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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...
Romania: now that the Labor Code reform is adopted, the government commits itself to this text
Version adopted.  On Monday, Emil Boc’s center right administration, gathered for an extraordinary meeting, adopted the draft Labor Code reform after long weeks of tense (and unsuccessful)...
Spain: Nissan WC election confirms unions that supported competitiveness pacts negotiated with the management
In Barcelona, employees validated the pay and productivity pact.  Employees clearly supported Sigen-USOC (workers’ union of Catalonia) and UGT, the two unions which supported a cost-cutting pact...
Italy: Senate permanently approves 8th decree-law “thousand prorogations”
Appeal against unfair dismissal.  The litigation reform limits the deadline to appeal against unfair layoffs to 60 days after receiving the layoff notice (see our dispatch No.  100846).  For...
Romania: ArcelorMittal employees to strike soon
Failed negotiations.  The leaders of four unions of the plant of the steel giant ArcelorMittal in Galati, south-east Romania, announced the beginning of a general strike on March 10th.  On...
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1
Italy: Enel signs agreement to manage the effects of AI on work
An agreement signed at the end of July by the electricity company Enel (31,000 employees) and the unions Filctem-Cgil, Flaei-Cisl, and Uiltec is pioneering in the Italian energy sector. It aims to...
7 September 2026
2
Italy: artificial Intelligence on the menu of Barilla’s new company agreement
Prior consultation with trade unions on innovations related to artificial intelligence, strengthened training, and progress on parenthood: these are the main new features of the agreement signed...
2 September 2026
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France: final document on the work of the Labour, Employment and Pensions Conference
After six months of discussions between French social partners, the guarantors of the Labour, Employment and Pensions Conference submitted the conclusions of the discussions to the Prime Minister...
17 September 2026
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Germany: a high-tension start to the social and political year
The German government must finalize its major reforms (pension funding, corporate competitiveness, and labor law) while the chancellor’s popularity hits an all-time low and three regional...
5
Germany: working time dispute between Mercedes and the IG Metall Union
The news. At the beginning of September, Mercedes-Benz asked employee representatives and the IG Metall union to agree to an increase in the weekly working time from 35 to 40 hours, without any...
16 September 2026
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Sweden: IF Metall union forced to end industrial dispute with Tesla
The news. After three years of conflict, the Swedish union IF Metall announced it would suspend its strike actions against Tesla starting Wednesday, August 19, after the American automaker...