All articles

Finland: end of the dockers’ strike after two weeks of a conflict illustrating the general decline of social dialog in the country
The agreement, which hasn’t been officially published, was officially accepted by all the parties on Friday, march 19, thus putting an end to the blockade of harbors which paralyzed part of the...
Portugal: social discontent in the public sector
Social movement. Several strikes or partial walkouts will punctuate the end of March in Portuguese public firms. Urban transportation (Lisbon) and rail transport gave the go of a late march...
United States: health care reform passed
President Barack Obama should soon sign the health care reform after over 50 years of prevarication. Indeed, the House Representatives voted (219 for, 212 against) the text adopted by the Senate...
Netherlands: fines in the offing for businesses appealing to child labor
At the request of the small Christian orthodox party, Christen Unie, sanctions against businesses appealing to child labor are going to be tougher. It is no longer simply a question of withdrawing...
22 March 2010
Italy: rubber and plastic social partners renew national collective agreement via unitary agreement
In spite of three separate platforms, the Filcem-CGIL, Femca-Cisl and Uilcem-Uil unions and the Federazione Gomma Plastica and Associazione Italiana Ricostruzione Pneumatici (AIRP) employers’...
EU: textile social partners launches project to help implement REACH
Sectoral level. The project developed by Euratex (European textile employers) and its union counterpart, the European Trade Union Federation Textiles, Clothing and Leather (FSE THC), is going to...
Austria: new minimum integration allowance stirs up debate on increasing minimum wage to 1,300 euros
Minimum wage with a door to employment. After months of uncertainty regarding the conditions for its application, the flagship reform of the SPÖ (social democrats), the party of the Austrian...
Slovenia: details of the wage agreement in the metal and electronic sectors
Since employers’ representatives – the Association of Slovenian Employers, ZDS and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, GSZ – refused to discuss a substantial increase of sectoral minimum wage...
EU: parental leave directive published in the official journal
This directive gives force of law to the agreement signed by the European social partners (UEAPME, BusinessEurope, CEEP for employers and ETUC for unions) on June 18, 2009, revising their former...
Germany: rail unions demand a 6% increase, a pact on job security and sectoral minimum wage
Real increase and demographic ageing. Transnet and GDBA (more focused on employees who kept their civil servant status), who have been handling collective bargaining together since 2005...
Great Britain: five new National Skills Academies for sectors with a high potential
18 academies. These new structures add up to the 13 academies present since 2006. These five new academies aim to attract more than 300,000 learners to training programs over the next four years...
Denmark: recent collective agreements strengthen the Danish model
The economic crisis, the decline in union membership and the development of social dumping were the key three factors which pressured unions into agreeing on a “balanced compromise.” Thus...
EU: European Commission to launch an initiative on the posting directive within a year
An initiative within a year. “We will not promote worker mobility or economic freedoms when they are used deliberately to downgrade working conditions” declared the Commissioner declared during a...
Great Britain: the conflict between British Airways and Unite could spread to the US
A conflict without borders. British Airways passengers could endure disruptions on both sides of the Atlantic, after the leader of the powerful American union, Teamsters, James P. Hoffa, confirmed...
Germany: fixed-term contracts soaring
Youth, foreigners and women mostly affected. According to the Statistics Office of Wiesbaden (which doesn’t differentiate fixed-term contracts with a particular reason and those without), the...
EU: MEPs’ vote on maternity leave postponed
Cost of the measures. The vote for Mrs. Estrela’s report, planed on March 24, was delayed. The MEPs will simply debate on the draft report adopted on February 23 (see our dispatch No. 100173) by...
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
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
3
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
4
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
6
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...