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Slovenia: agreement on guidelines for the negotiation of the Social Contract 2012-2016
The Guidelines interestingly state that the fundamental issues of the labour law legislation, labour market, health and pension insurance and wages system in the public sector will be subject to...
Great Britain: new labor law amendments coming into force
Abusive layoff.  Workers starting a new job on April 6 and later will be subject to the government reform extending seniority in the company from one to two years to be able to sue the employer...
Great Britain: London Underground secures social truce for the Olympic Games this summer
The Evening Standard, the main newspaper in London, believed the deal could see drivers earning up to £6,000 in bonuses for working during the Olympics. It quoted a senior source from Aslef, the...
Italy: government releases bill on labor market reform
“Historical” scope for the reform.  When presenting the bill (72 articles, 80 pages) on the labor reform, on April 4, Mario Monti, President of the Council, used a lot of superlatives.  The bill...
Austria: first spring bargaining agreement in the textile, electrical and electrical engineering industries provide for 3.75-4.5 percent increases
The negotiations started mid-march in textile and the electrical and electrical engineering industries (see our dispatch No.  120187) were carried out swiftly since, in both cases, an agreement...
Total: amendment to the European agreement on assistance in creation, purchase or development of SMEs
New sites included.  On March 28, 2007, Total and the EMCEF (mining, chemistry and energy), FECCIA (managers in the chemical industry) and FECER (managers in energy and research) European trade...
Sweden: SEKO union joins National Employment Agency and five telecoms to set up technician training for young jobseekers
A crying need.  The telecom industry has been growing a lot in the past few years, becoming an extremely dynamic sector and playing a major part in the country’s economic development.  Therefore...
Belgium: unions are campaigning for the May 7 ballot
Candidates race.  On March 27, the General Confederation of Liberal Trade Unions of Belgium (CGLSB) was proud to announce a 17 percent increase in the number of candidates which will represent it...
Great Britain: apprenticeship will have to last at least 12 months
Last December, Hayes announced that apprenticeship for all 16-18 year-olds would have to last 12 months.  On April 1, he announced that this requirement would also affect those aged 19 and over...
Sweden: trade employers’ organization signed new wage agreement with supervisory staff representatives but is facing a call for strike for employees
Satisfactory agreements for managers and graduates.  The new wage agreement signed between Svensk Handel and the Unionen and Akademikerförbunden union organizations applies to executives, store...
Germany: the German army and businesses exchange staff more and more often
On March 14, at the Köln-Wahn barracks, Cassidian and the Luftwaffe signed a cooperation agreement.  It applies the advice contained in the directive released on February 1 by the German Ministry...
EU: new directive on electromagnetic fields by October 31, 2013
Application moratorium.  The European Commission suggested extending the moratorium for the application of Directive 2004/40 on the protection of workers exposed to electromagnetic fields to April...
Austria: 3.5 percent wage increase in banking
On April 1, the wages of the 80,000 banking employees went up by 3.5 percent in average.  This is the result of the wage agreement signed between the GPA-djp union (private sector employees) and...
Germany: 6.3 percent increase for public workers to influence other sectoral negotiations
Who can beat 6.3 percent?  It took 40 successive hours of negotiations for Frank Bsirske, leader of the Verdi union, the representatives of civil service employers, the Federal Minister of the...
International: overview of global union alliances
“United stand.”  A direct consequence of globalization, union action transcends borders in the form of international union alliances.  The last to date, the Ikea Global Union Alliance...
Poland: toward retirement age at 67
A political agreement on the principle of retirement at 67.   On March 29, the leaders of two political parties – Donald Tusk for PO and Waldemar Pawlak, former Minister of Economic Affairs, for...
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1
EU: social partners in telecoms sign joint statement on AI
On 16 December, the social partners in Europe's telecommunications sector unveiled a joint statement on artificial intelligence. They propose an action plan for skills and commit to raising...
18 December 2025
2
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
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