Thomas Schnee
Correspondent in GermanyAs a Berlin correspondent 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 and labour market. My areas of interest include co-determination, digitalisation, demographics and ESG/DEI policies.
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
Oliver Dietrich (IG Metall): “The advent of AI can be a means of deepening social partnership within companies”
In Germany, trade unions want to influence how AI is deployed in companies. Oliver Dietrich is an AI project manager at the regional office of the IG Metall trade union in North Rhine-Westphalia...
21 January 2026
Germany: collective bargaining negotiations begin in chemical industry
Collective bargaining talks in Germany’s chemical and pharmaceutical industries are due to open this week, covering nearly 580,000 employees across around 1,700 companies. With the sector facing...
3 February 2026
Germany: government seeks to facilitate immigration of skilled Indian workers
During a visit to India earlier this week, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz addressed the strategic importance of attracting Indian workers to Germany, signing a series of cooperation agreements...
15 January 2026
Germany: Chancellor prepares ground for working time law reform
Since mid-January 2026, senior figures in the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, have reopened debate over Germany’s working time legislation. The party’s...
26 January 2026
Latest articles by Thomas Schnee
Germany: collapse of governing coalition sees several bills fall by the wayside
With Germany's coalition government losing its parliamentary majority, bills on areas including pension reform, regulation of the use of artificial intelligence in recruitment and the calculation...
19 November 2024
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
What you absolutely must read this week
The essential content of the week selected by the editorial team.
EU: social partners split over competitiveness and action on job quality
The European Trade Union Confederation and BusinessEurope have published their response to the consultation document on the European Commission's upcoming EU quality jobs initiative. The two...
4 February 2026
2026 TRENDS — Social dialogue, a major challenge in the deployment of AI in companies
mind RH is analysing the trends that will shape 2026. Artificial intelligence is emerging as a force that goes far beyond efficiency gains and productivity improvements. It is reshaping tasks...
4 February 2026
The major trends of 2026
New regulations coming into force, economic uncertainty, evolving skills requirements… More than ever, the HR function will play a strategic role within organizations in 2026. mind HR...
3 February 2026
Germany: collective bargaining negotiations begin in chemical industry
Collective bargaining talks in Germany’s chemical and pharmaceutical industries are due to open this week, covering nearly 580,000 employees across around 1,700 companies. With the sector facing...
3 February 2026
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
France: Crédit Agricole to tighten remote work rules
Crédit Agricole is to adopt stricter rules on remote work from mid-March onwards. The rules will be tightened for employees, but the maximum number of days working remotely will remain unchanged.
29 January 2026
2
2026 TRENDS – Pay transparency becomes a reality for European companies
mind RH is taking a look at the trends that will shape 2026. Many countries remain behind schedule in transposing the EU Pay Transparency Directive, leaving companies in a state of uncertainty as...
27 January 2026
3
TRENDS IN 2026 — Reducing workplace absence at all costs: a major challenge for Europe
Workplace absence is on the rise across Europe, particularly among women, older employees and, since the Covid-19 pandemic, young people under the age of 30. Faced with this growing problem, some...
14 January 2026
4
Vincent Lecerf (Orange): “Equality and diversity are competitive advantages for us”
Following the signing of a new agreement on professional equality and diversity in December, the chief HR officer of French multinational telecommunications corporation Orange Group, Vincent...
13 January 2026
5
France: transposition of the pay transparency directive takes shape
The transposition of the European directive on pay transparency into French law is entering a decisive phase. The Minister of Labour, Jean-Pierre Farandou, wants to present the bill to Parliament...
21 January 2026
6
France: ‘bonus-malus’ system central to talks over short-term contracts
French social partners opened talks on 28 January 2026 on the regulation of short-term contracts, marking the start of a negotiating process set to continue with three further meetings in March...
29 January 2026