All articles

Brazil: Zara strikes deal with Brazilian court following the slavery scandal
ant is going to invest EUR 1.4 million in Brazil to prevent slave labor in the textile industry, by virtue of the agreement signed with the Brazilian labor prosecution. In doing so, the Court is...
22 December 2011
Luxembourg: in the absence of an agreement between the social partners, the government announces the temporary review of wage indexation
uxembourg’s Prime Minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, decided to adapt the indexation of wages on inflation. Over the next three years, only an index bracket will be paid annually, in October...
Italy: union unity stronger because of concerns over Mario Monti’s labor reform
erations are tightening their ranks after the Minister of Labor announced the possibility of reviewing Article 18 of the Workers’ Statute which provides that employers have to re-hire any...
Germany: for the first time, the temporary sector is setting up sectoral minimum wage
kel administration introduced, on December 20, via a decree, sectoral minimum wage in the temporary sector. Starting on January 1, 2012, the sector’s approximately 900,000 employees will...
Portugal: creation of a new service confederation to boost employers’ representation
ese Services (CSP) created a group with the major employers’ organizations in the service, retail and telecom industry. The new confederation represents 20 percent of the country’s GDP...
Austria: average 3.65 percent increase in computer services
rtners in the Austrian computing industry agreed on an average 3.65 percent wage increase for the sector’s 40,000 employees on January 1, 2012. The lowest wages will get a 4.1 percent...
Italy: unitary transport strike blocks Italy once again
After a successful strike last spring (see our dispatch No.  110225), Filt-Cgil, Fit-Cisl, Uiltrasporti, Ugltrasporti, Orsa, Faisa-Cisal and Fast did it again on December 15-16.  They claim the...
France: interview of Claire Toumieux, partner at Flichy Grangé Avocats, about the obligation to use French in employment relations
Claire Toumieux.  This ruling was rendered against an EDS France company which recruited a senior account manager – i.e. a senior executive – with a employment contract which provided that the...
Morocco: call centers are unionizing
Union membership is gaining ground.  Lately, Total Call, a call center working for French contractors, has experienced its first strike.  The first social conflict of a call center working with...
EU: European Commission uploads database on transnational company agreements
This database contains all transnational agreements and texts identified and catalogued by the project’s partners (Aritake Wild, Wilke Maack Partners and Planet Labor, which led the project). ...
United States: uncertainty over the imminent NLRB freeze
Two weeks after the charges against Boeing, angering the Republicans (see our dispatches No.  110743 and 110655), Barack Obama appointed two members to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). ...
Greece: pay cuts in banking
In a letter to the Piraeus Bank staff, Director General Stravros Lekkakos presented his proposal.  The proportional pay cuts will be as follows:
15 December 2011
Randstad: adjusting the anticipation agreement establishing a EWC to the recast directive
Adaptation.  Signed in 1996, the agreement creating a European social dialogue structure was revised in 2009, during the transposition of the new EWC directive.  Since it is an anticipation...
Netherlands: limiting union power in the offing
The restructuring, planned for the summer 2012, of the country’s key trade union, the Federation of Netherlands Unions and Allies (FNV), is opening the possibility of limiting unions’ power. ...
15 December 2011
Corporate practices: Thales helps its employees change trades with the “Passerelles” approach
Employment expertise has been a part of Thales’ social practices for several years now.  In 2006, the social partners adopted an agreement on the anticipation of employment changes, professional...
15 December 2011
EU: adoption of the Single Permit Directive
Simplifying procedures.  The so-called Single Permit Directive will simplify migration procedures for third-country nationals who want to come and live in an EU Member State.  The third-country...
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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...