EPO staff hold demo; European staff unions express support

Some staff members at the European Patent Office (EPO) held another demonstration yesterday with the support of several EU-based staff unions.

According to a  statement from the Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO), the demonstration took place in Munich. A source close to SUEPO claimed that hundreds of people attended.

SUEPO added that the EPO’s Administrative Council met yesterday and is meeting today, December 15.

“Topics of discussion are likely to include the controversial removal of the EPO Boards of Appeal to Haar [near Munich] and the office’s reaction to  judgment number 3785,” it said.

Earlier this month, WIPR  reported that the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization (ILO) set aside two decisions, one by the EPO appeals committee and the other by Administrative Council.

One of these decisions was judgment number 3785, in which the tribunal held that the EPO appeals committee was not “composed in accordance with the applicable rules”.

The appeals committee’s decision was set aside and the case has been returned to the EPO.

The other decision, judgment number  3796, concerned a decision made by the EPO’s Administrative Council, introducing a new career system.

One of the unions supporting SUEPO, the ILO staff union committee,  announced that it supported the “struggle” of the EPO staff association to “maintain its work under decent conditions and without retaliatory measures”.

It claimed that for three years, EPO staff have been working in a “toxic environment where the deterioration of working conditions is well known”.

“The representation of the staff is constantly repressed in a brutal way (demotion, eviction) which, in fact, prevents any dialogue between the staff and its administration,” said the ILO staff union committee.

Other unions criticised the leadership of Benoît Battistelli, the EPO’s president.

“Since the arrival of Battistelli at the helm of the organisation, the level of tensions within the EPO has met unprecedented levels,” said an  announcement from the International and European Public Services Organisation, a union founded by staff of the European Central Bank.

The European Public Service Union, a federation of more than 250 independent trade union organisations,  added that dismissals and intimidation of staff representatives have been “an issue since at least 2013, with Battistelli flouting proper procedures and violating workers’ rights, even going so far as to ignore a ruling by the Dutch courts”.

The staff association at  CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, and trade union, the Union Syndicale Federale, also expressed support for the demonstration.

Last month, WIPR  reported that staff members were holding a demonstration on November 24 to show solidarity with “dismissed, downgraded and targeted staff representatives and SUEPO officials”.

A spokesperson for the EPO said: “The EPO has placed no limits on freedom of expression. The trade unions have full possibility to express themselves.”

A source close to SUEPO urged EPO member states to take action before the system is “irreparably damaged”.