EPO staff hold demo for dismissed workers

Staff members at the European Patent Office (EPO) are holding a demonstration today in the centre of The Hague in support of dismissed workers.

According to a statement from the Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO), the demonstration is being held to show solidarity with “dismissed, downgraded and targeted staff representatives and SUEPO officials”.

A source close to SUEPO said that they would “truly prefer not to have to hit the streets again to publicly complain” about the EPO management.

Earlier this month, Laurent Prunier, elected member of the central staff committee and secretary of SUEPO in The Hague, was sacked.

Prunier was accused of harassment and defamation, but has denied the claims.

A spokesperson for the EPO said  that the dismissal was a result of “disciplinary proceedings before a disciplinary committee of the EPO, composed of equal numbers of representatives of the management and the staff”.

The spokesperson added that the committee had recommended the staff member be dismissed and that Benoît Battistelli, EPO president, had followed the recommendation.

However, SUEPO said the dismissal was against the will of the Administrative Council, as expressed in its March 2016 resolution.

In response, the spokesperson for the EPO said that SUEPO’s interpretation was incorrect.

“The EPO has regularly informed the Administrative Council about sensitive ongoing cases,” they said.

“The procedures were conducted according to our rules, which compare favourably to other international organisations such as the EU and the UN, and are fully in line with the European Social Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights, according to a study from PwC published at the end of September 2016.”

SUEPO also said that in 2016 Battistelli dismissed three elected staff representatives and SUEPO officials and downgraded another one, “a first in the world of international organisations”.

In January this year, WIPR  reported that Elizabeth Hardon, chair of the SUEPO Munich branch, and Ion Brumme, the union’s treasurer, had been dismissed.

The staff members were accused of participating in a “damaging defamation campaign” against senior officials and issuing  “calls for violence”. These claims have been denied by SUEPO.

The EPO spokesperson said: “All international organisations have the duty to ensure the respect of their rules and regulations by all employees. When there is harassment, blackmail, psychological or physical threats against an employee, any institution has to react.”

In the cases mentioned, the “misconducts were related to relations between employees, some of them (victims and aggressors) being staff representatives”, the EPO said.

According to the office, the facts were analysed by disciplinary committees, composed of an equal number of members appointed by the management and staff representatives, who considered that there were “very severe breaches” and recommended the “highest sanctions”.

The recommended sanctions were put in place by the EPO.

Today’s demonstration is the latest in a string of protests and strikes to take place over the past two years.