Portugal: the new socialist led government looks to consumption to relaunch the economy
António Costa’s socialist government has announced a series of measures that should relaunch the economic activity in 2016. Measures abolishing certain austerity led taxes and levies imposed...
3 December 2015
Germany: during its ‘Job Summit’, Lufthansa and the unions agreed to deepen their cooperation
Plagued by continuous strike action over the past two years, on Wednesday 02 December, Lufthansa invited the three unions that are established within the company; Verdi (ground staff), Ufo (flight...
2 December 2015
Italy: Enel signs a development and innovation protocol promoting generational replacement
On 27 November, Italy’s energy company, Enel together with the unions signed a protocol on development and innovation that includes a framework agreement on “intergenerational solidarity and...
2 December 2015
Switzerland: the private postal service sign their first ever collective agreement
On Monday 30 November, social partners from the private post sector, the employers’ federation KEP & Mail and two postal sector trade unions Syndicom and Transfair, announced that they have...
1 December 2015
Great-Britain: JCB and GMB union agree reduced working week to save jobs cuts
GMB union members at four JCB companies (construction machinery) have voted to begin a temporary period of short-time working to stave off compulsory redundancies amongst a number of their...
1 December 2015
Argentina: the social consequences of Mauricio Macri’s presidential election win
On 22 December Argentina voted in a reforming liberal as the country’s president. Difficult social negotiations are expected as a result of tough economic measures that will have to be taken and...
26 November 2015
Germany: steel industry wages to rise by 2.3%
75,000 workers in the steel industry, employed by the large steel companies in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, and Bremen that produce most of Germany’s steel, are set to receive a 2.3% rise...
26 November 2015
Italy: social partners in the cement, lime, and plaster industry concluded an agreement to renew their National Collective Agreement
On 24 November, both the unions (Feneal-Uil, Filca-Cisl, Fillea-CGIL) and employers (Federmaco) concluded an agreement to renew the cement, lime, and plaster industry National Collective Agreement...
26 November 2015
Germany: the number of out of work scientists and engineers has risen sharply (DIW study)
Since the start of the century and really right up until now the primary message received from the business community was the lack of highly skilled labor in the science and technical related...
24 November 2015
South Korea: extensive raid of KCTU establishments in Seoul
The relations between the government and the second largest trade union confederation in South Korea become all the more turbulent. This past weekend, almost 700 South Korean police officers...
24 November 2015
Belgium: 2015-2016 HORECA sector agreement concluded against a backdrop of ‘flexi-jobs’ in the sector
On 23 October an agreement was reached for the Horeca sector (Hotels/Restaurants/Cafés) against the backdrop of a tense social climate in Belgium (c.f. article No. 9341). The day before, on 22...
23 November 2015
Italy: the Fiom-CGIL organizes a national demonstration protesting the government’s policies
CGIL steelworkers will gather in Rome on 21 November to take part in a national demonstration protesting Matteo Renzi’s government’s policies and putting forward a new different social and...
20 November 2015
United States: IG Metall is establishing a presence in Tennessee, in support of UAW led unionization in German owned automakers and suppliers
The UAW already enjoys IG Metall’s full support in its efforts to unionize at German-owned auto manufacturers and suppliers. The UAW still has to establish its first European-like works council in...
20 November 2015
Great Britain: London’s 18 bus companies agree to negotiate its first collective agreement for the 27,000 drivers since privatization over 20 years ago.
Following strike action at the beginning of 2015 undertaken by Unite bus drivers, the union has secured negotiations, facilitated by the state conciliation service ACAS, with London's 18 bus...
19 November 2015
Italy: unions retain a positive image amongst Italy’s workers
During the CISL national conference currently underway, the confederation union presented its study on the unions’ image in Italy. Undertaken with a representative sample of Italian workers from...
18 November 2015
United States: more than 10 years of history between management and the autoworkers union, UAW over unionizing at Nissan (Canton, Mississippi)
Between 02-07 November, workers at the Nissan Canton plant (Mississippi) have visited France for the second time seeking support for their struggle to unionize the Canton plant.
18 November 2015
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
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...
2
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
3
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
4
Italy: new generational renewal agreement penned at UniCredit
The agreement signed on 30 December by UniCredit, Italy’s second-largest banking group, with the Fabi, First-Cisl, Fisac-Cgil, Uilca and Unisin trade unions aims to continue generational...
5
France: social partner talks extend far beyond contractual terminations
After a false start on 3 December, French social partners resumed talks on 7 January 2026 on potential changes to the unemployment insurance agreement, including the rules governing compensation...
12 January 2026
6
EU: banking sector social partners commit to combating violence and harassment
On 15 January, the trade union federation UNI Europa Finance and three employers’ associations in the banking sector signed a joint statement on preventing violence and harassment in the...