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Germany : Government wants to raise retirement age to 67 years old by 2029
The parties ivolved in Angela Merkel’s big coalition government have decided to raise the retirement age to 67 years old (from 65 today) in 2029 instead of 2024. This has been anounced Wednesday...
Great-Britain: two unusual employment court orders
For the first time in England, an employee of the sex industry, who worked as an operator for a pink company of telephone, took her employer to court and won her lawsuit, last January 16, for...
Spain : the main social tasks of the Zapatero government for 2006
Often criticized because it is the worse country in terms of womens’emplyment rate (around 48%), Spain has made gender equality one of its priorities for 2006. The government has also decided to...
Finland : a work group composed of social partners wants more stocks in pension funds
The Finnish pensions system is composed of two sub-systems: the first one is linked to work income, is mainly financed by employers and employees, and is managed by private insurance companies...
Great Britain: 27 bills related to employment are on the Parliament’s agenda.
Curenntly, 27 bills that are somewhat related to the employment legislation are somewhere in the British Parliament. Some of them have already passed the third reading, whereas others are just...
European Federation of Metallurgists is opposed to the hostile takeover bid of Mittal on Arcelor
The European Federation of metallurgists (EFM) who fears many job cuts in the event of a merger between the Dutch group Mittal and Arcelor, speaks in praise of the social policy of the European...
Footwear industry : social partners ask for origin labellin of footwear
In a joint declaration, on January 26, 2006, the Footwear industry’s social partners welcomed the European Commission’s proposal for a regulation establishing a compulsory indication of the...
France: a recommandation reminds the rules on State aid to companies
A memo of January 26, 2006 relating to the application in France of Community rules on competition, involving government aid to companies (OJ n° 26 of January 31, 2006, p. 1602) reminds local...
Netherlands : it will be easier to fire an employee
On January 25th, four multinational companies; Philips, Shell, Unilever and Azko Nobel have once again backed the draft law -currently in Parliament- which aims at "flexibilising" layoffs and...
Germany : new rules for unemployment benefits
Starting February 1st 2006, new rules apply to the jobseeker’s allowance called "Arbeitslosengeld 1". The changes enacted by the January 1st, 2004 legislation involve the length and conditions of...
Labour market reforms are too slow, says the Commission
On January 25th, the European Commission published its annual report on growth and jobs. By this means, which is part of the re-launching of the Lisbon Strategy, it expects Member States to drive...
AXA renews its agreement on the European work council
The management of the AXA group and five of the six French trade-union organizations (CFE-CGC, CFDT, CFTC, CGT, Unsa) renewed, last October 6, the agreement creating the European council of the...
Spain is ordered to modify its regulations involving private security activities
For the Cour of Justice, Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations (regarding art. 43 of the Treaty which guarantees freedom of establishment, and art. 49 which relates to freedom to provide...
Romania: trade unions unhappy with the draft directive on services
In a few days, the European Parliament will give its opinion on the draft Bolkestein Directive. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) will organize, on February 14 in Strasbourg, a huge...
30 January 2006
Italy : the national metalworkers contract is renewed
After thirteen months of negotiations and a strike of 62 hours, social partners of the Metal Industry sector reached an agreement on the new national contract. (Ref. 0679)
Netherlands : plan to set a ceiling for public sector salaries
Big changes are in sight for salaries in Netherlands’ para-public sector. The Parliament wishes to set a money ceiling for certain functions. (Ref.0677)
28 January 2006
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
mind RH analysis – Initial findings from CSRD social indicators
In 2025, for the first time, the universal registration documents of major European companies contain the sustainability reporting required by the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive...
31 October 2025
2
Netherlands: ING cites AI as it plans to cut around 950 jobs
Dutch bank ING has informed the employment agency UWV that it may cut around 950 jobs by 31 December 2026. In its notification on 20 October, the lender said the planned reductions stem partly...
30 October 2025
3
EU: omnibus bill stalls in parliament
On 22 October, members of the European Parliament narrowly voted against a negotiating mandate that would have opened trilogue talks on the omnibus directive, which seeks to dilute the corporate...
23 October 2025
4
EU: Omnibus Directive clears key milestone in European Parliament
On 13 October, the European Parliament’s position on the Omnibus Directive was approved by its Committee on Legal Affairs by 17 votes to six. Regarding due diligence rules, the report...
13 October 2025
5
Belgium: social partners sign agreement on end-of-career schemes
Brought together in the National Labour Council (CNT), the Belgian social partners reached an agreement on 21 October on the end-of-career scheme, putting an end to several months of negotiations...
23 October 2025
6
France: generative AI and older workers central to BPCE’s skills management strategy
On 17 July 2025, BPCE and its trade unions signed a second agreement on jobs and career management within the banking group. The text places generative artificial intelligence at the core of its...