National industrial relations
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Portugal: substantial increase to minimum wage
The minimum wage in Portugal (SMN) will go up from 505 to 530 euros gross per month, in January 2016. The decision was made by the socialist government, despite there being no agreement between...
22 December 2015
Great Britain: Sports Direct, when poor practices ruin a reputation
Sports Direct are still making the headlines. Following a new investigation, the daily newspaper The Guardian has accused the company of paying its temporary workers less than the minimum wage...
22 December 2015
Germany: collective agreement signed at Primark and new strikes at Amazon
For the Verdi trade union, 2015 draws to a close with mixed results. On 17 December in Essen, after a month of negotiations, the German trade union active in the service sector managed to sign a...
22 December 2015
Romania: minimum wage will not be increased, despite promises of previous government
Approved by the Romanian Parliament last week, the 2016 budget plans to freeze the gross minimum wage, currently 235 euros. An increase of 34 euros had been promised, however, by the previous...
21 December 2015
Italy: a second day of mobilization is set for tomorrow (19 December) as the retail sector pushes to unlock negotiations for a national collective agreement
The strike on 07 November by the retail unions was not enough to unblock currently quagmired negotiations with the sector’s employers’ bodies. So a second round is in store with a national...
18 December 2015
Netherlands: preliminary assessments over collective bargaining outcomes for 2015
In the spring of 2015 observers noted serious delays in the conclusion of collective agreements. Recent evidence has changed the picture somewhat. Negotiations in certain sectors such as the large...
18 December 2015
Germany: the Hans Böckler union foundation assess 2015’s crop of collective agreements
According to the Hans Böckler Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI) the first conclusions to be drawn from the collective agreements struck in 2015 is that on the whole they were more or...
17 December 2015
Italy: Micron Semiconductor Italia renews its company agreement with special focus on flexibility and welfare
Micron’s company agreement signed on 14 December was approved by 83% of the company’s workers polled on 11 December. The agreement experiments with more flexible working hours and an increase in...
17 December 2015
Great Britain: Veolia signs an agreement with Prospect giving it exclusive union recognition at the company’s nine energy production units
The Prospect professional union has announced that it is set to become the most significant union in the burgeoning energy-from-waste sector following the signing of an exclusive recognition...
16 December 2015
Germany: the Verdi union renews warning strikes at the Real supermarket chain in a bid to convince management to reapply the sector’s collective agreements
In the run-up to the holiday period, services union Verdi has again called on its members at the German supermarket chain Real SB-Warenhaus GmbH (Real), which is owned by the Metro group, to stop...
16 December 2015
Sweden: Spotify and the TCO union promote the Swedish model
After “eat like a Swede” here comes “work like a Swede”. The Swedish music streaming group Spotify is spreading the country’s gender equality model by implementing a global parental leave policy...
15 December 2015
United States : Uber’s drivers in Seattle may now join a Union
The City Council of Seattle decided, last Monday, unanimously that Uber’s drivers may form a Union to negotiate their wages and work conditions.
15 December 2015
Great Britain: agreement on pensions at the British subsidiary of EDF
Members of the GMB union and Unison approved an agreement secured by their representatives over pensions at EDF’s British subsidiary. A rarity in the agreement, according to the unions, is the...
15 December 2015
Italy: the rubber and plastics sectors renew the national collective agreement
On 10 December the social partners in the rubber and plastics sectors concluded an agreement to renew the national collective agreement for the period from 01 January 2016 until 31 December 2018...
15 December 2015
Germany: the Federation of Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) launches a nationwide action program facilitating refugees’ inclusion into the labor market
While the number of officially recorded asylum seekers topped the one million mark at the start of December, debate continues unabated in Germany over refugees’ job prospects as well as over the...
14 December 2015
Italy: sharp rise in indefinite employment contracts in the agency work sector
The Assolavoro Observatory, the employers’ association in the agency sector, published data on contracts concluded in the sector for September 2015. The main news is that the number of indefinite...
14 December 2015
Our mind news
France: La Poste to launch negotiations for an AI agreement
Following the lead of firms such as Axa, Syensqo globally, and more recently CDC Habitat, La Poste group management will open negotiations on an AI regulation agreement during the first half of...
5 March 2026
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
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: Bayer puts female health and inclusive parenthood at the centre of its equality policy
In a new agreement on gender equality highlighted by mind RH, Bayer commits to strengthening its parenthood policy. Furthermore, the company is anticipating pay transparency and introducing...
25 September 2026
2
Germany: Volkswagen cancels almost all collective bargaining agreements signed with IG Metall
The Volkswagen brand announced on 30 September that it is terminating 10 of its 13 internal collective bargaining agreements, effective 31 December 2026. The announcement, which the carmaker...
1 October 2026
3
France: final document on the work of the Labour, Employment and Pensions Conference
After six months of discussions between French social partners, the guarantors of the Labour, Employment and Pensions Conference submitted the conclusions of the discussions to the Prime Minister...
17 September 2026
4
Germany: Employers’ representatives seek to limit the rights of works councils
The Employers' Federation of German Employers' Associations (Bundesvereinigung der Deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände - BDA) published a report at the end of September in which it proposes a...
8 October 2026
5
Germany: working time dispute between Mercedes and the IG Metall Union
The news. At the beginning of September, Mercedes-Benz asked employee representatives and the IG Metall union to agree to an increase in the weekly working time from 35 to 40 hours, without any...
16 September 2026
6
Germany: major day of union action in the automotive industry ahead of collective bargaining
A few weeks before the start of collective bargaining in the German metalworking sector, the IG Metall trade union mobilised nearly 175,000 workers across more than 200 industrial sites on 21...
22 September 2026