and 3 July 2013. The unlawful deductions for unauthorised absence will be reimbursed, the threatening letter from Principal Director Human Resources (Ms Bergot at the material time) will be removed from the personal file, but no moral damages will be awarded.

SUEPO recommends that complainants and those who file applications to intervene (see instructions here) maintain their procedures.

III. Management review MR/2021-0025
Excessive strike deductions of the January 2021 for the December 2020 strike


Mr Campinos had rejected the management review in a decision dated 21 June 2021.

In his Communiqué of 14 September, Mr Campinos announces that the outcome of Judgment No. 4435 will be applied to all those employees who went on strike since the introduction of CA/D 5/13. This concerns as well the deductions made on the January 2021 salary slip which are now expected to be reimbursed with interests at 5% per annum, less the amounts which could have been deducted on the basis of 1/30th (as applicable prior to the introduction of CA/D 5/13).

SUEPO considers it not necessary that all concerned staff file a mass appeal against the rejection decision for MR/2021-0025 dated 21 June 2021.




IV. Case AT-5 5244: Excessive strike deductions of 1/20th are unlawful and punitive

The extension of the outcome of Judgment No. 4435 concerns the strike deductions during the period of October 2013 until April 2016 covered by this case and which are now expected to be reimbursed with interests at 5% per annum, less the amounts which could have been deducted on the basis of 1/30th (as applicable prior to the introduction of CA/D 5/13).

As long as the payments are not concluded, SUEPO recommends that complainants and those who file applications to intervene (see instructions here) maintain their procedures.

Conclusion The still pending complaints and the filing of hundreds of applications to intervene since the announcement of the strike judgments on 7 July may have been one of the reasons for Mr Campinos to extend the outcome of some of the judgments to all staff.

We regret that Mr Campinos only decided to opt for a partial extension of the outcome excluding noticeably moral damages. This shows once again that in order to fully safeguard their rights, EPO staff must go to litigation.

SUEPO Central


As a side note, I was having a very productive today. Had a long (and long-distance) call with political entities willing to do something about EPO abuses. Tons of time and energy has been poured into it (research and talking/communicating), but it needs to be done and we hope to have some breakthrough soon. We'll refrain from sharing any more details as they can jeopardise the process at this relatively early stage.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Amended Input From Software Freedom Institute for EU Consultation on Free Software
"On 3 February 2026 Software Freedom Institute lodged a submission with the European Commission's inquiry into Open Digital Ecosystems"
Nadella's Mindless PR Spam Ahead of the Layoffs 'Snowball' (Adding Up Batches) Turning Into an Avalanche
Based on recent observations, the more puff pieces we see about Nadella, the closer we get to Microsoft "pulling the trigger" on mass layoffs
When Happens to Red Hat If (or When) IBM Collapses
IBM is in flux because its CFO is now implicated in what seems like accounting fraud
With an IBM Company Down Over 75% After Apparent Accounting Fraud the IBM Insiders Want Answers From James Krabanaugh
He has no technical qualifications
A "horrible week (hebdomada horribilis?) for the Solicitors Regulation Authority" (SRA)
The SRA is part of the SLAPP problem
EPO's Central Staff Committee (CSC) on EPO Social Dialogue
They've refrained from mentioning the industrial actions
The Register MS is Promoting Ponzi Scheme for Financial Fraud/Accounting Fraud Company, The Register MS Gets Paid to Do This
Published 6 hours ago
IBM's Kyndryl Managed to Fall to Less Than a Quarter of Its Past Year's High
Imagine IBM falling to $75
Links 10/02/2026: Media Freedom Feels Dead in Hong Kong and Grammys, Superbowl Becoming Politics
Links for the day
 
With Firefox Measured at 2% in the United Kingdom Time is Running Out for Web Site Support for Gecko/Servo Users
The open Web is rapidly dying while Mozilla celebrates and champions slop
Lawsuit reactions: EFF behaviour reveals zombification, censorship
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 11/02/2026: $700 Billion Slop Bill, Social Control Media Under Political Fire for Deliberate Health Harms
Links for the day
Mobbing at the European Patent Office (EPO) - Part VI - Attacks on Staff and Attacks on the Law Merit Another New Series
new series coming shortly
IBM's Financial Engineering (Accounting Fraud) Shell, Kyndryl Holdings Inc, is Insolvent
If this was done by the very same people who still run IBM, can we expect any better from "Sugar Daddy" IBM?
2026 a Very Productive Year and We Have Many Big Stories to Tell
maybe we'll produce 8,000 new articles/pages by year's end
Clownflare is in Trouble as Its Debt More Than Doubled in Less Than a Year, Expect Further Enshittification
Clownflare isn't free
After the Next Wave of Microsoft Layoffs Washington State Could be #1 for US Layoffs
Microsoft Corp shares were down yesterday
EPO's Local Staff Committee The Hague (LSCTH): The EPO is Generally “Managed by Excel” (Microsoft)
The current management has basically defined corruption to be "success"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 10, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, February 10, 2026
Google Still Helping the Slop Pyramid Scheme, Encouraging Plagiarism Too
Google is a plagiarism company and it wants public solidarity for plagiarism by LLMs
Gemini Links 10/02/2026: "The Luminous Dead", Matrix, and Containers
Links for the day
Kyndryl CFO Harsh Chugh Comes From IBM (17+ Years)
Who would want such a position?
IBM RAs (or PIPs) in London, England?
They try to keep the lid on it
International Buybacks Machines
Will the current US administration/regime look into IBM's accounting or only its mini me's?
IBM Could be the Next Kyndryl, a Dinosaur With Accounting Fraud
Many shareholders (or even pension funds) are taking a big hit today
Ian Murdock Died in San Francisco 10 Years Ago. Cops Led to His Death.
10 years ago Ian Murdock died after cops had messed him up
US/Europe divergence: health & safety, criminality & Debian harassment culture: Open Digital Ecosystems submission F33370170
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 10/02/2026: Splinternets and "Meta Goes to Trial in a New Mexico Child Safety Case"
Links for the day
Russia and China Best Off Without GAFAM
What if they abandoned GAFAM?
Will Finns Put Out the Online Cigarettes?
More people recognise that the child porn site formerly known as "Twitter" and Cheeto/Pooh-tin controlled TikTok are no longer trustworthy
As the US Economy Sags Microsoft Layoffs Carry on (Now in Larger Waves Like 15,000 Per Season or 30,000+ Per Year)
They try to avoid "negative" topics
GNU/Linux at 3.99% in Australia
now that Australians can no longer keep Vista 10
Microsoft Windows Falling
analytics.usa.gov Shows Rapid Erosion of Windows Market Share Since 'End of 10' (Vista 10)
Microsoft Windows Hits All-Time Low in The Netherlands in 2026
Europe needs to rid itself or wean itself off GAFAM
SRA: SLAPPs From Russian War Criminals and American Men Who Strangle Women Are Acceptable
The SRA, by inaction, is complicit in this
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Delusion - Part IV - Machos in Charge of the House (and System), Even If the Faces Are Female (Optics)
basically a Windows/Microsoft (US) shop
From Weber Shandwick (Microsoft PR) to Brett Wilson LLP (Hired Gun of the Serial Strangler of Microsoft)
they basically tried to charge me a lot of money for a PR project of someone who strangled women
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is Not a Regulator, It's Part of the Litigation "Industry" in the UK (They Overlap Each Other)
Does nothing except talk about SLAPPs
Brett Wilson LLP Seems to Have Done for Roberto Foa What It Did a Year Earlier for the Serial Strangler from Microsoft
Repeat abusers (of the legal system) will misuse it as long as regulators do nothing
In Finland, Microsoft Falls Behind Yandex (Russia)
Bing has had many layoffs in recent years
Security More Advanced in Geminispace Than on the Web (Bloat)
For real security, use Geminispace capsules, not Web sites
Slop at Microsoft is a Miserable Failure, Now Microsoft Takes the "Vista Route" (Paying People to Say Good Things About It)
This is brainwash, it's meant to delay the implosion of the bubble
Rumours About February 2026 Microsoft Layoffs: Silent Layoffs or 30,000 Culled Tomorrow
Sooner or later (and soon) Microsoft will need to say something and file some WARN notifications
GNU/Linux at 12% in Guam, Based on statCounter (Compared to 2-3% a Year Ago)
Guam's "uptick" in GNU/Linux usage started weeks after "end of 10"
Where We Stand With the Winter Series
We'll need to protect names and sources
Fighting Slop With the Public Domain (and Why Slopfarms Perish Faster Than New Ones Appear)
We can combat the nonsense by producing more human-made works until the slop bubble implodes
After Employee Reviews at IBM Staff Expects Another Large Wave of PIPs and "RAs" (Layoffs)
From what we can see in the "public Web"
Gemini Links 10/02/2026: "The Last Messiah", Discord for Adults
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, February 09, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, February 09, 2026
Is Europe Abandoning Digital Opium?
GAFAM-controlled social control media
Mobbing at the European Patent Office (EPO) - Part V - Strongest Strike Under António Campinos
SUEPO Munich is also reminding people of the threat of PIPs
Microslop is Slop, Slop is Considered "Quality"
no wonder Microsoft's stuff breaks down so often
thelayoff.com Deletes On-Topic Discussions (Layoffs) While Leaving in Tact Pro-Corporate Trolling Made by LLMs (Slop)
Who at thelayoff.com deems spam made by LLMs (slop) to be on-topic and unworthy of zapping, whereas actually on-topic and authentic threads get routinely deleted?
Gemini Links 09/02/2026: Great Salt Lake Ecological Observatory and Offpunk 3.0 "A Community is Born" Release
Links for the day
Links 09/02/2026: Mass Plagiarism and Pollution/FakeCoin Company Nvidia Contacted Anna’s Archives, Narges Mohammadi Gets Second Prison Sentence
Links for the day
GNU/Linux May Have Grown to 7% in Equatorial Guinea
Has there been some kind of mass migration there or is this just noise in the data?
Links 09/02/2026: Russia Intentionally Killing Civilians, Jimmy Lai Effectively Sentenced for Life for Publishing News
Links for the day
Microsoft Competitions, Addictions, and Popularity Contests Are Not Going to Help Perl, They'll Waste Everybody's Time and Give Microsoft More Control Over Its Competition
Microsoft does not like Perl
A Can of WORMS - Part IV - They Would Even Attack RMS for Criticising Autocrats (Saying This is "Politics")
Conforming to society's perceived expectations isn't how effective activism can ever be done or was ever done in the recent past
Gemini Links 09/02/2026: The Exploration Myth and Making JavaScript Fun
Links for the day
EPO Outrage and Maintaining the Pressure
A vending machine does not fall over after a first push
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, February 08, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, February 08, 2026
"Low Performer" and "Underperformer" as Harmful Misnomers That Damage a Company's Reputation
Misnomers need to be avoided or called out