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United States: bill strengthens the fight against age discrimination
Three heavyweights of the democratic party presented a bill to improve American laws on age discrimination and against a four-month-old supreme court ruling. Tom Harkin, democratic Iowa senator...
Germany: company agreement on “the future” for ThyssenKrupp’s stainless steel subsidiary
ThyssenKrupp Nirosta and its 4,500 employees were almost the victims of the major restructuring organized by ThyssenKrupp AG, the parent company (see our dispatch No. 090491). The latter, which...
Denmark: “ability assessment” replaces medical certificates to reduce absenteeism
Reduce the number of sick leaves. Since October 5, medical certificates have been replaced by “ability assessments” (mulighedserklæring). It is composed of two sheets, one filled by the employer...
Great Britain: Royal Mail employees vote yes to national strike
A strike to protest against job and service cuts. Two years after the last national postmen strike, a similar scenario is taking shape in the UK. “This is a huge vote of no confidence in Royal...
Netherlands: more flexible parental leave
More flexible parental leave. Piet Hein Donner, Minister for Social Affairs and Labor, wants to bring more flexibility into leaves for employees who want to care for sick children or parents...
Sweden: unions want equal pay between men and women to be a priority for the coming wage negotiations
Better compliance with anti-discrimination laws. Despite an internal study showing a relative improvement in women’s situation, the federation of private employees’ unions, Unionen, thinks that...
EU: European and international union federations sign a charter on “sustainable” tourism
The European Trade Union Liaison Committee on Tourism, ETLC – which gathers the EFFAT (European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism trade unions), ETF (European Transport Workers’...
Lithuania: government and social partners about to sign a far-flung national agreement
Drastic cost-cutting program. Initially, the text was mostly a plan to financially save the State and the social security from 2009 to 2012. it provided for layoffs and new wage cuts (8-10% in...
Portugal: first mandatory arbitration unfreezes negotiations in paper industry
Regulatory tool. The Mandatory Arbitration Court is called when all forms of negotiation failed. In this case, the decision rendered by the Arbitration Court, made up of professionals from the...
United Kingdom: Tories’ social agenda bothers unions
Outsourcing. “There will have to be cutbacks in public spending, and that will be painful. We will need to confront Britain’s culture of irresponsibility and that will be hard to take for many...
Italy: the general strike organized by the Fiom didn’t block negotiations for the renewal of metalworkers’ CCN
In a speech given during the demonstration organized in Milan on October 9, concluding the strike aimed at “defending the national collective agreement and democracy and against layoffs and...
EU: governments and social partners face the challenges of the green economy
Institutional and political diversity. At the level of the Member States, the political and institutional resources developed are different. Most countries created green government departments...
Germany: DGB calls for a reform of apprenticeship statistics
Employment Agency officially presents data on the apprenticeship market in 2008-09, the Confederation of German Trade Unions (DBG) presented, on October 7, 2009, the guidelines of a reform of...
Netherlands: employers liable for burnout
This is a major victory for the FNV: the Court of Appeal of Bois-le-Duc ruled that an employer was liable for overworking one of its employees, insofar as there was no active policy for the...
Italy: first “Charter for equal opportunities and parity at work”
Diversity as a key to competitiveness and success. Directly based on French and German initiatives, the “Charter for equal opportunities and parity at work” (Carta per le pari opportunità e...
Netherlands: emergency measures to protect mailmen
New businesses working on the Dutch postal market (Sandd, Selektmail and others) are going to have to meet several requirements. First, they have to sign a labor contract with their employees...
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1
France: austerity measures proposed in social security financing bill for 2026
Limits on sick leave, the end of social security exemptions for apprentices, and the introduction of additional birth leave: the 2026 social security financing bill, presented to parliament on 14...
16 October 2025
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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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France: Decathlon introduces a ‘duty to respect others’ right to disconnect’
A right-to-disconnect agreement was signed in late September for the French arm of the Decathlon sports retail group. It sets out a "duty to respect others’ right to disconnect" and provides...
14 November 2025
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United Kingdom largely retained within scope of EWCs despite Brexit, study shows
A study published this month by the Institute for Economic and Social Research, the French trade union research organisation, examined how the involvement of British representatives in European...
5
Romania: collective agreement extended to entire insurance sector
On 3 November, Romania’s National Tripartite Council for Social Dialogue approved the extension of the collective labour agreement signed on 23 May by the Confederation of Employers in the...
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Italy: new collective agreement for managers in tertiary sector
On 5 November, the ManagerItalia union and the employers’ association Confcommercio renewed the collective agreement for managers in Italy’s tertiary, distribution and services...