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Denmark: 38th Congress of the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) elects its first ever female president, and moves towards a merger with the FTF, the second largest confederation in the country
Meeting in Aalborg, from 25 to 27 October, the 400 LO delegates elected Lizette Risgaard as the head of the main Danish trade union confederation (17 trade unions representing almost 1 million...
28 October 2015
Belgium: a time of “trade union bashing”
The month of October was marked by a significant wave of social protests, and the climate seems far from calming. Following the death of two people, who did not receive prompt healthcare due to...
28 October 2015
Finland: hesitation from the government opens the way for possible agreement between social partners
Following strong trade union mobilisation and the Finnish government’s U-turn, the situation remains muddled in Finland. Informal negotiations between social partners are committed to reaching an...
26 October 2015
Sweden: a trade union front creaking on the eve of negotiations
This is something that had not been seen for 20 years. On 21 October the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) announced that it would not be coordinating the demands of its 14 member unions...
26 October 2015
Germany: thousands of temporary workers risk losing their jobs as a result of the Volkswagen emissions scandal
Job losses may soon result from the biggest scandal ever to hit German automaker Volkswagen (VW). On 18 October the German Press Agency DPA indicated that according to VW’s central works council...
23 October 2015
Great Britain: the Government and Tata Steel to provide financial support for redundant steel workers
Criticized by the unions for doing nothing to help the British steel industry in crisis, on Friday 23 October, David Cameron’s Conservative Government and Tata Steel announced a package of...
23 October 2015
United States: UAW members approve the Fiat Chrysler agreement
This time round, 77% of workers at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) voted to approve an agreement negotiated on their behalf between their union, the United Auto Workers (UAW) and FCA management...
23 October 2015
Canada: union relief at Liberal party’s election win
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s unexpected defeat during Canada’s federal elections on 19 October has calmed Canada’s unions that had been experiencing increasingly difficult relations with the...
23 October 2015
Germany: IG Metall’s new president announces a national campaign for redefining working time
In Frankfurt, between 18 – 24 October, IG Metall, the world’s largest major trade union with almost 2.3 million members, voted in its new management team. On Tuesday 20 October, former number 2...
22 October 2015
Great Britain: steel industry buckling under the crisis
Indian group Tata Steel announced on Tuesday 20 October that almost 1,200 jobs would be lost in yet another brutal blow to the UK’s steel industry. Businesses and unions in the sector warn that...
21 October 2015
Germany: IG Metall warns rapid refugee integration measures should not result in social dumping
Amidst fierce debate over ways to facilitate refugees’ entry into the German labor market, on Monday 19 October the metals union IG Metall during its 23rd congress being held in Frankfurt between...
21 October 2015
NH Hotel Group: establishes an EWC
The European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT) has announced an agreement was signed last week that puts an EWC in place for the hotel chain NH Hotel Group. A...
20 October 2015
Brazil: economic crisis hinders collective negotiation
Bad news for Brazil’s workers. Economic crisis and rising inflation (+9.8% over a year) have seriously compromised unions’ collective bargaining powers. According to the Inter-Union Department of...
20 October 2015
Japan: banking sector leading the way with gender equality initiatives targeting management level
In Japan, the weight of tradition slows down management innovation. Nonetheless, for the past year or two, the banking sector, one of the country’s most conservative sectors, is trying to innovate...
19 October 2015
United States: US union CWA and Germany’s Ver.di union combine forces against T-Mobile’s (Deutsche Telekom) alleged imposition of a law of silence over sexual harassment
The catalyst for this recent United States action against T-Mobile lies in a court ruling that declared illegal the requirement for employees who bring up sexual harassment cases to sign a...
19 October 2015
Italy: the chemical-pharmaceuticals national collective agreement renewed
On 15 October, employers’ bodies Federchimica and Farmindustria, together with the unions, Filctem-CGIL, Femca-Cisl, and Uiltec-Uil, renewed the national collective agreement (NCA) for the period...
16 October 2015
Our mind news
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
The three representative trade unions at Orange France have until 10 December to validate an agreement on gender equality, work–life balance and anti-discrimination measures. While the text...
8 December 2025
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
Candice Guillot, group director of employee experience and HR performance at Talan (7,000 employees), outlines for mind RH her vision and strategy for introducing artificial intelligence at the...
20 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
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
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...
15 January 2026
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...
16 January 2026