All articles

Great Britain: Unite union launches survey on stress and mental troubles at work
70 million days lost.  Workers' mental health is coming under increasing pressure as fears over jobs and cuts take their toll in the workplace, says Unite, the country's biggest union.  Thus...
Spain: U-turn in CEOE employers’ organization jeopardizes agreement on collective bargaining reform
The general secretaries of Workers’ Commissions (CCOO) and UGT, respectively Ignacio Fernandez Toxo and Candido Mendez, formally received, on May 30th, the text brought to the table by the CEOE’s...
Alstom: management and unions disagree on the assessment of the company’s economic situation
Management troubles.  Since the announcement, on March 22nd, of another restructuring program in the transport unit (see our dispatch No.  110196), debates have resumed within Alstom’s EWC about...
France: start of the consultation of the social partners on the draft ordinance transposing the EWC directive
Definitions.  The draft ordinance, currently being subject to bilateral consultations before going to the equal committees for their opinion (the National Committee for Collective Bargaining...
Italy: Eni signs two key agreements for its restructuring in Italy
The decline in global demand for oil products and competition from Asian countries have driven Eni Group to take action in order to “ensure the competitiveness of the system” and increase...
Great Britain: skills councils for manufacturing employees extends
£600 per employee.  Last year, the “Women and Work” program developed by Cogent, still in its trial phase, aimed to help 100 women with their training of career development within an industrial...
Germany: not all employees are on the same boat as regards holiday bonuses
Extremely different holiday bonuses.  As an introduction, the WSI indicates that a great majority of German employees receive a holiday bonus, but that they are only entitled to it if it was...
Italy: Italian pension funds regulator (Covip) publishes annual report
On May 25th, the Covip presented its annual report on the evolution of supplementary pension schemes and the sector’s development prospects.  The rationalization of pension funds brought their...
Poland: increased protection against layoff for union representatives
Until now, union representatives whose contract was terminated in an unfair manner could only request damages.  Reinstatement (article 50.5) was only granted in a restricted way to pregnant women...
30 May 2011
OECD: guidelines for multinational enterprises updated
New context.  Started in June 2010 (see our dispatch No.  100374), the negotiations to update the OECD’s guidelines truly started in October.  In April, the representatives from 42 governments...
26 May 2011
South Africa: Walmart needs to give pledges of good practices to South African competition tribunal before taking over Massmart
Unions’ motivations.  In November 2010, Walmart made a takeover bid on the Massmart African retailer.  The latter runs 308 stores in 14 African countries such as Namibia, Tanzania, Ghana, Botswana...
Great Britain: Royal Mail employees vote for strike in London
79% of the members of the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) voted in favor of the strike, the union announced on May 23rd.  The reason is that three sorting centers and a delivery service are...
Spain: Telefónica reveals plan to cut staffing by 25% in five years
When an Employee Reduction Program (ERE) is applied, the employees affected receive unemployment benefits, for the first two years, and then their social contributions are funded by the public...
Germany: Verdi union torpedoes the social partners’ initiative to restore union unity in businesses with a law
Members’ rejection.  The unexpected decision made by Verdi’s Federal Committee (Gewerkschaftsrat) puts a sharp end to the initiative carried out since last summer by the central employers and...
International: unions accuse DHL of violating fundamental social rights
About 80 union representatives from the DHL, UPS, TNT, FedEx, DPD and Geopost companies from all over the world discussed, on Monday and Tuesday, the difficulties faced by the sector’s employees...
France: towards the introduction of mandatory bonuses for the employees of businesses with 50+ employees when dividends increase
Mandatory bonus.  In detail, this bonus will be mandatory in businesses with 50 employees and more, provided that a) they paid dividends to their shareholders and b) the amount of the dividends is...
26 May 2011
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
France: sectors feel economic slowdown to differing degrees
The latest data on France’s occupational sectors (branches professionnelles), covering the year 2023, show how employment trends are shaping workplace dynamics. After a more favourable period for...
2
Germany: apprenticeship openings fall sharply in manufacturing and chemicals
From 1 January 2026, Dutch collective agreements for temporary employment agencies will alter the employment conditions of temp workers. Agencies will be required to pay these workers at least the...