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Czech Republic: secret trade union membership developed to avoid potential employer reprisals
In 2012 the Czech online news site Novinky.cz reported on employees’ voiced concerns over reprisals by their employer Hyundai Motors because they were members of a trade union. The company has...
Great Britain: sets a course to leave the EU
51.9% of the British population voted ‘No’ to Europe during an historic referendum, plunging the United Kingdom and its business community into a sea of uncertainty. Negotiations to exit the EU...
Germany: 5.3% wage rise over 24 months for the chemicals sector
Germany’s 550,000 chemicals employees will receive a 5.3% pay rise paid in two stages comprising first 3% then 2.3%. In exchange for the size of the rise the IG BCE union accepted spreading the...
Portugal: retail sector adopts a new collective agreement
Since 16 June, Portugal’s major retailers has a new collective agreement where workers will enjoy a 2% wage rise as well as arrangements to be implemented that will allow for equivalences between...
Italy: banking sector social partners negotiate a code of conduct
Following a series of scandals that have hit several of Italy’s banking institutions, negotiations commenced between the employers’ body ABI (Associazione Bancaria Italiana) and the sector’s...
Germany: more and more businesses are looking for new ways to attract apprentices
Germany’s businesses are doing more and more to attract apprenticeship candidates in a bid to fill a growing shortage. Measures including in-house internships, closer ties with the secondary and...
China: are changes in wages putting an end to cheap ‘Made-in-China’?
Thanks to a formerly cheap labor pool, crucial for building the ‘world factory’, China has become the world’s biggest manufacturing country making one fifth of the global manufacturing products...
Sweden: law on whistle-blowers (Visselblåsare) is finally adopted
On 08 June Sweden’s parliament adopted a draft law that was initially presented in May 2014 and that aims to bolster protection for whistle-blowers. The law is set to come into force on 01 January...
22 June 2016
EU: the ETUC calls for a framework directive on workers’ participation at board level
Between 08-09 June the ETUC Executive Committee adopted a resolution in favor of a directive enabling stronger arrangements in terms of both information and consultation and participation at board...
20 June 2016
Bulgaria: a new collective agreement for the tourism sector
On May 26, 2016 a new collective agreement for the Tourism branch was signed by the Bulgarian Tourist Chamber (BTC), on behalf of employers, and three trade unions, the National Federation ‘Trade...
India: amid much vacillating the government is set to relaunch law reforms
Two years after taking up power, India’s current center-right-wing BJP (nationalist Hindu Bharativa Janata Party) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) still hasn’t delivered on its labor...
20 June 2016
EU: European agreement over conflict minerals
The European Union will soon have new rules framing imports of conflict minerals that will include mandatory upstream responsibilities and voluntary downstream responsibilities.
17 June 2016
EU: the European Trade Union Confederation adopts a resolution on digitalization
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) believes that public authorities at all levels as well as the social partners should seek to shape digitalization so that it is not subject to the...
17 June 2016
EU: French and German legislation under fire over a requirement for foreign transport businesses to pay minimum wage levels
On 16 June the European Commission published its monthly infringements document, which this time sees France under fire for requiring foreign transportation operators to pay their workers France’s...
17 June 2016
Austria: social partners in the metals sector reach a landmark agreement over flexibility
On Wednesday 15 June in Vienna, Austria’s machinery and metal ware employers’ body the FMMI together with the PRO-GE (Industry) and GPA-dip (Private sector employees) unions presented an...
Italy: government studies formulae for combining early retirement with bank loans
A second meeting between unions and the government over retirement and jobs was held on 14 June and was the forum for labor Minister Giuliano Poletti to present the main thrusts of the APE project...
16 June 2016
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: Yves Rocher convicted of breach of duty of vigilance for infringement of freedom of association
The specialised chamber of the Paris Judicial Court convicted Yves Rocher on 12 March for breaching its duty of vigilance. The group was sued by Turkish employees dismissed in 2018 by a subsidiary...
12 March 2026
2
Spain: business support package to tackle the economic impact of the Middle East conflict
The Spanish government approved a series of measures on 20 March to support companies facing rising energy prices. In return, these businesses are prohibited from making redundancies for economic...
23 March 2026
3
EU: Council adopts position on simplifying AI rules
The Council of the EU approved its position on 13 March regarding the “omnibus regulation” proposal, published last November by the Commission to simplify the AI Act. Confirming the...
20 March 2026
4
Germany: a corporate group supports local political engagement via its “Democracy Charter”
Large corporations in the Hesse region, surrounding Frankfurt, are defending local democracy by enabling employees to volunteer in local public life through an initiative dubbed the "Democracy...
11 March 2026
5
United States: Coca-Cola subsidiary sued by the administration over women-only event
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced on 18 February that it is launching federal proceedings against Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast for “sex-based...
6 March 2026