EPO officially recognises FFPE staff union
The European Patent Office (EPO) has said it has taken a step forward in improving relations with staff by agreeing to recognise one of the office’s staff unions.
Yesterday, March 2, the EPO and the Fédération de la Fonction Publique Européenne of the European Patent Office (FFPE-EPO) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU).
Under the terms of the MOU, only active and retired EPO staff can be members of the union and representatives must be elected. Members of staff dismissed by the EPO are no longer considered members of the union.
In exchange, unions are allowed to use EPO premises to hold meetings.
For any future negotiations about general disputes between management and staff, an end date must be established by which an agreement has to be reached, the MOU states.
In a statement, Benoît Battistelli, president of the EPO, said: “The signing of the MOU is a milestone in a renewed social dialogue. By this recognition of trade unions as social partners, we are adding a negotiation scheme to our comprehensive process of consultation.”
The MOU was signed by FFPE-EPO chair Samuel van der Bijl.
The FFPE-EPO is a much smaller union compared to the Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO), which has yet to be recognised.
According to sources within the unions, the FFPE-EPO has around 70 members who all work in The Hague office, while SUEPO is estimated to have more than 3,000 members across all of the EPO’s offices.
The EPO has offered all unions a chance to be recognised by signing a MOU.
But the efforts have been criticised by SUEPO following the suspension of two of its senior representatives in January.
SUEPO insisted that it will not sign any agreement until the suspensions are withdrawn.
Last month, the Administrative Council (AC), the supervisory body of the EPO, called for an independent investigation into the disciplinary action taken against the SUEPO officials.
The AC also called for the suspension of the measures pending a review from an external body.
In a letter dated February 11, signed by AC chair Jesper Kongstad and sent to other AC members, the “handling of the disciplinary cases” was highlighted as “one of the major obstacles to reaching consensus with the trade unions on a MOU”.
The AC is due to meet in Munich from March 16 to 17.
