All articles

Spain: in the absence of support from the social partners, the government postpones some measures to boost employment
The crisis is causing social dialogue to crumble as the government is trying to face the rapid unemployment increase. The social partners answered with a burst of criticism to the proposition the...
Netherlands: tripartite talks to shorten the work week to avoid mass layoffs
Union and employers' organizations as well as the government are having talks behind closed doors to face the risk of mass layoffs because of the economic crisis. Reducing working time for all (36...
Spain: unions protest against job cuts and want public powers to step in
The opposition to the layoff plan presented by Nissan for its site in Barcelona has become unions' symbol. They protest against staffing cuts ("EREs" - expedientes de reducción de empleo) which...
Germany: the train drivers’ union GDL satisfied about the temporary writing off of the partial privatization of the Deutsche Bahn
Bonus if the privatization succeeds. With the threat of recession in Germany as a background and the new debate on managers’ remuneration (see our dispatch No. 080811), the announcement in...
EDF: European trade unions at the EWC want a wage increase
In a joint press release, nine trade unions with representatives within the EWC of the French energy group EDF (158.640 employees, over 105.000 of which in France) launched a petition in favor of...
Freudenberg: the German group is revising its global framework agreement
The International Federation of Chemical, Energy Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) announced that it bargained to improve the international framework agreement it signed with the German...
Denmark: firing a man who leaves to take a fertility test is illegal
An employee received over 200.000 crowns in damages after being dismissed because he left for fertility treatment. The Western Regional Court ruled that this dismissal violated the law on equal...
Italy: the CGIL union has a plan to get out of the crisis
“To get out of the crisis, we are going to need new rules, all the rules we failed to set over the past fifteen years. But we mostly need new values and a new liability ethic” declared Gugliemo...
Germany: DGB unions agree on the reform of their central organization
After several months of bargaining between the eight member unions of the German confederation of trade unions - DGB - an agreement was reached to reform the organization. The reform will spread...
Czech Republic: new obligations on employers resulting from the reform of sickness insurance
The health insurance reform will be complete on January 1, 2009. Pavel Jakab, lawyer at the Peterka & Partners law firm in Prague, is commenting for Planet Labor the impact of this reform on...
Germany: the IG Metall threatens employers to strike as of November 17
In spite of the ongoing debate over the methods of the union, which is asking for an 8% increase during a crisis, the IG Metall is holding on and presenting employers with an ultimatum. If no...
EU: the European Federation of Building and Wood Workers wants a directive providing for liability of general contractors
During a hearing at the European Parliament on November 5, 2008, the Chairman of the Standing Committee Building of the European Federation of Building and Wood Workers (EFBWW), John Kerstens...
European social agenda from November 13 to December 31, 2008
We offer an agenda of the main events concerning social Europe and institutional meetings. You can send your scheduled events to the following address: planetlabor@planetlabor.com (Ref. 080882)
Hungary: the crisis in the car industry will really be tangible in 2009
Hungary, which has been one of the flagship countries in car manufacturing since the 1990s, is devastated by the global financial crisis. In concrete terms, since October, there have been over a...
Germany: Arcandor employees will see their annual wages decrease of 7-12%
After two weeks of negotiation, the German group Arcandor AG, its works council and the services' union Ver.di agreed, on October 31, 2008, on the details of a cost of personnel reduction plan...
Spain: the government is planning to improve vocational training
Mercedes Cabrera, Minister for Education, and Celestino Corbacho, Employment Minister, announced a reform of vocational training for early 2009. The country's bad results in this domain forced the...
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
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...