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Gaz de France Suez: European representatives meet to improve GDF’s EWC agreement
The representatives of GDF's EWC and of Suez's IED (European Consultative Committee) will meet on September 17-19 during a joint seminar to prepare the negotiation on the EWC of the new group...
Italy: Confindustria presented its national collective bargaining model to the trade unions
A three-year national collective agreement, more weight to the company level and a seven-month "union peace" during the bargaining for the renewal: these are the main elements of the reform of the...
Luxembourg: a bill to make the rules applicable to posted workers comply with European requirements
On September 12, the Council of Ministers adopted a bill aimed at ensuring compliance of the Labor Code with European regulations on posted workers as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the...
Great Britain: lackluster evaluation of the TUC annual conference
Over 700 unionists met in Brighton on September 8-11, 2008 for the 140th TUC annual conference. The different bills announced by the Brown government's Ministers, who followed each other at the...
Spain: employees look for second jobs
Spanish people didn't wait for the government to announce a recession to get ready to face hard times. Randstad, the temporary work agency, observed, from its own data, that the number of people...
Spain: the government goes easy on the minimum wage increase
Pedro Solbes, Minister for Economic Affairs, announced that minimum interprofessional wages (SMI) would "increase slower than anticipated with different economic circumstances". The trade unions...
EU: Dublin Foundation report on working time
In 2007, average collectively agreed weekly working time in the European Union was 38.6 hours. This is the outcome of the annual survey published by the European Foundation for the improvement of...
Great Britain: job evaluation guide
How to avoid going to court for wage discrimination ? By establishing job and pay evaluation schemes, answers the ACAS - the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service - in a guide published...
China: Shenzhen adopts two regulations to favor social dialogue in companies
The law on the employment contract and the law on the "establishment and development of harmonious working relationships", adopted by the authorities of the special Shenzhen economic zone, which...
11 September 2008
EU: European managers propose amendments to the EWC “recast” directive
After the letter the ETUC, BusinessEurope, the CEEP and the UEAPME (see our dispatch No. 080643) sent to Xavier Bertrand - French Minister of Labor and current President of the EU Employment and...
Companies: benefits and disadvantages of EWCs
After analyzing the direct and indirect costs of a EWC (see our dispatch No. 080674), the study carried out by the GHK Consulting Firm at the request of the European Commission as part of the...
Spain: staff cuts and lower chain activity in the car industry
Several car manufacturers announced job cuts in Spain while others use the flexibility allowed by the collective agreements. However, even larger job cuts are to be expected. Unions are on the...
Germany : IG-Metall about to publish a list of « black sheep » among temp agencies
Confronted with the upsurge of temp employees paid less than the permanent workforce, the Frankfurt section of IG-Metall (which covers four Länder- Hesse, Rheinland-Palatinate, Sarre and...
Companies : actual costs of EWCs
Is it possible to give an accurate evaluation of the costs of a European Works Council ? The European Commission asked the GHK Consulting Firm to carry out a study on this topic in view of the...
Germany : IG-Metall calls VW workers to a mass demonstration for the maintenance of the « Volkswagen law »
By organizing such an impressing assembly the IG-Metall union intends to send “warning signal to all those wishing to abolish the Volkswagen law”. “The repeated attacks by  the European Union, by...
Netherlands: contentious agreement on the limit to unemployment allowances
On September 9, 2008, the government, the Confederation of Dutch Industry and Employers (VNO-NCW) and the Dutch Trade Union Federation (FNV) announced a surprise agreement on unemployment...
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1
Germany: pensioners in work already common practice, study shows
As the German government steps up measures to encourage people to stay in work beyond the legal retirement age, a new study by the Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI) – an independent...
2
Spain: government approves creation of ‘intern status’
The Spanish government has paved the way for the creation of a new status for "persons undergoing non-professional practical training in companies, institutions or public or private organisations...
3
France: social conference on labour and pensions to proceed without main employers’ group
The preparatory meeting ahead of the social conference on labour and pensions, which is set to decide on the pension system model and the funding thereof, was held on 4 November at France's labour...
4
Luxembourg: two pension reform bills submitted to parliament
After lengthy negotiations with the social partners, in mid-October the Luxembourg government submitted two bills to parliament aimed at reforming the pension system to ensure its long-term...
5
Candice Guillot (Talan): “Our recruiters save just over 80 hours per year on administrative tasks thanks to AI”
Candice Guillot, group director of employee experience and HR performance at Talan (7,000 employees), outlines for mind RH her vision and strategy for introducing artificial intelligence at the...