Thomas Schnee
Freelance
Expertise
As a correspondent in Berlin for the French and Swiss press since the late 1990s, I cover a wide range of economic, political and social issues, with a particular focus on the German business world and labour market. My areas of interest include co-management, digitalisation, demographics and ESG/DEI policies.
Most read articles by Thomas Schnee
Germany: legal battle at Tesla ahead of works council election
The Frankfurt/Oder labour court has postponed a mid-November hearing in the case between the IG Metall union and Michaela Schmitz, employee representative and head of the works council at the...
28 October 2025
Austria: Social Affairs Committee green-lights improved redundancy conditions for self-employed workers
On 8 October 2025, the Social Affairs Committee of the Austrian National Council, the country’s lower house of parliament, approved new redundancy rules for self-employed workers, paving the...
- HR
- News brief
14 October 2025
Switzerland: National Council relaxes remote work rules and introduces right to disconnect
Swiss federal lawmakers have voted by a wide margin to extend the framework governing remote working, aiming to "better reflect the opportunities offered by digitalisation" and promote a healthier...
17 October 2025
Germany: EU pay transparency directive to force companies to ‘get tough’
Germany introduced a pay transparency law in 2017, meaning companies are already somewhat familiar with the issue. However, the broader scope and stricter requirements of the EU directive, the...
24 October 2025
Latest articles by Thomas Schnee
Germany: 5.1% pay rise over 25 months in metalworking industry
After two months of negotiations and several hundred walkouts across Germany, the social partners in the metalworking industry in two pilot regions (the coastal regions and Bavaria) have agreed on...
13 November 2024
Germany: 2025 to be a quieter year on the collective bargaining front
On 30 October, the Hans Böckler Trade Union Foundation’s Institute for Economic and Social Sciences (WSI) presented its timetable for the collective wage agreements to be negotiated by...
5 November 2024
Germany: crisis at Volkswagen and warning strikes in metalworking industry
Germany's metalworking and automotive sectors are going through a difficult time, with a series of major developments occuring concurrently. We learned on Monday that the management at Volkwagen...
29 October 2024
Germany: bill presented to protect employees against AI and surveillance
On 16 October, Germany's labour and interior ministries set out the broad outline of a bill to protect employees' personal data in the context of artificial intelligence (AI) use in the workplace...
22 October 2024
Germany: four-day week experiment yields mixed results
On 18 October, the results of the study on the four-day week in Germany were presented by a team from the University of Münster. According to the data collected from the 41 companies involved...
21 October 2024
Germany: debate surrounding €1,000 back-to-work bonus
On 2 October, the German cabinet adopted an amendment to the law to modernise unemployment insurance and promote work as part of the growth initiative presented this summer. The central measure...
8 October 2024
Germany: reform tabled to develop workplace pensions
On 18 September, the German cabinet adopted the draft second law to “strengthen occupational pensions”, presented by the labour and finance ministries. According to labour minister...
- HR
- CSR
- News brief
25 September 2024
Switzerland: 67.1% of voters reject reform of occupational pension system
On Sunday 22 September, the Swiss rejected by a wide margin the government's plan to reform the federal law on pension plans (BVG), in a vote initiated by left-wing parties and trade unions. Some...
Germany: Berlin grapples with diverging pressures on migration policy
Under pressure from the electoral success of the far right, Germany is continuing to roll out an increasingly restrictive migration policy, to the point of reintroducing controls at all its land...
17 September 2024
Germany: collective bargaining kicks off in metalworking industry
Collective bargaining in the metalworking industry between the IG Metall union and the employers’ federation Gesamtmetall began on Wednesday 11 September in the districts of...
12 September 2024
Germany: Volkswagen terminates collective agreement on job security in force for 30 years
Volkswagen management has formally terminated a number of collective agreements, including the job security agreement, which has been in force since 1994 and is valid until 2029. Redundancies may...
11 September 2024
Germany: IG Metall floats idea of four-day week at Volkswagen
Since Volkswagen's shock announcement last Thursday of likely redundancies and plant closures in Germany for its flagship VW brand, trade unions and politicians have been bracing themselves for...
9 September 2024
What you absolutely must read this week
The essential content of the week selected by the editorial team.
Italy: decree-law adopted to increase workplace safety
On 28 October, the Italian cabinet adopted a decree-law on health and safety at work, aimed at preventing and reducing accidents. The text addresses both the powers and actions of supervisory...
4 November 2025
Romania: parents of children with disabilities granted up to eight days of remote work per month
On 9 October, the Romanian parliament adopted a bill aiming to bolster support for parents of children with disabilities up to the age of 18. The legislation, which came into force on 12 October...
4 November 2025
Carrefour and UNI Global Union renew global agreement on promoting social dialogue and diversity
On 17 October, Carrefour, one of the world’s largest retailers, with nearly 500,000 employees worldwide, and global union federation UNI Global Union renewed their global agreement on...
3 November 2025
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
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...
- HR
- CSR
- News brief
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...
- HR
- CSR
- News brief
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...
- HR
- CSR
- News brief
23 October 2025
6
AI-driven job cuts on the rise in tech sector
As leading tech companies ramp up investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and roll out transformation plans to boost its development, layoffs across the sector are increasing. But are the job...
7 October 2025