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United States: unionization rate dips below 12%
No need to panic.  One year earlier, the union membership rate was 12.3%.  In 1983, when the BLS started comparing such data, 20.1% of employees belonged to a trade union.  In the mid-1950s, 35%...
Italy: memorandum of understanding between banks, businesses and the Ministry of Economic Development to promote the CSR culture
Dialogue first.  Born from “awareness that durability can help maintain the country’s economic and social fabric, promote trust into the market and speed up the recovery,” the memorandum aims to...
27 January 2011
EU: interview of Pervenche Berès, Chair of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, and Alejandro Cercas, socialist MEP and coordinator of the same committee
Pervenche Berès.  Indeed, I think this is the right word for this package, which contains three texts: that on the single permit, that on the entry and residence of seasonal workers and that on...
Portugal: tense social atmosphere at the Portuguese post while liberalization is running late
Austerity. The management of the Portuguese post announced that it would apply, to the letter, the government’s recommendations regarding the planned pay cuts in the civil service within the...
Germany: Deutsche Bahn staff get 5% increase and extended job security
The end of extremely long negotiations.  Rail social partners aren’t hiding their joy.  The agreement presented yesterday, enabled by the signature, last week, of the agreement in private regional...
Netherlands: employers and unions agree on collective bargaining priorities for coming years
Culture of consensus, sense of anticipation, pragmatism… the polder system isn’t dead.  The evidence?  The Federation of Netherlands Unions (FNV), the Federation of Christian Unions (CNV) and the...
Great Britain: British Airways cabin crew vote for another strike after 13 months of conflict
75% turnout.  The airline’s 10,220 cabin crew were invited to answer the question: “Are you prepared to take part in strike action?”.  With 75% turning out to vote, a great majority (78.5%) voted...
EU: European gas social partners hanging on European Commission’s future choices
Segmentation.  Presented on November 10, 2010, this strategy should last until 2020.  It notably aims to make Europe less energy-greedy, to strengthen the domestic energy market, to make consumers...
United States: Barack Obama wants to review regulations
Barack Obama’s recent tribune in the wall street journal on the need to review regulations to adjust them to the 21st century is giving the business world a lot of hope.  In this tribune, the...
24 January 2011
Germany: IG-Metall wants to durably add political factors to the “calculation” of collective claims
Correct growing social imbalances.  In an interview published on his federation’s website, Oliver Burkhard, one of the union’s heavyweights, announced the opening of a debate within the IG-Metall...
Netherlands: short-time working to end on July 1st
In total, short-time working was used for 76,000 employees in 7,800 businesses, mostly in the heavy industry (24% in steel and 17% in metalworking).  Not a single file has been accepted since...
24 January 2011
Italy: driven by Fiat, employers want to quicken the “modernization” of industrial relations
Fiat’s boosting the “modernization” of Italian industrial relations is also shaking employers up.  Tomorrow and on Wednesday, Confindustria will meet with its management and then its steering...
Germany: GDL train drivers’ union threatens with a strike in February to defend its status of negotiator
GDL says this is an insult to train drivers.  After “the longest conflict in the rail industry,” the small train drivers’ union, GDL (34,000 members) obtained, in March 2008, the right to sign...
Germany: construction union IG-BAU claims for a 5.9% wage increase
Bring eastern and western wages in line. Sign of good will or tactical move, the construction union’s wage claim is slightly below that (6%) it presented for the last collective bargaining round...
Austria: real wages markedly decreased in 2010
The two studies Statistik Austria published this week confirm a trend observed in other countries, namely that, with or without the crisis, low wages are decreasing.  The Austrian wage index...
Great Britain: government publishes Pensions Bill 2011
This bill implements the reform enacted two years ago (Pensions Act 2008) to boost private savings, notably via automatic enrolment to professional pensions schemes.  If businesses don’t create...
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EU: right and far right join forces in parliament to dismantle sustainability due diligence
On 13 November, the European Parliament approved the report by EPP MEP Jörgen Warborn on the proposed omnibus directive, clearing the way for trilogue negotiations. Backed by the far right, the...
13 November 2025
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mind RH analysis – Initial findings from CSRD social indicators
In 2025, for the first time, the universal registration documents of major European companies contain the sustainability reporting required by the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive...
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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
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Germany: EU pay transparency directive to force companies to ‘get tough’
Germany introduced a pay transparency law in 2017, meaning companies are already somewhat familiar with the issue. However, the broader scope and stricter requirements of the EU directive, the...
24 October 2025
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Germany: ‘active retirement’ law adopted to encourage seniors to remain in the workforce
On 15 October, Germany’s cabinet approved draft legislation on ‘active retirement‘, which is expected to pass swiftly through Parliament. The bill would allow people who continue...
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EU: omnibus bill stalls in parliament
On 22 October, members of the European Parliament narrowly voted against a negotiating mandate that would have opened trilogue talks on the omnibus directive, which seeks to dilute the corporate...
23 October 2025