Haar-cut

The disciplinary case against Elisabeth Hardon should not let us forget that the disciplinary case which keeps the Federal constitutional court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) busy at present is about a DG3 member. Are there any news about him? Not really. He is still officially supposed to work at the Hague in a room without a phone number.

Even more puzzling: there were several DG3 members reappointed in the last Council session and new posts were created as well, yet he is still not reintegrated. Märpel thinks he is probably the only DG3 member which did not see his contract renewed.

The Federal constitutional court shall therefore have little choice but notice that DG3 members can be removed at will and therefore are not independent. This will have consequences for the implementation of the UPC, obviously.

How can this situation be changed?

Märpel notes that the Federal constitutional court is not in a position to issue recommendations to the Office. Their decision will be all or nothing and will have consequences. Common sense would thus have that improvements to the EPO governance should be implemented before a decision is issued. Yet, the opposite will be proposed to the next council meeting: the disciplinary powers of the President will be extended to the vice-presidents. Contracts shall be automatically renewable (unless the President decides otherwise), thereby depriving the Council of their input.

In simple words: President Campinos seeks to increase its power even beyond what "sun-king" President Battistelli had.

Hard of hearings

Prowling the corridors of the Isar building yesterday, Märpel noticed that the tenth floor was very busy on Friday. Apparently, the hearing of Mrs. Elisabeth Hardon on Monday was postponed. Märpel is not sure for what reason, so watch this space for future articles.

Could it be that President Campinos realised that entrusting Mrs Elodie Bergot again to lead the prosecution was not a smart move?

Does President Campinos realize that Mrs Elodie Bergot is known all over the EPO for harassing whomever crosses her path? Does he know that staff working under her supervision never stay longer than six months? Did she tell him that she was condemned for harassment in France when she worked for the "Caisse Assurance Retraites"?

Resolution

Märpel learned that the Munich Staff passed a resolution last tuesday. Märpel herself could not be there, as the safety measures are so tight that even the smallest cat could not enter the building, but she could get a copy of the resolution which was unanimously voted by the staff:

RESOLUTION

SUEPO members in Munich, gathered in a General Assembly, note that:

- The President, Mr Campinos has decided to face Elizabeth Hardon, former Chairman of SUEPO Munich and Chair of the Local Staff Committee Munich, with a new disciplinary committee instigated by the same old Administration which is still in place, and apparently with the same old charges.

- The Tribunal has already castigated the Administration's behaviour in the cases of Ion Brumme (Judgment 4043) and Malika Weaver (Judgment 4042).

- The President did not take into account the instructions contained in the Resolution CA/26/16 dated 16 March 2016 to inform the Administrative Council of any new disciplinary proceedings concerning a staff representative and to consider the possibility of involvement of an external reviewer for arbitration or mediation.

Further noting that:

- Laurent Prunier, as Secretary of SUEPO The Hague and member of the Central Staff Committee, was dismissed for extraneous motives, similarly to Elizabeth, Malika and Ion.

- Staff representatives face difficulties accommodating their workload in the Appeals Committee with the workload in their other duties, mostly patent examination. Judgments 3971 and 4050 made public these difficulties, resulting in disciplinary measures against Aurélien Pétiaud and Michael Lund, which the Tribunal considered "within the range of acceptability" or "not to be disproportionate". It is now absolutely clear that those disciplinary measures were politically motivated as part of an intimidation campaign against staff representatives.

Expresses its disappointment about the continuation of the attacks initiated by former President, Mr Battistelli.

Expresses its deep concern that the President's decision will prevent the restoration of social dialogue and further damage the reputation of the Office.

Urges the President:

- to drop the charges raised against Elizabeth Hardon,

- to reinstate Laurent Prunier in full,

- to provide reparation of the torts inflicted on Aurélien Pétiaud and Michael Lund

Munich, Tuesday 20 November

A tribunal with one side

Märpel was surprised to find out on the Intranet that President Campinos met Giuseppe Barbagallo, President of the ILO Administrative Tribunal (ILOAT), and Guy Ryder, Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), in Geneva.

The purpose of the meeting is, officially, to "reduce pending appeals". While this is a laudable objective, Märpel finds it puzzling that one of the parties is welcome to talk with the tribunal and the other is not. Märpel notes that the most efficient way to reduce  pending appeal to zero is simply to make sure that staff cannot appeal. Märpel notes that a "Memorandum of understanding" was apparently signed between President Campinos and the chair and vice-chair of the appeals committee that still keeps budget, objectives and discretionary power over the temporary contracts of the appeals committee in the hands of President Campinos. Independence of the judiciary does not look like this.

In this context, the flyer team just published a new flyer about the status of Suepo disciplinary cases. Märpel understands that Patrick, Elisabeth, Aurelien, Michael and Laurent situation is not good. You may want to read the flyer yourself on their site:

http://www.epostaff4rights.org

or directly download the pdf under

http://www.epostaff4rights.org/pdf/42.pdf