All articles

Great Britain: shop workers’ union alarmed about the categorization of shops as low-risk workplaces
Context.  In preparation for the simplification of health and safety regulations (see our dispatch No.  110189) and following a consultation organized by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)...
Romania: reforming welfare policy to encourage return to work
If the law is passed as such, welfare beneficiaries who refuse a job offer, a vocational training program (training or retraining) may see their welfare reduced or even completely removed.
Slovakia: permanent adoption of the law on maternity leave, equal treatment and EWCs
To avoid another reasoned opinion from the Court of Justice of the European Union for incomplete transposition of Directive 2002/71 on the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards...
Great Britain: British Airways employees vote to back strike action to protest against the management’s retaliation against the strike movement in 2010
The original dispute of 2009 concerned staffing levels and the unilateral imposition of change relating to this. However, those issues have been largely settled, with the new issues emerging of...
29 March 2011
Spain: limiting appeal to temporary work in high voltage electricity
According to CCOO’s manufacturing federation, “it would have been bad both for the interests of maintenance and assembly employees and for the interests of the businesses themselves if risky work...
Italy: executive committee of the Cisl’s metal federation, Fim, defines priorities for 2011
The national executive committee of the Fim-Cisl, gathered in Rome on March 23rd, almost unanimously approved (3 abstentions) its strategy for the coming months, asking its secretariat to draw up...
Netherlands: the fate of precarious workers at the center of ongoing negotiations for collective agreements
“Permanent contracts have to remain the rule.”  This is a priority for the FNV, the country’s key union Confederation, and its member federations stick to it: in all the collective agreements...
Great Britain: great turnout for TUC demonstration against government austerity policy
The turnout was considerably higher than the 100,000 the TUC had predicted in the weeks running up to the demonstration. The breadth of those participating was extensive from unions to pensioner...
Germany: Verdi union and Deutsche Telekom agree on increases ranging between 3.15 and 5.15%
The intervention of a mediator, four meetings in three months and several warning strikes were necessary for the social partners to agree on wage increase counting among the highest increases...
Romania: key novelties of the new Labor Code
 Costel Gilca.  The recent reform is the most important in labor law since 1989 and the fall of communism.  The current code, which will become null 30 days after the new law is published in the...
Germany: new Act against social dumping in temporary sector blamed for lacking in ambition and being unclear
General agreement on minimum wage in the temporary sector.  Ursula von der Leyen, Federal Minister of Employment and Social Affairs, openly rejoiced, on Thursday, March 24th, of the amendment to...
EU: European Parliament adopts draft on single permit
Equal rights.  The text provides for a single procedure for the award of a permit for residence and work for third-country nationals legally arrived in Europe, even though the Member States will...
Germany: Federal Labor Court limits advantages negotiated for union members only
Preferential clauses are spreading.  The ruling issued by the Federal Labor Court (Case No. AZR 366/09) puts an end to a procedure which has been lasting for two years and concerns a crucial point...
25 March 2011
Brazil: unions satisfied with the outcome of 2010 collective bargaining
The study published by the interunion department of statistics and socioeconomic studies (DIEESE) analyzes the 700 wage negotiations, including collective agreements negotiated at sectoral level...
Alstom: unions worried about non-compliance with European framework agreement on the anticipation of change
Restructuring.  On March 22nd, the French group Alstom presented a restructuring program for its transport unit, providing for 1,380 job cuts in Germany, Spain and Italy.  “This program is...
United States: NLRB wants to toughen employers’ obligation to inform employees about their union rights
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which mediates conflicts between unions and businesses, is thinking about increasing the obligation to inform employees about their union rights.  The...
24 March 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
EU: social partners in telecoms sign joint statement on AI
On 16 December, the social partners in Europe's telecommunications sector unveiled a joint statement on artificial intelligence. They propose an action plan for skills and commit to raising...
18 December 2025
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Germany: Erwin Hymer Group’s innovative and award-winning AI agreement
Fed up with negotiating separate agreements for each new artificial intelligence (AI) tool, the social partners at Erwin Hymer Group (8,900 employees) have instead secured a broad, overarching...
12 December 2025
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Italy: collective agreement for rubber and plastics sector focuses on new skills
A month ahead of schedule, the Federazione Gomma Plastica employers' organisation and the Filctem-Cgil, Femca-Cisl and Uiltec trade unions have renewed the collective agreement for the rubber and...
5 January 2026
4
EU: revised EWC directive published in official journal
The revision of the European Works Councils Directive, adopted by the European Parliament on 9 October, was published on 11 December in the EU’s official journal. Initiated in early 2023 by...