All articles

Germany: law adopted to reduce wage gap between men and women
On Thursday 30 March, Germany’s Bundestag adopted a long-discussed law on equal pay of men and women. In order to reduce the sizeable wage gap that exists between men and women, the bill...
31 March 2017
France: CFDT becomes largest trade union organisation in private sector
On 31 March, the level of trade union representation across industries in the private sector was made public. The statistics are published every four years according to the results of professional...
31 March 2017
Netherlands: workers on service provision contracts to benefit from legislation on minimum wage and paid leave allowance
Under the law adopted on 28 March, legislation on the minimum wage and paid leave has been extended to apply to workers employed under a service provision contract. The change comes after another...
31 March 2017
Great Britain: to minimize uncertainty, London will copy European law into UK law
After having triggered Article 50 on 29 March and thereby launching the UK’s official exit from the EU, on 30 March the government published its White Paper on Legislating for the United Kingdom’s...
30 March 2017
Italy: Italcementi restructuring enables managers to move to local SMEs
Italy’s multinational cement company Italcementi, bought in 2016 by Germany’s HeidelbergCement has launched a landmark initiative, which in collaboration with the employers’ body Confindustria and...
30 March 2017
Germany: employers hold that metal workers are satisfied with their working time
At a time when the IG Metall union is calling for more employee friendly working time flexibility, on 27 March the employers’ body Gesamtmetall unveiled the conclusions of a representative survey...
29 March 2017
Spain: the second national collective agreement is signed for the metals sector
On 27 March, the CCOO and UGT-FICA unions, together with the employers’ body, Confemetal, signed the second national collective agreement for the metals sector (industry, technology, and...
29 March 2017
LafargeHolcim: signs an agreement establishing an EWC
Signed on 27 March, the agreement puts an EWC in place for the new group that resulted from the merger in 2015 of two cement giants, one Swiss and one French, and places it under Belgian...
29 March 2017
Bonduelle: a new EWC agreement
In a press statement published on 28 March, EFFAT, the European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions announced a new EWC agreement for the French vegetable processing producer...
29 March 2017
News update as of 28 March 2017
On the menu: EU negotiator Barnier’s Brexit sets out conditions, Silicon Valley’s engineers tempted by unionization, the impact on the labor market of Greek Government’s discussions with...
24 March 2017
France: collective agreement reached for umbrella companies
With the creation of a branch for umbrella companies in December, social partners were tasked with building a framework for the development of this form of employment – a halfway house between...
24 March 2017
France: Constitutional Council abandons provisions for the issuing of fines, under law on multinationals’ due diligence
On the evening of 23 March, France’s Constitutional Council ruled that the provisions for issuing fines, under the law on the due diligence of multinationals companies, are not compliant with the...
24 March 2017
Argentina: salary agreement in retail sector
The retail sector trade union in Argentina has reached an annual salary agreement with the country’s government and employers’ chambers. By striking the deal, the largest trade union in the...
24 March 2017
Brazil: law adopted liberalizing sub-contracting
On 22 March legislation (Lei da terceirização) was adopted that opens recourse to sub-contracting to all business activities rather than as previously was the case just to activities unrelated to...
23 March 2017
Finland: the president of the employers association seeks an end to collective agreements and looks to chop 10%-15% off salaries
The employers’ toughening stance is nothing new. At the end of spring 2016 employers (EK) announced that contrary to the general custom in place since the end of WWII they intended to suspend...
23 March 2017
News update as of March 22, 2017
On the menu: almost one million working on 'zero hour' contracts in Great Britain, draft law on disabled worker inclusion soon to be adopted in Chile, ans Japan's government is to collaborate with...
21 March 2017
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
Italy: collective agreement for rubber and plastics sector focuses on new skills
A month ahead of schedule, the Federazione Gomma Plastica employers' organisation and the Filctem-Cgil, Femca-Cisl and Uiltec trade unions have renewed the collective agreement for the rubber and...
5 January 2026
2
Italy: new generational renewal agreement penned at UniCredit
The agreement signed on 30 December by UniCredit, Italy’s second-largest banking group, with the Fabi, First-Cisl, Fisac-Cgil, Uilca and Unisin trade unions aims to continue generational...
3
France: social partner talks extend far beyond contractual terminations
After a false start on 3 December, French social partners resumed talks on 7 January 2026 on potential changes to the unemployment insurance agreement, including the rules governing compensation...
12 January 2026
4
EU: banking sector social partners commit to combating violence and harassment
On 15 January, the trade union federation UNI Europa Finance and three employers’ associations in the banking sector signed a joint statement on preventing violence and harassment in the...
5
Italy: banking group Intesa Sanpaolo sharpens focus on quality of life at work
Over the Christmas period Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy's largest bank, penned with trade unions a deal to renew the first part of the company agreement, covering work-life balance, inclusion, parenthood...
14 January 2026
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France: Decathlon steps up support for carers in new disability agreement
Like Crédit Agricole, Decathlon signed a new disability agreement on 3 December 2025, covering a three-year period from 1 January, and for the first time without requiring formal approval...