The petition launched in October 2022 by Union syndicale in the European Patent Office (EPO) has met with no response. A petition to the Administrative Council of the EPO expressing the view that a Conference of the Ministers of the Contracting States provided by Art.4a of the European Patent Convention (EPC) is now long overdue. Therefore, Union Syndicale Fédérale (USF) wishes to support and to join the SUEPO (Staff Union of the EPO) claim to convene a Conference of the Ministers of the Contracting States under Art.4a of the EPC. Read the letter of support from Nicolas Mavraganis, the President of USF to Mr. Josef Kratochvil, Chair of the Administrative Council, regarding SUEPO’s open letter to the Administrative Council on the Conference of Ministers of the Contracting States under Article 4a.
EPSU-CJ – Credible criteria for trade unions’ representativeness
To fulfil its role as a defender of staff, a trade union is obliged, first and foremost, to defend its credibility when this is compromised, and its own means of action when these are denied to it.
