EU patent office staff in strike action

Staff unions at the European Patent Office (EPO) have threatened further industrial action in their bitter dispute with management.

It follows a one-day strike on 18 September by EPO employees of the Munich-based organisation, which also has sites in Berlin,The Hague and Vienna.

Most of those engaged in the dispute are members of the Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO) which is affiliated to the Brussels-based Union Syndicale, a federation of EU staff unions.

Many of those who took part in the strike earlier this month travelled to Brussels to participate in a demonstration in Brussels timed to coincide with an EPO management meeting in the city.

Jean Dighaye, of SUEPO, told this website that staff felt they had been “undermined” by management and said there was “extreme dissatisfaction” with the EPO as an employer.

He said, “Staff have been voicing their concerns for the last few years and have become increasingly frustrated at the lack of any acceptable progress.

“There has been a damaging focus on quantity and efficiency at the expense of quality.”

He said a recent staff survey showed a “worryingly” low level of trust of the EPO staff in their governing bodies.

“Only eight per cent of staff confirmed the statement that they trust the administrative council.”

“A strong, high quality European patent system requires highly qualified and highly-motivated staff and we are appealing to management not to alienate EPO staff by measures that are short-sighted and tainted by self-interest.”

EPO was set up to provide a procedure for inventors and companies seeking patent protection in up to 38 European countries. It granted its first patents in 1980 and also has a  Brussels liaison office to build up relations with the commission.

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