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Italy: consultation on labor law reform ends with another union break
Mario Monti, President of the Italian Council, said, “It will be the government’s reform, and we will be liable for it before Parliament.”  His ‘technical’ government could succeed where...
EU: adoption of a legislative package on the posting of workers and the right to strike
No supremacy between the right to strike and economic freedoms.  Brought about by controversial rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ), subjecting the right to strike to the...
21 March 2012
Germany: cooperation framework agreement between Bulgarian and German unions to improve the working conditions of Bulgarian workers in Germany
Inhumane working conditions.  Gathering unionists and political decision-makers from Germany, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania, the international conference was dedicated to the risks and...
21 March 2012
Portugal: CGTP calls for general strike on March 22 against austerity and the Labor Code reform
General strike.  The CGTP issued a 24-hour strike notice for March 22 to protest against the government’s austerity policy and Labor Code reform.  The union organization believes that the...
Italy: banking unions demand pay ceiling for senior and top managers
Limiting top managers’ pay would “shield banks from unfair competition on compensation escalation” and would add “equity and social justice” to the actions taken by the government, the Bank of...
Germany: Verdi (services) and EVG (rail) unions sign cooperation agreement ending their rivalry in the transportation industry
Longstanding rivalry.  Christine Behle, member of Verdi’s management and in charge of the Transport department, told Planet Labor that the rivalry between Verdi (formerly ÖTV) and EVG (formerly...
PSA/GM Alliance: the EWCs and unions of the two carmakers coordinate to assess the consequences of their alliance on employment
Coordination under the auspices of the EMF.  In a press release published today, March 19, the European Metalworkers’ Federation announced that leading figures from the European worker...
Great Britain: new minimum wage rate for adults and apprentices as of October 1, 2012
Minimum wage.  The independent Low Pay Commission (LPC), a statutory body whose role is to advise the Government on the National Minimum Wage, gave the government its 13th report on February 15. ...
Germany: regions are trying to attract skilled workers
the growing importance of the shortage of skilled workers in Germany. These past few years, over 700 networks gathering different roleplayers (chambers of commerce, employment agencies, towns...
19 March 2012
Great Britain: consultation on the introduction of negotiated termination of the employment contract in micro-businesses
No formal procedure.  For the new dismissal system, the idea would be to be able to implement it without a formal dismissal procedure, awarding employees a certain amount of compensation. ...
Italy: temporary unions staunchly opposed to agreements allowing agencies to derogate from equal treatment
Italia Lavoro, the Ministry of Labor’s technical agency, and Assolavoro, the association of temporary employers, signed, in September 2011, an agreement valid until December 31, 2013, to implement...
15 March 2012
Germany: Family Minister wants to introduce “parental leave” for grandparents
Families are stressed because they don’t have enough time.  Since 1965, the German government regularly publishes, at the Bundestag’s request, reports on the situation of German families and draws...
United States: AFL-CIO gives Barack Obama conditional and fringe support
After major AFL-CIO members such as the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the Communication Workers of America (CWA), the United Steelworkers (USW), the...
Sweden: government, employers and unions agreed on a new type of agreement in case of crisis based on the German “kurzarbeit” (short-time working)
Learn the lessons from past crises.  The new system is called “korttidsarbete” (short-term working) and is directly inspired from the “krisavtal” (crisis agreements) negotiated in some...
13 March 2012
Italy: government speeds up labor reform
Yesterday, March 12, during the sixth unusual tripartite negotiation – because the government still hasn’t presented the social partners with a single document –, Labor Minister Elsa Fornero...
13 March 2012
Morocco: are employees having a hard time adjusting to corporate challenges?
Professional language and school system are the real problem.  “Our continuous education agency is generally called upon for upgrading middle staff's French and for the professional development of...
12 March 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
Italy: Enel signs agreement to manage the effects of AI on work
An agreement signed at the end of July by the electricity company Enel (31,000 employees) and the unions Filctem-Cgil, Flaei-Cisl, and Uiltec is pioneering in the Italian energy sector. It aims to...
7 September 2026
2
Italy: artificial Intelligence on the menu of Barilla’s new company agreement
Prior consultation with trade unions on innovations related to artificial intelligence, strengthened training, and progress on parenthood: these are the main new features of the agreement signed...
2 September 2026
3
France: final document on the work of the Labour, Employment and Pensions Conference
After six months of discussions between French social partners, the guarantors of the Labour, Employment and Pensions Conference submitted the conclusions of the discussions to the Prime Minister...
17 September 2026
4
Germany: working time dispute between Mercedes and the IG Metall Union
The news. At the beginning of September, Mercedes-Benz asked employee representatives and the IG Metall union to agree to an increase in the weekly working time from 35 to 40 hours, without any...
16 September 2026
5
EU: insurance sector social partners commit to addressing violence and harassment at work
The news. The trade union UNI Europa Finance and the employers’ federations Insurance Europe, Amice and Bipar signed an addendum to their 2022 joint declaration on diversity and inclusion on...
18 September 2026
6
Germany: major day of union action in the automotive industry ahead of collective bargaining
A few weeks before the start of collective bargaining in the German metalworking sector, the IG Metall trade union mobilised nearly 175,000 workers across more than 200 industrial sites on 21...
22 September 2026