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Spain: union report on gender equality plans
Almudena Fontecha.  The introduction of equality plans is gradual.  All businesses with250+ employees have complied with the law and opened talks to prepare their plan.  The last large businesses...
Brazil: Central Workers’ Union demands removal of mandatory union tax
The Central Workers’ Union (Central Unica dos Trabalhadores, CUT) has chosen March 1st to announce the enhancement of its campaign for the removal of the union tax, started three years ago. ...
Belgium: successful mobilization against cross-industry agreement
Success.  On Friday, March 4th, many sectors in manufacturing, banking, transportation, chain stores and town services were stopped in Belgium.  The FGTB’s socialists and the CGLSB’s liberals...
Sweden: first agreement on the posting of foreign workers signed in manufacturing
Last spring, the Swedish Parliament amended the Posting Act to make it comply with the Laval decree of 2007.  The latter stated that unions had to sign a “posting agreement” (utstationeringsavtal)...
EU: more initiatives on health and safety in the framework of social dialogue in chemistry
Positive evaluation.  The European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers’ Federation (EMCEF) for unions and the European Chemistry Employers’ Group (ECEG) for employers looked, on Thursday, march 3rd...
7 March 2011
Germany: IAB institute says labor market is increasingly segmented
Boom in precarious employment.  Born from the necessary flexibilization of the employment market or dangerous precariousness for others, the labor market changes since the fall of the Berlin wall...
Italy: social partners sign joint opinion on work-life balance
New flexibility.  The draft the Minister of Labor presented last week (see our dispatch No.  100145) was slightly amended.  The signatories agree on “the value of organizational flexibility for...
Italy: CGIL calls for general strike on May 6th
“We’re already starting with a series of initiatives, and it will be a large mobilization across the country.”  This is how Susanna Camusso, CGIL general secretary, announced, yesterday March 3rd...
Germany: IG-Metall starts reform home stretch in pain
In January 2011, Kai Burmeister, young IG-Metall federal delegate, notably in chare of the weapon industry, didn’t sound happy: “I’m sorry, I’m not in charge of this case anymore.  I am going to...
Italy: Labor Minister presents guidelines on work-life balance
Titled “New industrial and labor relations supporting balance policies,” Labor Minister Maurizio Sacconi submitted to the social partners, on March 1st, his draft agreement on the guidelines to...
Spain: heart attacks during working hours are industrial accidents
The High Court ruled this way when two previous rulings, issued by the Social Court and the Superior Court of Justice, gave satisfaction to the company.  The victim “an obese man, heavily smoker...
GDF SUEZ: start of European negotiations on professional equality between men and women
The agreement on professional equality could be easier to negotiate than the creation of the negotiating body for this new European agreement, after than on working conditions and the anticipation...
Italy: trade and services social partners renew the sector’s collective agreement via separate agreement
Valid between January 1, 2011 and January 31, 2013, this new separate agreement for the renewal of the CCN in Services and Distribution aims to get local collective agreements going (currently...
Germany: employers say hundreds of temporary work agencies could go bankrupt
By declaring, on December 14, 2010, that the Union of Christian Trade Unions in the temporary sector was “unfit” for signing collective agreements (see our dispatch No.  100890), the Federal Labor...
Alstom: European agreement on the anticipation of change
Safeguarding employment in a period of crisis or structural change.  To deal with the current crisis and its foreseeable impact, the agreement contains a commitment to avoid layoffs as much as...
Spain: the social partners are making progress in the debate for the collective bargaining reform
Internal flexibility.  Employers and unions agree on the goal and want to secure internal flexibility as the necessary answer to guarantee the viability of businesses.  The whole problem is to...
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1
France: Decathlon introduces a ‘duty to respect others’ right to disconnect’
A right-to-disconnect agreement was signed in late September for the French arm of the Decathlon sports retail group. It sets out a "duty to respect others’ right to disconnect" and provides...
14 November 2025
2
Netherlands: ING cites AI as it plans to cut around 950 jobs
Dutch bank ING has informed the employment agency UWV that it may cut around 950 jobs by 31 December 2026. In its notification on 20 October, the lender said the planned reductions stem partly...
30 October 2025
3
United Kingdom largely retained within scope of EWCs despite Brexit, study shows
A study published this month by the Institute for Economic and Social Research, the French trade union research organisation, examined how the involvement of British representatives in European...
4
Romania: collective agreement extended to entire insurance sector
On 3 November, Romania’s National Tripartite Council for Social Dialogue approved the extension of the collective labour agreement signed on 23 May by the Confederation of Employers in the...
5
Italy: new collective agreement for managers in tertiary sector
On 5 November, the ManagerItalia union and the employers’ association Confcommercio renewed the collective agreement for managers in Italy’s tertiary, distribution and services...
6
France: Adecco steps up commitment to temporary workers with disabilities
On 9 September, temporary work agency Adecco France and representative trade unions signed a new open-ended agreement to support the recruitment and retention of temporary workers with...
18 November 2025