The first press reports on the recent disciplinary actions against key Staff Union officials in Munich can be found below:
SUEPO Munich received a reply from the Bavarian Ministry of Justice (translations are available in English, French and Dutch), Prof. Dr. Winfried Bausback, to the letter sent on 7 December 2016, in relation to the demonstration which took place on 10 December 2015. In his reply, he referred to the question posed by German MP Jutta Krellmann dated 8 October, which you could find here.
The next demonstration will take place on Wednesday 20 January starting from the ISAR building at 12.30h. The demonstrators will march peacefully to the Bayerische Staatskanzlei.
IPKAT reports on the outcome of the disciplinary procedures against three staff representatives/union officials.
Source: http://ipkitten.blogspot.de/2016/01/breaking-news-from-epo-suepo-officials.html
IPKAT (04 December 2015)
“Boards of Appeal tell AC: we were never consulted”
Source: http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2015/12/boards-of-appeal-tell-ac-we-were-never.html
WIPR (07 December 2015)
“WIPR survey: Readers vent anger at EPO dispute”
Source: http://www.worldipreview.com/news/wipr-survey-readers-vent-anger-at-epo-dispute-9288
IPKAT (08 December 2015)
“Merpel pays a brief visit to Eponia”
Source: http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2015/12/merpel-pays-brief-visit-to-eponia.html
WIPR (08 December 2015)
“EPO staff to hold third demo in as many weeks”
Source: http://www.worldipreview.com/news/epo-staff-to-hold-third-demo-in-as-many-weeks-9300
Heise online (09 December 2015)
“Europäisches Patentamt: Streit zwischen Führung und Mitarbeitern spitzt sich rasch zu” (translations available in English, French and Dutch)
Source: http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Europaeisches-Patentamt-Streit-zwischen-Fuehrung-und-Mitarbeitern-spitzt-sich-rasch-zu-3036971.html
FOSS Patents (10 December 2015)
“Why would a patent office be afraid of bloggers? Only if it has something to hide. Like the EPO.”
Source: http://www.fosspatents.com/2015/12/why-would-patent-office-be-afraid-of.html
Junge Welt (11 December 2015)
“Unrechtsstaat im Staate”
Source: http://www.jungewelt.de/2015/12-11/020.php
More can be found on Techrights: http://techrights.org/wiki/index.php/EPO
In a recent document, the ILO Legal Advisor and the ILO Administrative Tribunal blame the number of complaints coming from the EPO for the Tribunal’s current workload and effectiveness problems. CA/21/15, a report by the external auditors of the EPO, confirms problems in the internal justice system of the EPO (see in particular points 13-15 and 59-61). In response the Governing Body of the ILO requested its Director-General “to initiate without delay discussions with the European Patent Organisation … in order to identify a solution to the difficulties …” (point 33 of the above mentioned document). Staff representatives are only to be “consulted”, and that only afterwards.
ILO defines its mission and objectives as “to promote rights at work, encourage decent employment opportunities, enhance social protection and strengthen dialogue on work-related issues” (emphasis added).
SUEPO was therefore shocked and dismayed to see that the governing body of ILO (International Labour Organisation) proposed discussions with representatives of the President without involving representatives of the staff. On behalf of SUEPO and the other staff associations that rely on the Tribunal for justice, SUEPO’s lawyer, Ed Flaherty, has requested to involve staff representatives from the outset. Click here to access the letter of Mr Flaherty.
Management is alleging that some of its senior members received threats, inside and outside of the Office. A spokesperson for the EPO told WIPR that “EPO officials (senior managers but also colleagues at working level) are increasingly subject to personal attacks and undue exposure through blogs, flyers, and calls for violence”.
If there have been individual threats, surely the Office will have acted directly against the culprit (and rightly so). But we have never seen a flier or a blog calling for violence. We wonder if such allegations are not fabricated to harness sympathy among staff and outsiders, at a time when senior management has (finally) landed under intense public scrutiny for their actions. No matter how much they try to portray themselves differently, (senior) managers are not the victims: they are the perpetrators of institutional violence, particularly violence directed against those who dare to express disagreement with certain policies.
Such cheap allegations discredit EPO staff. They call into question our integrity and are an insult to our dignity of honest employee. We do not deserve that. We are committed to seeking change through peaceful protest, negotiation, transparency, and the application of checks and balances - not through threats and intimidation.
Management should commit to the same.
The Staff Committee of the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) has sent a note for the attention of the Members of the Administrative Board and the Budget Committee:
"The OHIM Staff Committee feels deeply concerned and would like to call your attention to the urgent situation at the European Patent Office (EPO) [...] three staff representatives were suspended from service in Munich with immediate effect. The EPO has initiated disciplinary proceedings against them."
"Staff committees count on monitoring bodies such as the Administrative Board to make sure that staff representatives are free to express the worries of staff without fear of punishment for doing so. In other words, staff representatives need extra protection in order to avoid possible abuses of power [...] the Administrative Council should express its concern, in uncertain terms, to the EPO management."