All articles

Great Britain: growing use of Section 188 in the public and voluntary sectors to legally dismiss staff in order to rehire them on poorer pay and conditions
Workers at a Scottish charity, Quarriers, are the latest example of a group of workers to experience lawfully imposed wages cuts. Their union, Unison, reported that Quarriers, which has a...
EADS: new European agreement on success-sharing
Now that it has a framework for the negotiation of transnational agreements (see our dispatch No.  100677), EADS has renegotiated its success-sharing agreement, which dated back to 2009.  The new...
Italy: banking social partners agree on reforming the sector’s solidarity fund
“A historical victory for the entire union movement since it avoided early or compulsory retirement for 30,000 Italian workers at a time of severe economic and social crisis.”  This is how the...
Belgium: Constitutional Court gives the lawmaker until 2013 to harmonize the blue-collar and white-collar statuses
Notice and waiting period.  In the decree issued on July 7th, the Constitutional Court ruled on the constitutional character of two issues that have been at the heart of the negotiations between...
Italy: temporary social partners launch sectoral pension funds
“At European level, there has been no similar experience in the sector.  Therefore, Italy can pride itself in being the first, building a system capable of protecting agency workers throughout...
Romania: harsh restructurings and privatizations in the offing for State companies
Numerous cuts.  The Romanian government is preparing a major wave of restructurings within State companies with financial difficulties: this summer alone, nearly 7,000 jobs should be cut in energy...
Germany: growth is starting to show in wage increases negotiated in 2011
Moderate but durable increases.  According to the latest quarterly monitor of wage negotiated within the framework of sectoral collective agreements of the Hans Böckler foundation, collective...
Great Britain: government maintains employees’ right to request time off to train but will review the policy in 2015
Context.  Since April 6, 2010, employees in businesses with 250+ people can ask their employer for time off to train during working time.  This right should have applied to businesses with less...
Italy: government reveals 2011 austerity policy
At a press conference organized on July 6th, Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti, announced that the decree on the stabilization of finances should help save €25.3 billion.  In addition to the...
Spain: unions and Telefónica management agree on 6,500 job cuts over 3 years
Unions agreed to the 3-year employment reduction program (ERE) affecting up to 6,500 employees.  The company accepted to improve its initial offer and will pay employees who leave 68% of their...
Morocco: the new Constitution improves fundamental rights at work
Primacy of international law and of Human Rights.  The preamble of the new Constitution dedicates a whole paragraph to the primacy of international law over Moroccan law.  The previous...
Belgium: government takes measures for some categories of jobseekers
Restructuring card.  A royal decree extends the “restructuring” card to workers laid off because of bankruptcy, company closure or liquidation.  The extension of the system was included in the...
Germany: Federal Government decides to work on the introduction of minimum wage in call centers
Gross hourly pay between €5.77 and €6.50, tough rhythms, overtime not counted, less than 20 days off a year, permanent shifting between the company’s different services or absence of training…. ...
Italy: leather social partners sign unitary agreement renewing the sectoral national collective agreement
Pointing out that union relations in the sectors have “always been rather complicated and ambivalent,” the Filctem-Cgil, Femca-Cisl and Uilcem-Uil unions rejoiced with the signature, on June 28th...
Great Britain: Sodexo signs union recognition agreement with the three biggest unions in Britain
The agreement sets out terms of the formal relationship between Sodexo and the three unions in terms of a strategic partnership. It also identifies the guiding principles for the relationship...
Italy: Assolombarda employers’ organization and Milan unions sign agreement on training during a crisis
“With this agreement, the social partners in Milan sought to apply the principle included in the Lombardian pacts for active labor policies 2011 which states that company union agreements on...
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
Spain: already well on the way to pay transparency?
Spain is preparing for the implementation of its national law transposing the EU Pay Transparency Directive, which will take effect on 7 June 2026. The legislation marks another step forward in...
5 November 2025
2
Italy: decree-law adopted to increase workplace safety
On 28 October, the Italian cabinet adopted a decree-law on health and safety at work, aimed at preventing and reducing accidents. The text addresses both the powers and actions of supervisory...
4 November 2025
3
EU: Court of Justice largely upholds directive on adequate minimum wages
On 11 November, the Court of Justice of the European Union upheld most of the directive on adequate minimum wages, rejecting Denmark’s claim that it infringed on national sovereignty over wage...
12 November 2025
4
Romania: parents of children with disabilities granted up to eight days of remote work per month
On 9 October, the Romanian parliament adopted a bill aiming to bolster support for parents of children with disabilities up to the age of 18. The legislation, which came into force on 12 October...
5
mind RH analysis – Initial findings from CSRD social indicators
In 2025, for the first time, the universal registration documents of major European companies contain the sustainability reporting required by the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive...
6
Germany: report previews draft bill to transpose EU Pay Transparency Directive
On Friday 7 November, Germany’s commission for a 'less bureaucratic implementation' of the EU Pay Transparency Directive — made up of employer and trade union representatives — submitted its...
17 November 2025