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Portugal: government adopted employment program for 2010 and its going to unfreeze 480 million euros
Socially handling unemployment. The Employment Initiative approved by the Council of Ministers should affect 750,000 people and represents a €480-million budget. Labor Minister Maria Helena Andre...
Great Britain: the debate on scrapping default retirement age is quickening
Work until 70 or 80? It’s what Minister for Equality Harriet Harman told the Daily Mail on January 11 that quickened the debate. She said that workers would not be forced to work beyond 65, but...
EU: the social partners respond to the Commission’s EU 2020 Strategy
Common observation. The ETUC and BusinessEurope at least share one observation: the next decade will be imbued with the economic crisis. Unions mostly point to social consequences, increases by...
Romania: government blocks pension increase, angering pensioners who threaten to go down in the street
iament adopted the 2010 budget. Because of the severe recession which affected the country in 2009, this budget is very strict. The pension scheme is one of the many victims of this budget...
Italy: the first Observatory on occupational safety was set up in Milan
Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL), the Regional Equal Committee for Occupational Safety in Construction (CPT) and the Tribunal of Milan created, on January 14, the first Italian...
Poland: launching of the National Development Committee
ounced during the last social summit in March 2009, the National Development Committee met for the first time on January 7. This structure, which gathers all sorts of experts, will soon look into...
Belgium: stricter conditions to enjoy time credit but more flexibility for workers coming back from a long illness
Stricter award conditions. Within the framework of anticrisis measures, the Belgian government adopted measures to save up on time credit benefits. In Belgium, this system allows workers who want...
Germany: Ver.di union got nearly 111,000 new members in 2009
Membership drop stopped in 3 areas. Even though its overall size decreased, Verdi’s evaluation is more than positive. Indeed, it presents 2008 and 2009 as the best years in terms of size since the...
Great Britain: guide helps businesses prepare for the implementation of employees’ right to request time to train
inesses with over 250 employees will have the right to request free time to attend vocational training. All employees will be concerned in 2011. To prepare businesses to deal with this new right...
Belgium: training at the center of new anticrisis measures
Recruit jobseekers as formers. The first measures should allow employees let go as part of a restructuring program to be hired as trainers or guides. They may be recruited by public training or...
Denmark: historical agreement for the closure of the last cigarette plant in Denmark
or the shutdown of House of Prince was qualified as “the best agreement” of this kind in the country. Not only does it provide for generous compensation for the 500 employees who will...
Netherlands: FNV and Allies membership is rising again
The Netherlands’ largest union, FNV and Allies, present in manufacturing, currently has the most members since 2001 – the last crisis in the country. The new membership wave can be explained by...
Germany: Federal Government presents 11th annual report on temporary work
The government’s 11th annual report on temporary, presented on Wednesday in Berlin, encouraged the sector’s employers’ federations, who have been fighting to defend the sector’s public image after...
Mexico: 4.85% minimum wage increase sacrificing buying power to save jobs
Once again, Mexican unions lost the battle after the meetings of the National Minimum Wage Committee (CONASAMI), which answers to the Labor Ministry and heads negotiations between the social...
Italy: youth employment program for 2020
tween school and work, revive technical and vocational education, apprenticeship contracts, revise the role of postgraduate training…these are some of the priorities of the “Italia...
EU: launching of the Sectoral Social Dialog Committee in the metal industry
As we announced in October (see our dispatch No. 090985), today, January 14th was the day employers (CEEMET) and union (EMF) organizations were launching the European Sectoral Social Dialog...
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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
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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...