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Netherlands: reform of supplementary pension in the offing
Unions and employers have been saying it since 2006: nothing needs to be changed in the current supplementary pension scheme, which adds to basic pension (AOW). The financial crisis and the...
Germany: Federal Administrative Court cancels minimum wage in postal sector
al Administrative Court ruled, on January 28 in Leipzig, that the procedure which led the German government, in 2007, to extend to the entire postal sector the minimum wage negotiated between the...
Germany: 200,000 agency workers get a 5% wage increase
An agreement which took time. The agreement signed affects about one in three temporary employees. It will enter into force on May 1, 2010 and expire on April 30, 2012. It provides for a first...
Brazil: CNM/CUT metalworkers’ union stands by Opel’s Belgian employees after the announcement of the shutdown of the Antwerp plant
The announcement of the closure of Opel’s Antwerp plant (Belgium) sparked off controversy in Brazil, among the National Confederation of Metalworkers (Confederaçao Nacional dos Metalurgicos, CNM)...
Slovakia: Parliament passed an act on extension of collective agreements
This reform will be a crucial change for many employers, because as of now the employers can get covered by the higher level collective agreement without any previous participation in the...
EU: three scenarios on the evolution of European jobs by 2020 in the Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Sectors
The sector’s characteristics. In the introduction, the authors of the report point out that the Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste sectors are all “essential to the functioning of the economy, and...
Great Britain: businesses to recruit fewer temps after the implementation of the European directive
Equal treatment. This law, hardly negotiated, first at European level and then between the social partners during the two consultations, is now in the hands of the Parliament (see our dispatch No...
Germany: IG-Metall sets employment as its top priority for the coming collective negotiations in the metal sector
New situation calls for new negotiations. Traditionally, metalworking and technical engineering, two key sectors for the German industry with about 3.45 million employees, open bargaining fire...
Great Britain: amendment to Equality Bill to banish health questionnaires from recruitment procedures
Government proposals. Currently, employers are allowed to ask applicants if they are disabled, take medication or have health problems – even though it isn’t connected with the job for which...
EU: four scenarios of the evolution of European chemical workers by 2020
Growth at risk. The report shows that, in 2006, in Europe, this key sector for the European economy accounted for approximately 100,000 enterprises in the chemicals, pharmaceuticals rubber and...
United States: for the first time in the history of American unionism, there are more unionized civil servants than employees
The average American union member is a civil servant. For the first time since the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) started looking into these statistics, the number of unionized workers in civil...
Italy: Fiom-CGIL proposes own-initiative bill on union democracy
Reforming union democracy. The campaign to gather the 50,000 signatures required to introduce to Parliament the own-initiative bill on union democracy, initially planned in January (see our...
Italy: associations blame the Italian State for neglecting asbestos victims
The Court of Mantua condemned Rodolfo Belleli, 97, owner of the Belleli industrie meccaniche srl company, to three years and ten months of prison and a fine of €2.4 million for the families of...
Germany: more calls for wage moderation even though Germans’ real income is decreasing
Increasing wages, decreasing incomes. At first glance, the evaluation of collectively-agreed wage increases (7.9 million employees) is satisfactory. In average, wages increased of 2.6% in 2009 (3%...
Great Britain: Equality and Human Rights Commission wants to encourage businesses to publish reports on equal pay
40 years after the Equal Pay Act, women still earn, in average, 20.2% less than men – full time and part time included. The pay gap is bigger in the private sector (25.6%) than in the public...
Spain: Saint-Gobain signs equality plan
This plan is the outcome of a process started in May 2008 with the creation of an equality committee in charge of assessing the company’s situation, in keeping with the Gender Equality Act of...
Most viewed articles of the month on mind HR
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1
Spain: already well on the way to pay transparency?
Spain is preparing for the implementation of its national law transposing the EU Pay Transparency Directive, which will take effect on 7 June 2026. The legislation marks another step forward in...
5 November 2025
2
Italy: decree-law adopted to increase workplace safety
On 28 October, the Italian cabinet adopted a decree-law on health and safety at work, aimed at preventing and reducing accidents. The text addresses both the powers and actions of supervisory...
4 November 2025
3
Romania: parents of children with disabilities granted up to eight days of remote work per month
On 9 October, the Romanian parliament adopted a bill aiming to bolster support for parents of children with disabilities up to the age of 18. The legislation, which came into force on 12 October...
4
EU: Court of Justice largely upholds directive on adequate minimum wages
On 11 November, the Court of Justice of the European Union upheld most of the directive on adequate minimum wages, rejecting Denmark’s claim that it infringed on national sovereignty over wage...
12 November 2025
5
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...
6
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