Bonum Certa Men Certa

The EPO's Strike That Not a Single Publisher Wants to Tell You About! (Updated)

SUEPO strike 2022
This is accessible for all to see; why do so-called 'journalists' choose to ignore it?



Summary: Europe's second-largest institution and Europe's largest patent office is in a very bad state; but it has managed to sabotage the media, so you probably won't hear about it anywhere

WE are only 7 days away from an EPO strike. It's not limited to one site. It's like a general strike. Of course the media won't tell you about it...



The staff union of the EPO has just published the above image and an English publication [PDF]. Most 'professional journalists' in Europe can understand English. The arguments or the reasoning are contained in the document, but we've chosen to make an HTML version of it, as it will become text and GemText some time tonight.

15.03.2022 su22001mp – 0.2.1/0.3.2

SUEPO Action Plan: Strike on Tuesday 22 March



The SUEPO action plan approved on 22 February started with Work-to-Rule actions and now culminates with 1 full day of strike on Tuesday 22 March 2022 (see calendar) during the meeting of the Administrative Council. Show Mr Campinos your discontent. This paper gives you the latest updates.

A President showing no will to discuss and no will to listen either

Despite SUEPO’s repeated invitation, Mr Campinos refuses to discuss our claims and solely reacted in an online interview by saying: “Staff is difficult, the President is difficult. We are all difficult.”1 Mr Campinos misses the point: it’s the EPO policies which are difficult.

In the last GCC meeting of 1 March 2022, Mr Campinos declared that he holds a lawyer degree himself and that he does not need the advice of the staff representation. If Mr Campinos knows the law, why has he put an end to some of the breaches of the fundamental right to freedom of association only after a judge told him to do so2?

Buzzwords for deteriorating working conditions

There are still illegal detrimental reforms implemented at the EPO under the buzzwords of “sustainability”, “flexibility” and “mobility”.

-The Career System is competition-based with no equivalent among International Organizations. Official statements about the “excellent work of all staff”3 and “outstanding efforts”4 during the pandemic are a mockery in view of the reward exercise: the worst ever percentage of 40% of eligible staff is excluded from any career progression. Mr Campinos adopts the cynical approach that as long as the ‘rat race’ makes staff produce, why should he reward performance?

-The freeze of salary adjustment in 2022 is again with no equivalent among International Organisations and comes on top of massive savings made during the pandemic. Mr Campinos has already filled the financial gap his consultants from Oliver Wyman & Mercer orchestrated in 2019 but he still refuses to protect EPO staff from high local inflation.

-The “fixed-term contracts” will be subject to a new Circular turning the “rat race” into a “Squid Game” in the hope of being converted to permanent.

-The “decentralization package” (CA/19/22) giving jobs to “national experts” from patent offices is conveniently tabled at a time the reelection of Mr Campinos is being discussed among the Council delegations. The “talent pipeline from Alicante” won’t dry up.

Inflation is historically high, but thanks to the Tribunal, there is at least one thing that has become cheaper for EPO staff this year: strike deductions! (down from 1/20th to 1/30th)

Participate in the strike! Make Tuesday 22 March count!

____ 1 CIN meeting @01:01:21 2 Strike regulations J4430 and “Social Democracy” J4482 elections 3 CIN meeting of 18 February @47:35 4 Communiqué of 8 March 2022


António Campinos will be seeing an EPO strike not for the first time; there may soon be more strikes under Campinos than there were during eight years of Benoît Battistelli, but the media won't be mentioning that because it is being paid (or sometimes blackmailed) to cover things up.

We're not exaggerating. This is exactly what's happening.

Update: The image seems to have been replaced by a less "celebratory" one.

SUEPO strike 2022

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft's "FUD-as-a-Service" (Against Linux) Not Functioning Well
This is the kind of contribution companies like Microsoft and Google have to offer to society
Betanews Becoming a Slopfarm is "Betanews Growing Alongside You", According to Betanews
Their first 'article' in over two weeks is 52% "AI-generated" (slop), 33% mixed (edited slop), 18% human-written, says an advanced scanner.
Double-Dipping the Docket for Microsoft Glory and Censorship of Microsoft Critics
same lawyer, same barrister, all US, all Microsoft
 
Microsoft's Windows is a Niche Operating System in Africa
African nations aren't a large contributor to Microsoft's income, but if many African nations move away from Windows, then the monopoly is at risk
Like Most Social Control Media, Microsoft LinkedIn is Collapsing
One reason for Microsoft acquisitions is debt-loading, i.e. offloading and burying its debt
Microsoft is Losing Its Richest Clients
Unlike some very poor countries, Germany and the EU are a considerable source of income to Microsoft
Proprietary Means Not Secure
Proprietary software tends to rely on secrecy, not good design
Slop in 'AI' Clothing is a Passing Fad, We'll Get Past It (Like Blockchain Before That)
Many people cheat in exams using slop and there are professionals that try using slop as a "shortcut"
GNOME Does Not Campaign Against Microsoft, KDE Does
It's good to see that KDE is still active in promotion of Free software - a term that it uses
Slopwatch: BetaNews, Linuxsecurity, and Other Prolific Slopfarms
name and shame the sites that establish such proliferation of slop
Gemini Links 18/06/2025: Birch Lake and Loon Pond
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 17, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Links 17/06/2025: "The Grift Economy" and Kubernetes Does Proprietary
Links for the day
Coffee Day and LLM Sloppers
The LLM slop "bros" are a lot like fake-money bros; they lie to people, they boast that they lie to people, and they're generally bad people, BS artists in colloquial terms
TheLayoff Censorship of IBM Threads Has Gone Truly Ludicrous
we do not argue that TheLayoff should not cull LLM slop
More Stallmanites Added to FSF Board and Summer Fundraiser Commences
There's some good news from the FSF
Gemini Links 17/06/2025: Consistency and Notes About NixOS
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 16, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 16, 2025
July 2 2025 Would Not be First Big Wave of Microsoft Layoffs Before Major National Holiday
July 2 or 3 mark the start of a very long weekend in the US
IDG's NetworkWorld Seems to Have Just Become LLM Slop
If IDG (now controlled by China) does that in at least one site, why not the rest? Only a matter of time?
Gemini Links 16/06/2025: Free Lunches and Bookmarklet for Mastodon
Links for the day
Gemini Protocol Turns 6 on Friday
Active (online) Gemini capsules are estimated by Lupa at over 3,000
IBM: Less Than a Month's Severance for Each Decade of Service
Yes, decade!
Taking a Lesson From Denmark and Greenland? Iceland Shows New Lows for Windows, All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux
If Microsoft sabotages systems of judges at the Hague (in order to appease the insane man who wanted to invade Greenland), why won't its neighbour Iceland take note?
BetaNews Has Just Deleted Its Latest 'Article' or Got Cracked Again and Restored From Outdated Backup Again
BetaNews seems to be in some serious trouble right now
Software Freedom is "Activism" Because the Corporate Agenda Revolves Around Bribery, Deceit, and Betrayal
At the end Software Freedom will win because it's on the same side as truth and lawfulness
The EPO, Europe's Largest Patent Office, Admits Outsourcing to Microsoft Slop
Their sole goal is to make more money
Links 16/06/2025: EchoLeak and NASA Teaming up With India
Links for the day
The Better the Understanding or the More Nations Understand the Threat Posed by Microsoft, the Faster It'll be Eradicated
We believe that the thing to advocate is self-hosting and Free software... A lack of simplicity or absence of alternatives is a form of vendor lock-in
A Week of Sunlight
They say transparency is like sunlight to a vampire
"Linux" Sites That Went Astray
there are even worse things than shutdowns
Links 16/06/2025: Climate, Wildfires, Breaches, and Monopolies
Links for the day
Links 16/06/2025: Summer in Finland and Misunderstandings
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 15, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 15, 2025