EPO staff to hold next demo in June
Staff at the European Patent Office (EPO) have called for another demonstration and have said actions will take place every month until their grievances have been resolved.
The Staff Union of the EPO (SUEPO) has called for respect for staff, freedom of association and honest negotiations for work packages.
A demonstration has been announced for June 11 to coincide with the EPO’s Inventor of the Year event.
The demo has been announced despite recent attempts to heal relations between staff and managers.
Last month, WIPR reported that talks had been held between two staff unions, the EPO’s president Benoît Battistelli, and Jesper Kongstad, the chair of the Administrative Council (AC), which acts as the EPO’s supervisory body.
During the meeting, SUEPO and the newly formed Fédération de la Fonction Publique Européenne (European Federation of Public Service), a union for staff in The Hague office, attempted to address concerns that have boiled over in the office over the last 12 months.
After the talks the EPO said that it could lead to the groups having “formal recognition as trade unions at the office”.
But SUEPO has said that although it supports the EPO’s offer, the recognition is insufficient to address the current situation.
On choosing the Inventor of the Year event to demonstrate, SUEPO said it did not seem "compatible with the role of the EPO" to declare some inventors better than others and to do so at an "expensive" ceremony.
The location and specific time of the demonstration has not yet been announced.
Certain staff members, unhappy with various governance issues at the office, have staged a series of protests and strikes against the AC and Battistelli over the last 12 months.
Concerns have centred on changes to staff's sick leave rules, alleged barriers placed on union activities, and the AC’s decision to back a move by Battistelli which imposed a ‘house ban’ on an Enlarged Board of Appeal member following allegations of misconduct.
The EPO has been contacted for comment but had not responded at the time of publication.
