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4 April 2016Patents

EPO strike confirmed for April 7

Staff at the European Patent Office’s (EPO) four sites will hold a one day strike on Thursday, April 7.

In a letter sent to EPO president Benoît Battistelli and seen by WIPR, the EPO’s Central Staff Committee (CSC) said no progress has been made on its demands since staff members voted in favour of striking last month.

The strike is scheduled for April 7 and will take place at the EPO’s offices in Munich, The Hague, Berlin and Vienna.

In a vote, 91% (3,701) of those who voted on the proposed strike backed industrial action.

In order to strike, at least 40% of staff are required to vote on whether to take action. In total, 4,062 out of the EPO’s 6,738 total staff members voted, representing 60%.

Once this has been achieved, at least 50% of those must vote in favour of action.

Of the 4,062 voters, just 219 voted against strike action, while 142 members of staff said they had no opinion on the issue.

In its letter to Battistelli, the CSC said there had been no progress on its four recent demands.

It had called for an immediate suspension of disciplinary measures put in place against three staff representatives earlier this year, a “truly independent review” of their cases by a body that is trusted by managers and staff, a revocation of recent changes to the EPO’s service regulations, and an initiation of open and fair negotiations.

The EPO is preparing a statement and we will update the story shortly.

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