All articles

Italy: government and regions sign agreement on social dampers resources
the government and regions concluded an agreement on resources allocated to social dampers. It provides that, in 2009-10, 8 billion euro will be dedicated to “actions to support income and...
Germany: government to improve the protection of personal data after the elections
scandals at the Deutsche Telekom (see our dispatch No. 080428) and at the Deutsche Bahn (No. 090110), Wolfgang Schauble, CDU Federal Minister for Home Affairs, announced, on February 16, 2009, the...
Mexico: public aid for businesses appealing to partial unemployment
nced new measures to fight the crisis’ negative impact on employment: 2 billion pesos (100 million euro) to avoid layoffs in businesses choosing partial unemployment. This aid will only be...
Great Britain: new precedent reduces disabled people’ appeal against discrimination
Consequences. Industry relations commentators have concluded that the Truman ruling, which essentially provides an example of the Malcolm ruling in an employment context, will make it a great deal...
Germany: the Bundesrat introduces minimum wage in six more sectors
the Bundesrat – the Federal Council – agreed, on February 13, 2009, to establish minimum wage in six sectors with about 1.2 million employees. This vote ends a very controversial...
Italy: union alert on the crisis in the chemistry sector
edly threatened in the chemistry sector. Last week, the three Filcem-CGIL, Femca-Cisl and Uilcem-Uil unions raised the alarm on the crisis affecting the sector. Reminding its strategic value for...
Slovenia: round table on the crisis in the automotive industry
mber of Commerce and Industry organized a round table discussion on the crisis in the automotive industry and its impact on the Slovene economy. Although the representatives of the automotive...
Italy: the Cub, Cobas and SDL independent unions consolidate their march toward unity
The “basic pact”. The three organizations decided to proceed further with the “permanent consultative pact” negotiated in May 2008 by a new “basic pact”, which retains the content and goals while...
Belgium: the 25.000 employees of Fortis fear for their job after shareholders rejected the recovery plan
ejected the group’s rescue plan, the staff representatives demanded an extraordinary works council meeting on February 12. The goal was to meet with the Belgian bank’s management and...
Lithuania: demonstrations against rising unemployment force government to open social dialogue
e crisis. As for the other two “Baltic tigers”, the economic slowdown was slightly felt as early as late 2006, together with strong inflation. After prosperous years, the country faces...
Renault: EWC expresses solidarity with Spanish workers
results for 2008, a delegation of Spanish employees went to Paris to express concern over their job’s future. The French car manufacturer’s EWC supported this approach in a...
EU: the European Metalworkers’ Federation presents its Manifesto for industrial policy
Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF) published a “Manifesto for more and better industrial jobs.” This document, 12 pages long, details the federation’s view of necessary actions...
Germany: two studies drastically divided revive the debate on the protection against dismissals
Economy (IW), close to employers, and the Institute of Economic and Social Research of the Hans Blocker Foundation, close to unions, chose the same day to publish studies on the impact of the...
Germany: investment bankers at the Dresdner Kleinwort to press charges to get their bonus
essed a around €1 billion in their unit in 2008 – the managers of the Dresdner Kleinwort investment bank – a subsidiary of Dresdner Bank, bought by the Commerzbank in January...
12 February 2009
Ecuador: paternity leave introduced
vernment of Ecuador approved the introduction of a ten-day paternity leave. However, only workers in the public and private sector affiliated with the social security will be entitled to it, i.e...
Spain: controversy over employers’ proposal to create anti-crisis labor contracts
labor contract” with lower layoff pay was launched by the employers’ confederation of the Madrid region and used by Gerardo Diaz Ferran, leader of the CEOE employers’...
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
Pascale Rauline (Axa EWC): “European charter formalises ongoing and accelerated social dialogue on AI”
On 27 November, Axa and its European works council (EWC) signed a charter setting out principles governing the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) and guaranteeing social dialogue on the...
2
Germany: crisis-hit industries cast shadow over 2026 bargaining cycle
In 2026, collective wage agreements for nearly 10 million employees in Germany are set to expire. With upcoming negotiations in crisis-hit 'pilot' sectors such as chemicals and metalworking, the...
2 December 2025
3
Bulgaria: government approves bill to encourage sector-level collective bargaining
On 26 November, the Bulgarian government approved amendments to the labour code designed to reinforce the legal framework for sector-level collective bargaining. The reform aims to stimulate...
2 December 2025
4
EU: social partners in telecoms sign joint statement on AI
On 16 December, the social partners in Europe's telecommunications sector unveiled a joint statement on artificial intelligence. They propose an action plan for skills and commit to raising...
18 December 2025
5
Germany: Erwin Hymer Group’s innovative and award-winning AI agreement
Fed up with negotiating separate agreements for each new artificial intelligence (AI) tool, the social partners at Erwin Hymer Group (8,900 employees) have instead secured a broad, overarching...
12 December 2025
6
France: Orange submits gender equality agreement – including AI provisions – for union approval
The three representative trade unions at Orange France have until 10 December to validate an agreement on gender equality, work–life balance and anti-discrimination measures. While the text...