Unrest at the EPO - Strikes are in the air

Lean, mean and highly
trained: the EPO strike force

Merpel has, as is her wont, been prowling the corridors of power.  This time she has been visiting her favourite corridors, those of the EPO, usually populated by anxious European patent attorneys and their clients, waiting to find out whether the 10th Auxiliary Request complies with Article 123(2) EPC, and now with their laptops and mobile printers under their arm as well.

But this time, she has found something different.  A correspondent (to whom a Katpat - you know who you are) has alerted the IPKat to news of a STRIKE planned at the EPO, and so Merpel went to investigate.

Just a year ago, readers will recall, examiners at the UK Patent Office Intellectual Property Office were taking industrial action over pay and progression.  Now, the EPO employees are also announcing strike action.  Their demands are more wide ranging.  They are apparently encapsulated in the acronym PEACES, as follows:

• Presidential communication:

1. the President needs to clarify his remarks regarding Chinese prior art in the ManagingIP.com interview via a Communique and to request a correction,
2. the CSC should be allowed to publish one page in the Gazette to put into context the President's trivialisation of the present social unrest as a situation normal at the EPO.

• E-mails: removal of the 50 recipients cap, abolishment of the block on all union e-mails to staff and withdrawal of the warning letters sent to staff.
• Adoption of Social Democracy: introduction of separation of powers and social dialogue
• Change of Disciplinary committee: re-nomination of a DG3 member as Chairman in order to continue the 30-year independence of this body
• Evolution of the Investigation Guidelines: amendment of Circ. 341 and 342 in line with European Law
• Strike Regulations: withdrawal of Circ. 347 (new strike regulations)

The Managing IP article referred to in the first item seems to be this one.

In furtherance of these objectives, a strike ballot has been held, and 4119 out of the 6803 eligible employees have voted, which represents a quorum (40% is required for a quorum).  Of these, 3697, around 90% of the votes cast, are in favour of strike action.

It has been notified that the strike will be held on 21, 24 and 25 March, and 14, 15, 16, 17 April.

Merpel is only a feline, and a fictional one at that, so she does not know much about the internal conditions of the EPO.  There seems however to be great dissatisfaction at the current governance by the President of the EPO.  Moreover, the dissatisfaction appears intense and widespread.  As ever, the comments section is open to those with further light to shed on this matter.