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Czech Republic: pro-Family package proposed
The center-right Czech government has approved the long-discussed "Pro-Family Package" of new regulations designed to make life easier for working families with children. The package encompasses...
Switzerland: UBS Outlines Variable Compensation Reform
In a move designed to bring about a "cultural shift" in the company, Switzerland's largest bank UBS has outlined a sweeping variable compensation plan reform. Notably, executive bonuses and...
United States: the impossible health care reform, a major issue for the Obama administration
Barack Obama set the introduction of universal health care as one of his priorities. His program plans the creation of a new public program, the National Health Care Exchange which will aim at...
Austria: the round table with the Ministers in charge only partially defuses the postal conflict
After a summit meeting and demonstrations of employees of the Austrian post, the management of the company accepted to lower the 9.000 job cuts and 1.000 office closings planned by 2015. In spite...
Brazil: almost three in four workers are stressed out
According to a study carried out by the UGT union, 73% of Brazilian workers are excessively stressed out at work, because of burnout, emergencies and hierarchal pressure. For three cases in four...
GDF-Suez: EWC in favor of the wage increase
After the claim made by the European trade unions present within EDF's EWC in favor of wage increases, it is now GDF-Suez's turn to request a "more ambitious social policy enable a fairer share of...
EU: European framework for the management of psychosocial risks at work
Establishing a European framework to promote a policy, at national and company level, taking better account of psychosocial risks at work is the objective of the European Prima-EF project which...
EU: analysis of the report adopted by the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs on the recast of the EWC directive
Here is a dispatch with the report adopted by MEPs from the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs on the recast of the directive on EWCs (see our dispatch No. 080902) with a full analysis of...
Great Britain: HR managers evaluate the government’s action to improve employees’ skills
Almost two years after the Leitch review which pointed to British employees' lack of qualifications, the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) evaluates measures taken by the...
Germany: train drivers at the Deutsche Bahn want a 10% wage increase
Whereas the "5 sages" (famous economists for the Federal government) predicted that Germany would enter recession in 2009, the joint committee for wage negotiations of the two major rail unions...
EU: MEPs demand the recast of the law on equal pay for men and women
In a report adopted on Tuesday, November 18 by a large majority, the European Parliament calls on the Commission to take initiatives to recast the law on equal pay and presents a series of...
Italy: six ThyssenKrupp managers sent to criminal court for the death of seven workers
The six managers of ThyssenKrupp Acciai Speciali are being sued for the death of seven workers in the fire of the Thyssen site next Turin in December (see our dispatch No. 071035). It is the first...
Repsol: agreement on the establishment of a union network for Spain, Latin America and the Caribbean
If the creation of transnational "union coordination" is becoming a common practice, the recognition of such coordination by a company is much less so. But it is the case of the Spanish group...
Slovakia: the Parliament is debating on the creation of a low-wage bonus
The Slovak lower parliamentary house is currently debating a state-funded benefit proposal designed to stimulate employment within the low-paid sector. If passed, the draft amendment to Act No...
StatoilHydro: revision of the international framework agreement
The management of the Norwegian group StatoilHydro (29.500 employees) and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) with its Norwegian affiliate...
Netherlands: talks on the reduction of working time are postponed
The talks which were supposed to take place on November 18, 2008 between the social partners to conclude a "crisis" social agreement in the reduction of working time were postponed. Negotiations...
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1
Netherlands: new government seeks to “control” social costs
In his government policy statement to Parliament on 25 February, Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten announced several measures designed to "control" social costs. Notably, he proposed raising the...
2
Spain: a bill to regulate internships
On 3 March, the Council of Ministers approved the bill on the “Status for persons undergoing non-professional practical training in companies”. The text limits the number of interns a company can...
3
EU: co-legislators aim to pivot European Globalisation Adjustment Fund towards restructuring anticipation
On 25 February, the Council of the EU and the Parliament reached an agreement on the Commission’s proposed regulation to expand the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF). Under the...
4
Germany: launch of the “WE-Fair” alliance for binational training of skilled foreign workers
Germany continues to expand and diversify its initiatives to attract skilled foreign labour from outside the EU. In mid-March 2026, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development...
5
Block to slash workforce by nearly half
The news. In his latest shareholder letter, Jack Dorsey, CEO of payment service provider Block (formerly Square), announced plans to slash the company’s workforce “by nearly half, from...