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Spain: unions announce that they got 750,000 signatures to request a popular legislative initiative against the labor market reform
Five months later, they announced that they got 750,000 signatures (500,000 gathered by CCOO and 250,000 by UGT), i.e. 250,000 more than the 500,000 required to carry their bill through and have...
Denmark: industry is the first sector to get arbitration committee for equal pay disputes
For the 2010 collective agreements, the industry’ social partners agreed to make the LO and DA Confederations responsible for creating the Equal Pay Committee (ligelønsnævn, see our dispatch No. ...
Allianz SE: the management and the EWC sign a European agreement against stress
First major European project.  The agreement presented on May 5th has a double meaning for Allianz SE.  On the one hand, it is the official recognition of growing problems caused by the...
Italy: are Fiat Industrial’s unions more “united” than Fiat Auto’s?
“Uilm, Fimsic and UGL are responsible for a severe decision: by objecting that you can’t organize an RSU election with a closed factory, they prevented the electoral committee from determining the...
Spain: Telefónica shareholder pension schemes demand more socially responsible corporate policy
A first.  It’s the first time a Spanish pension fund has spoken this way, Workers’ Commissions (CCOO) wrote in a press release, pointing to the growing importance of socially responsible...
25 May 2011
Great Britain: in six years, final salary pension schemes could be closed down altogether in the private sector
Pension schemes in Britain have traditionally been based upon final salary or earnings schemes where benefits are defined until a member of the scheme dies. Pensions are treated as deferred wages...
EU: report on the debate on the draft directives on “intra-corporate transfers” and “seasonal workers”
Scope and right to mobility.  Regarding the draft intra-corporate directive (see our dispatch No.  100564), at the Council, some Member States would like to expressly remove workers covered by...
France: first substantive decision on the link between European and national structures in favor of prior consultation of the EWC
The dispute arose within the framework of GDF Suez’s plan to pool competences in terms of economic analysis of energy markets by bringing together the employees of two big competence centers, one...
Germany: Trumpf group signs agreement with IG-Metall on truly flexible working time scheme
Take account of the “phases of life.”  The “Custom-made working and free time” agreement presented by Trumpf management on may 18th, signed with representatives from the WC and the IG-Metall, is...
Spain: Spanish spring social movement caught majority unions unprepared
The first call for demonstration launched by a group called “Juventud sin futuro” (“Youth without a future”) on April 7th brought things to a head.  This group, made up of students who mobilized...
Italy: Cisl and Uil proclaim themselves “unitary reformer union”
“We’re the unitary and reforming union, born from a pact built over the past three years: the Uil and Cisl together for an Italy that trusts its future.”  This is how Cisl leader Raffaele Bonnani...
Portugal: employers’ social contributions could be cut in 2012 to revive the industry’s competitiveness
Cutting the single social tax (TSU).  In practice, two percentages are applied concerning the TSU: 11% on employees’ share and 23.7% on employers’ share.  Only the latter should be affected by the...
Germany: only 2.2 million of employees are covered by sectoral minimum wage negotiated by the social partners
Minimum wage is not yet in force in the temporary sector.  The WSI Institute lists two types of sectoral minimum wages: those that are mandatory for all businesses in one sector via the “Posted...
Brazil: eight million people to enjoy new vocational training program by 2014
Workers’ training was placed at the center of the Dilma administration in terms of employment.  The bill establishing the National Program for Access to Technical Education (Programa Nacional de...
Germany: Council of “five experts” requests increasing retirement age to 69
Should retirement age be the same across the EU?  Angela Merkel’s criticisms as to retirement conditions and the duration of leaves in southern Europe are still making ripples.  It was during a...
Netherlands: high damages for an employee affected by asbestos-related disease
A 60-year-old Dutch employee received, on May 18th, €50,000 in damages because he contracted asbestosis, a lung diseased caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibers.  He contracted this pathology...
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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...