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Finland: social partners commit to continue action organized since 2005 to reduce the gender pay gap
In a joint declaration published on February 10th, the key union confederations in Finland (SAK, STTK and Akava) and the key employers’ organizations in the public sector (churches, communities...
24 February 2011
Sweden: government suggests simpler appeal to overtime and introduction of hygiene and security committee
Draft amendment of the Working Time Act.  Beforehand, businesses had to send a request to the Arbetsmiljöverket before appealing to overtime, within 200 hours per calendar year and per employee. ...
Italy: Fiat keeps applying its model in Italian undertakings in spite of the Fiom-CGIL’s opposition
On February 15th, Fiat managing director Sergio Marchionne told the committee on productive activities of the Chamber of Deputies that Fiat’s “head” would remain in Turin provided that the...
Great Britain: pay disputes spread because of increasing cost of living
The main factors explaining this considerable increase are the rise in the standard rate of Value Added Tax (VAT) from 17.5% to 20% and the continued increase in the price of crude oil. With this...
Germany: 130,000 employees in textile get a 3.6% wage increase
Union satisfaction.  For the first time ever, the IG-Metall union and the Confederation of the German Textile and Fashion Industry (Gesamtverband textil + mode) managed to reach an agreement...
Italy: Supreme Court recognizes second-hand smoke as an occupational disease
With Decree No. 3227 of February 10, 2011, the labor department of the Supreme Court recognized second-hand smoke as a cause of occupational disease, because it affects the safety of workstations’...
Austria: Telekom Austria offers “golden early retirement” to its employees
800 requests for “golden early retirement” are currently pending at Telekom Austria’s personnel services.  “The program is a total success.  I think that, this year, 350 colleagues are going to...
22 February 2011
Belgium: government chooses its compromise offer to make up for the absence of cross-industry agreement
Application of the agreement.  After an umpteenth meeting with the social partners on Friday morning, premier Yves Leterme asked his government to start the implementation of the draft compromise...
21 February 2011
Germany: government agrees to the introduction of minimum wage in interim, surveillance and continuous education
Moderate increase of the Hartz IV allowance.  In February 2010, the Karlsruhe federal constitutional court forced the coalition parties to review the amount and calculation modalities of the Hartz...
Rhodia: renewal of the global agreements on social and environmental responsibility
This new renewal of the agreement, already renewed in 2008 (see our dispatch No.  080333), ads the addendum signed in 2010 which provided for the creation of a “global safety panel” whose mission...
Denmark: sponsorship, unions’ new “weapon” to recruit new members
Until the summer 2013, the AG København (AGK) handball team will bear, on their T-shirts, the names and logos of the Det Faglig Hus and Krifa unions.  Via an unheard-of alliance in Denmark, the...
Italy: 3rd national conference of call center workers warns about relocations in the industry
The SLC organized the 3rd national conference of call center workers on February 18-19 in Rome.  Three years after the stabilization procedures, which led to permanent contracts for nearly 25,000...
21 February 2011
Germany: Hartz IV regulations reforming unemployment insurance didn’t help reinstate long-term jobseekers
Last week, the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur – BA) provided, for the first time, figures published in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, confirming that the people who receive the Hartz IV...
21 February 2011
Netherlands: new pilot-project to avoid long-term unemployment
Nine projects were simultaneously launched in Apeldoorn, Eindhoven, Nijmegen, Woerden and other cities, in sectors such as wood, construction, graphic design or health, to help laid off employees...
Netherlands: negotiations open in the basic metal industry
Negotiations for the new collective agreement started on February 16th in basic metalworking, under the sign of “increasingly worsening deterioration” said Jan Berghuis, negotiator for the...
Italy: CGIL’s federation of Commerce, Filcams, launches campaign to regulate work on legal holidays
Increasingly, trade workers have to work on Sunday and legal holidays to meet the demand from retailing, small trades, towns, consumers, to the detriment of laws and collective agreements...
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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...