All articles

Belgium: various types of compensation for employees in the mass retail market
The mass retail sector has been under pressure since the very start of the health crisis. After an unsuccessful first round of sectoral negotiations that were undertaken at the end of March with...
Spain: potentially instigating a minimum income
Spain’s government is preparing to introduce an emergency minimum income measure in an attempt to protect the most vulnerable from the economic impact of the health crisis that continues to...
9 April 2020
EU: Carrefour, Auchan Retail and Uni Global Union to share best practices on preventive measures for workers and consumers regarding the Covid-19 pandemic
On 09 April, the international trade union federation UNI Global Union, together with Auchan Retail and the Carrefour Group signed a joint declaration on the implementation of good business...
Canada: supermarket executives take to shop floor
Managers are rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty. That’s the message being sent out by several supermarket chains. Loblaw, Empire, Longo, and the Canadian subsidiary of...
France: Société Générale agreement on rest days and remuneration maintenance during the Covid-19 pandemic
An agreement signed on 2 April with the CFTC, CGT, and SNB (specific banking sector organisation) trade unions affirms the principle of maintaining remuneration for all staff during the health...
France: PSA agreement includes a solidarity-based 100% guarantee of salaries for employees on partial activity and a facility for adjusting summer holidays to facilitate business resumption
On 07 April an ‘agreement on social solidarity, and the protection and health of employees and the company’ was signed by the French auto manufacturer along with 4 of the 5 representative trade...
Czech Republic: implementation of the jobs protection program
Starting 06 April, employers dealing falling business levels due to the Covid-19 crisis can secure State aid to pay employee salaries. The government provision intends for several supports for...
8 April 2020
Great Britain: audit firms using sabbatical leave to deal with the coronavirus crisis
In order to lessen the financial impact of the health crisis, audit and consulting firms are looking into the idea of the sabbatical leave option. Thus, professional services firm Grant Thornton...
Hungary: government announces a job protection program
On 06 April Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced via Facebook the launch of 5 economy support programs, including one that seeks to preserve jobs. Although the details of the jobs...
8 April 2020
France: metallurgy sector agreement on emergency measures to deal with paid leave, rest days, and working hours
On 3 April the metallurgy sector’s employers’ body, the UIMM, along with the relevant trade union federations, the CFE-CGC, CFDT and FO (the CGT absent) signed an agreement on work organization...
Germany: Government allows companies to practise ‘widespread interim work’
As the spread of Covid-19 and social lockdown continue, some sectors of activity have come to a halt alongside massive recourse to short-time working, while others such as commerce, logistics, and...
7 April 2020
Italy: UniCredit agree with trade unions on 5,200 early retirements to be partly made up by 3,500 hirings and the stabilization of precarious employment contracts
In less than two months, UniCredit banking group and the relevant trade unions have managed to conclude tense negotiations on 6,000 job cuts that are part of the bank’s 2023 strategic plan (c.f...
Great Britain: Government adds clarity to its job support scheme
Furloughing (technical unemployment measure) in order to take of children at home to look after your children, furloughing alongside working for someone else, alternating furloughing periods...
7 April 2020
Solvay: global framework agreement on digital transformation signed
The global framework agreement on digital transformation at Belgian chemicals group Solvay was signed on 17 March after being “discussed and elaborated with the European Works Council (EWC) and...
Mexico: without government aid, companies are told to negotiate with employees to curb impact of the Covid-19 crisis
“We have done away with the old counter-cyclical measures that only increased inequality and yielded wealth for some,” Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (of the left leaning Morena...
6 April 2020
Covid-19 spurs on digital transition at Taiwanese companies
Taiwan is one of the countries that has been least impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The island off the coast of China has recorded only 339 infections (as of 2 April), the vast majority of which...
6 April 2020
Most viewed articles of the month on mind HR
What readers clicked on the most last month.
What readers clicked on the most last month.
1
France: Cabinet adopts pay transparency bill
After several months of delay beyond the European deadline of 7 June 2026, French Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou finally presented the bill transposing the Pay Transparency Directive to the...
10 September 2026
2
Germany: IG Metall demands 5% pay rise amid severe pressure
Despite the crisis hitting the automotive industry, the leadership of the German trade union IG Metall announced on Wednesday 23 September that it would be asking for a 5% pay increase as well as...
23 September 2026
3
Italy: Crédit Agricole introduces a handbook on managerial behaviour
The document adopted in mid-July by Crédit Agricole Italia and the main banking trade unions goes beyond the proper use of meetings and emails. This six-point handbook aims to foster constructive...
3 September 2026
4
Spain: government revisits its draft decree on salary transparency
The Spanish Ministry of Labour has opened a consultation on the transposition of the European directive on salary transparency and the reduction of the gender pay gap. This decision follows a...
8 September 2026
5
Slovakia: 6% increase in the minimum wage from 1 January 2027
The news. As Slovakia’s social partners failed to reach an agreement during tripartite negotiations, Labour Minister Erik Tomas has decided to increase the minimum wage by 6% from 1 January...
1 September 2026
6
EU: Commission proposes a list of worker-related criteria for public procurement
The news. On 9 September, the European Commission published a proposal for a regulation aimed at unifying European public procurement law, which accounts for 15% of European GDP. It is notably set...
17 September 2026