In 2024 Dialogue at the European Patent Office (EPO) is Broken, Laws Cease to Apply
A new leaked publication
LESS than a day ago the Central Staff Committee (CSC) at the EPO circulated information about a meeting which took place on the last day of January, describing the atmosphere of that online 'meeting' as "abysmal".
The message disseminated to staff said:
Dear Colleagues,The General Consultative Committee (GCC) met by videoconference on 31 January 2024 with only one item on the agenda:
- General Guidelines on Rewards 2024 – for consultation GCC/DOC 01/2024
The Chair repeatedly interrupted our interventions by complaining that they were too long although they were concise enough to fit in the limited 45-minute timeframe planned and were no longer than the interventions made by the administration.
The atmosphere was abysmal due to the Chair's strategy to destabilize our speakers and stifle staff concerns. We cannot think of a worse start of the year in terms of social dialogue.
Read more in this report and our opinion on the Guidelines on Rewards 2024.
So there are two components to this communication. First is the issue they wished to bring up and their formalised opinion on it. It is 37 pages in total and EPO management limited the discussion to a "45-minute timeframe" - i.e. the usual tactics. They're not genuinely interested in dialogue and matters of law. As the meeting report shows, the management was rude and disruptive. Here is a full reproduction of the report:
Zentraler Personalausschuss
Central Staff Committee
Le Comité Central du PersonnelMunich, 08-02-2024
sc24008cpReport on the GCC meeting of 31 January 2024
An abysmal atmosphere for the first meeting of the year
The General Consultative Committee (GCC) met by videoconference on 31 January 2024 with only one item on the agenda:
• General Guidelines on Rewards 2024 – for consultation GCC/DOC 01/2024
The GCC is meant to be the highest consultation body in the EPO composed of 10 management representatives and 10 staff representatives. The meeting was chaired by Mr Ernst (VP5) following the delegation of authority from Mr Campinos. Ms Simon (VP4), although connected to the meeting, neither switched on her camera nor took the floor.
Guidelines on Rewards
This GCC meeting was the last in this capacity for the Director Employee Policies transferred to other duties and not in charge of the Guidelines on Rewards anymore. We expressed a kind farewell statement to him, but the Chair interrupted our statement which he considered as being ironical although it left no doubt as to its sincerity.We addressed the increasing number of staff whose performance is unduly considered to be “not met”. The Chair interrupted our intervention and pretended that it is off the topic as “appraisals have nothing to do with the rewards exercise” (sic!). Even if the Office states that there is no automatic link between the two, appraisals shall remain the basis for the rewards exercise.
We questioned the lack of transparency on functional allowances since the administration removed the item from the Guidelines on Rewards. The Chair did not allow us to finish our intervention and deemed it off-topic.
The Chair repeatedly interrupted our interventions by complaining that they were too long although they were concise enough to fit in the limited 45-minute timeframe planned and were no longer than the interventions made by the administration.
Any other business
We asked to comment on the appointment announced on 25 January 2024 of the new Director of Talent Planning and Architecture in charge of performance management and rewards.The Chair considered our intervention as irreceivable, refused to record it in the minutes and deterred us by stating that such an intervention would not be allowed in the future if we make any reference to its content in our report on the GCC.
The atmosphere was abysmal due to the Chair's strategy to destabilize our speakers and stifle staff concerns. We cannot think of a worse start of the year in terms of social dialogue.
The Central Staff Committee
We recently (middle of last month) learned from an EPO insider that the atmosphere in the Office is more or less back to the "Battistelli times".
Will there be strikes and protests later this year? And, if so, will politicians bother to listen or take action? All this inaction works in favour of additional corruption. Crime becomes "normalised" or "the standard" if people includingg elected officials refuse to do anything about it. █