National industrial relations
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Austria: both the chemicals and hotel & catering sectors conclude unusual collective agreements
Two of Austria’s key economic sectors have just renewed their respective sector’s collective agreements. The Chemicals sector (45,000 workers) signed theirs on April 24 and the Hotel &...
12 May 2015
Italy: call centers in an unprecedented crisis situation
Not a week goes by in Italy without call center workers going out on strike or using other shock means to draw attention to and denounce a situation where thousands of redundancies are hitting...
12 May 2015
Sweden: agreement in the temporary work sector strengthens the Swedish model
On April 29 an agreement was signed between the LO confederation and the employers’ body Almega Bemmanningsföretagen (staffing agency employers federation). The one-year agreement covering some...
12 May 2015
Portugal: retail sector negotiating a new collective agreement
The country’s retail sector is renegotiating its collective agreement. The current agreement was negotiated in 2009 and implemented a year later and nothing has been changed since. The country’s...
11 May 2015
Germany: IG Metall union launches an internet platform aimed at improving working conditions for ‘crowdworkers’
The traditional union May day demonstrations, this year held under the banner “we are building tomorrow’s work today”, was the venue the German metals union IG Metall chose to launch the first of...
11 May 2015
Election results for Great Britain: a mixed bag for business and a downright disaster for unions
Tighter strike laws, a referendum on a possible Brexit, attendant halting of Europe Social Directive projects (EWC information & consultation), Tom HAYES, Executive Director of BEERG (the...
11 May 2015
Germany: talks well advanced between IG Metall and BMW over an agreement to include better working conditions in subcontractor services employment contracts
The Bavarian Federation of IG Metall has just signed a collective agreement with BLG (one of carmaker BMW’s major logistics subcontractors) over better pay and hours. It is the latest result of a...
8 May 2015
Bulgaria: Lidl implements a dual professional education program
From September, Lidl Bulgaria will offer places on a dual professional educational program. This is a pilot apprenticeship program for students in the commercial sector and forms part of a wider...
8 May 2015
Spain: CCOO and UGT sign agreement with Telefónica’s installation and maintenance companies, but minority trade unions want to keep fighting
On 5 May, the CCOO (Workers’ Commissions) and UGT (General Union of Workers) announced that they had signed an agreement with the main companies dealing with the installation and maintenance of...
6 May 2015
OHB SE: agreement over worker participation in the newly formed SE online
On March 26, 2015, OHB, the German space technology company converted its legal structure into a Societas Europaea (SE). The change is in response to the growing Europeanization of its activities...
6 May 2015
New Zealand: zero hours contracts scrapped in fast-food industry
McDonald’s, KFC. Burger King… New Zealand’s fast food giants have one by one been scrapping their zero hours employment contracts in response to a campaign by the union Unite. Controversy over...
5 May 2015
Germany: GDL the train drivers’ union has launched the longest strike in rail history in defense of its right to conclude collective agreements for its own members
In the face of widespread annoyance for both passengers and businesses alike the niche corporatist train drivers’ union, GDL, has just launched its 8th strike since the start of its long running...
4 May 2015
Italy: commercial sector unions commit to combatting discrimination against homosexuals at work
In Bolzano, Trentino-Alto Adige in northern Italy, the commercial sector unions have made an official commitment to combat discrimination against homosexuals at work. Together with an association...
4 May 2015
Spain: trade unions at Repsol introduce a coordination platform which also involves workers from around 20 other auxiliary companies working for them on petrochemical sites
The Workers’ Commissions (CCOO) in Spain have introduced a new coordination platform on all of Repsol’s petrochemical complexes, in order to join union forces and to defend both employees of the...
29 April 2015
Chile: labour law reform bill criticised by trade unions and companies
This bill, which is currently being looked at by Chilean MPs, is being attacked on all fronts. Workers have rallied to demand more substantial changes as regards collective bargaining and the...
29 April 2015
Great Britain : Sports Direct’s employment practices come under increasing media and union scrutiny
The large and high profile sports retailer, Sports Direct, has come under increasing media and union scrutiny as a result of the broadcast of a documentary on its work and employment practices...
28 April 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