All articles

EU: the European Commission proposes to extend minimum maternity leave to 18 weeks
On October 3, the European Commission adopted the proposal for the revision of Directive 92/85 on the protection of maternity along with a package for reconciling professional and family life. The...
Belgium: national conference on pensions
The Minister for Social Integration, Pensions and Urban Policy, Marie Arena (Socialist Party) presented to the Council of Ministers on October 3, 2008, a project of national conference on...
Spain: Seat and Nissan and Seat decrease production to face the sales drop
Decreased production at Seat’s. Seat (Volkswagen) told its employees that it needed to stop part of the production on the Martorell site, near Barcelona, to face the dropping sales. The company...
EU : EU ministers promises to speed up the revision of the EWC Directive
A fast approval of the draft Directive on EWC. After the support of the European Commission to the joint amendments of the European social partners (see our dispatch n°080643), the Council of...
Germany: the Hans-Böckler Foundation says the restructuring of Deutsche Bahn AG upsets the staff
Increased flexibility, work overload and fear of lost jobs in the aftermath of the restructuring of the German railway have sharply increased the stress of the remaining workforce after the...
EU: sectoral social dialogue mobilized against the Commission’s plans in terms of quotas for the emission of greenhouse gas
Within a few days, the European Social Partners of the steel and chemistry sectors stepped up to the plate against the planned revision of the Community system to change the quotas of emission of...
Great Britain: ID cards for foreign nationals as of November 2008
Chief measure of the government's fight against illegal labor, biometric ID cards will now be mandatory for foreign nationals willing to enter or stay in the country. The trade unions, together...
Portugal : the new labor code will be approved at the latest on November 7, 2008
The bill was adopted on its first reading thanks to the vote of the socialist MPs in majority. The two right-wing parties abstained, while the communists and the far left voted against. Two steps...
Italy : union representation and work at the center of the UIL 7th conference
Created in 1950, the UIL is the third Italian union organization with over two million members and two levels of representation: 1° horizontally through its regional unions, 107 provincial...
Valeo: the EWC organized transnational collective action
The European works council of the French motor vehicle equipment manufacturer Valeo (almost 70.000 employees in Europe) decided, during a bureau meeting on September 11, to call all the European...
Great Britain: minimum wage increase on October 1
Hourly minimum wage for workers over 22 increased of 3.8% on October 1, 2008. It went from £5.52 (around €7) to £5.73 (around €7.30). Workers aged 18-21 will receive £4.77 (€6) instead of £4.60...
EU: the European Commission chooses to postpone the revision of the directive on the involvement of employees in the European Company
Planned for this year, the revision of the directive which provides for the involvement of employees in the European Company will be delayed to 2009, when the directive on the regulations creating...
EU: UNI-Finance asked financial groups to request extraordinary EWC meetings
Since the American financial crisis is moving on to the old continent, the European trade union federation UNI-Europa Finance asked its representatives on 51 European works councils in the finance...
Denmark: agreement on using the internet and cell phones at work
The employers' organization Dansk Erhverv (DE) published an agreement signed on July 10, 2008 with the trade union confederation HK/Privat, which includes joint recommendations for a business...
Netherlands: a bill to make companies responsible of the first six months of unemployment
The center-left governmental coalition wants to give companies the possibility to be responsible for the maintained payment of their dismissed employees for the first six months of unemployment...
Germany: Ver.di and the Postbank sign a “home agreement” while the trial of strength in the banking sector is escalating
On September 25, the Ver.di union and the management of the Postbank reached an agreement on a moderate wage increase and a strengthening of job security. This is not always the case in the rest...
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
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...
5
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...