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Netherlands: reforming the system to help disabled employees
The measures aims to abolish the 100,000 State-funded jobs for disabled people, to review social benefits for disabled people (Bijstand, 314,000 beneficiaries) and the special system for young...
EU: first joint executive committee for the EMF, EMCEF and ETUF:TCL to prepare their coming merger
No to austerity.  Michael Vassiliadis, current EMCEF President, will be the new federation’s Chairman; EMF general secretary, Ulrich Eckelmann, will be the new general secretary and Bart Samyn...
2 February 2012
United States: National Oil Bargaining Policy shows will to better prevent accidents
United Steelworkers (USW) announced, on Tuesday, January 31, a few hours before the previous framework agreement, in force since 2009, expired, a new three-year deal with Shell, representing oil...
Morocco: creation of a union-employers social mediation committee
Failure of the conciliation procedures provided for in the Labor Code.  The Union of Moroccan Workers (Union Marocaine des Travailleurs, UMT) and the General Confederation of Moroccan...
Germany: Deutsche Bahn managers will have to take better account of employee and customer satisfaction
Unhappy customers and employees.  “Profitable growth can only be obtained with enthusiastic workers and satisfied customers.  This is why quality and the satisfaction of customers and employees...
1 February 2012
Great Britain: RMT transport union reaches very favourable deal on a strategic line for the Olympic Games this summer in London
Serco Docklands, which operates the driver-less train service but has on-board train staff, agreed to a rise in the standard overtime rate for about 550 of its employees, making overtime paid at...
United States: union membership stable around 12 percent
“In 2011, the union membership rate was 11.8 percent, essentially unchanged from 11.9 percent in 2010,” the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on January 27.  while in the public sector...
Belgium: seniors at the heart of the new employment policy
Age pyramid in the company.  The Belgian government decided to address the issue of senior employment head-on, while 38.6 percent of 55-64 year-olds had a job in early 2011.  As part of a mass...
Australia: unions are looking for alternatives to the possibility of 7,000 job cuts in two years in the banking sector
Layoffs in spite of profit.  most key banks in Australia, such as the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the Australian and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), the National Australia Bank, Westpac or...
31 January 2012
Portugal: new management for the CGTP confederation and left-wing intensification
End of a 25-year term.  Manuel Carvalho da Silva put an end to his job as CGTP general secretary during the union’s 12th Congress on January 28-29, concerned by the age limit (62) imposed by the...
Great Britain: new timetable for the implementation of mandatory automatic enrolment of employees to company pension funds
Schedule.  Here is the new timetable for the enforcement if the regulation on professional pension schemes (see our dispatch No.  110043), announced by the Department of Labor on January 25...
Germany: Lufthansa and Verdi sign a variable geometry collective agreement with a 3.5 percent wage increase
The agreement presented by Lufthansa and the German services union and the negotiations that led to it are symbolic of the way collective negotiations are evolving in German businesses.  At...
Italy: wave of social movements against the government’s measures
“Success.”  This is how the USB (Unione Sindacale di Base) qualified the first general strike organized by the independent unions – Usb, Orsa, SlaiCobas, Cib-Unicobas, Snater, SiCobas and Usi –...
Alstom: European agreement on social commitments during the transition period of the joint venture between Alstom and Shanghai Electric
ederation (EMF) and Alstom management have already signed European agreements concerning social guarantees within the framework of an operation likely to have an impact on employment. In a new...
EU: ECJ makes first breach to European laws on fixed-term contracts by allowing the renewal of fixed-term contracts for permanent needs
The prejudicial question asked by Germany came from an employee, Bianca Kücük, who signed, with the same employer, 13 successive fixed-term contracts over a period of 11 years, to replace...
United States: blow to collective bargaining in Indiana
Even though the State’s House Democrats boycotted the debates for nearly 20 days, Indiana will soon be the 23rd State to pass a “right-to-work” Act limiting unions’ power.  On Wednesday, January...
27 January 2012
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
Germany: pensioners in work already common practice, study shows
As the German government steps up measures to encourage people to stay in work beyond the legal retirement age, a new study by the Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI) – an independent...
2
Spain: government approves creation of ‘intern status’
The Spanish government has paved the way for the creation of a new status for "persons undergoing non-professional practical training in companies, institutions or public or private organisations...
3
France: social conference on labour and pensions to proceed without main employers’ group
The preparatory meeting ahead of the social conference on labour and pensions, which is set to decide on the pension system model and the funding thereof, was held on 4 November at France's labour...
4
Luxembourg: two pension reform bills submitted to parliament
After lengthy negotiations with the social partners, in mid-October the Luxembourg government submitted two bills to parliament aimed at reforming the pension system to ensure its long-term...
5
France: TotalEnergies steps up commitment on disability
On 9 October, French energy group TotalEnergies and all representative trade unions signed a new four-year agreement on disability inclusion. Taking effect on 1 January 2026, the deal aims to help...
6
Germany: bill adopted to step up fight against illegal employment
On Thursday 13 November, Germany's Bundestag passed a bill to modernise and digitalise the country’s system for tackling undeclared work and financial crime. In future, the relevant department at...