Great-Britain : for the first time in a decade, unions grew according to the annual statistical report by the government department, Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)
Membership for 2012 was 59,000 higher at 6.455 million workers compared to 2011. However, it is still considerably below the level of 2007 before the Global Financial Crisis when the figure stood...
Italy: the Fim (metalworkers’) congress approves the merger with Femca (chemistry, energy) to constitute a single Cisl trade union federation for industry
The 18th national congress of Fim, the metalworkers' trade union federation of Cisl, which took place in Lecce, 22-24 May with some 500 delegates in attendance, approved the merger with Femca, the...
Italy: insurance social partners sign agreement arranging the sector’s solidarity fund
On May 20, the national association of insurance firms (Ania) and the national association of assistance companies (Aisa) for employers and the Fiba-Cisl, Fisac-CGIL, F.N.A., SNFIA and Uilca-Uil...
Germany: Volkswagen workers get a 5.6% wage increase and improved company pension
13 days after a pilot collective agreement was signed in the Bavarian metal industry, the IG-Metall union and Volkswagen’s management signed, on the night of May 27 in Hanover, a new “company...
Great Britain: Unite strive to regain influence over the Labour party
Members of the Unite union (1.4m members) voted by 87% on a 19% turnout to renew the union’s political fund. By law, a ballot must be held every ten years to decide upon whether a union can...
Hannover Re: agreement on employee involvement in the European Company
On May 3, 2012, the general assembly of Hannover Re (Hannover Rückversicherung), the German reinsurance company, one of the major reinsurance companies in the world, agreed to adopt the legal...
Greece: from January 1, 2017, minimum wage will be based on inflation and unemployment
The Council of Ministers is about to present a new system for calculating minimum wage which will apply in 2017 on.  It will no longer be determined by the social partners but annually by a bill...
Italy: towards a merger between the Cisl’s transportation, energy and communication unions into a single “network federation”
The recent conferences of the Fit (transport), Fistel (entertainment, information and communication) and Flaei (electricity) unions unanimously approved the prospect of their future merger into a...
United States: with First Energy, the AFL-CIO tests its ability to involve other shareholders in its fight against unfair compensation for CEOs
The AFL-CIO, which federates 57 American unions, is getting more and more weight as an investor in large American companies.  Thus, on May 21, AFL-CIO activists went to the annual meeting of First...
Great Britain: PCS public services union keeps mobilizing against austerity while laying down the groundwork for a merger with Unite
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union has decided at is annual conference to continue its fight against the austerity policy, which is particularly hard on its members.  The meeting took...
Lafarge: new global framework agreement on CSR and international industrial relations
On May 21, Lafarge Group, the international manufacturing union, IndustriAll, and the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) signed, in presence of the ILO Director General Guy Ryder...
Italy: at its 8th Congress, the Cisl’s banking and insurance federation (Fiba) focused on participation and supervising top management’s pay
The 500 Fiba representatives gathered in Carovigno (Brindisi) on May 13-16 for the 8th Congress of the Cisl’s Credit and Insurance Federation, appointed a new general secretary, Giulio Romani. ...
Germany: 3% wage increase for Postbank employees
After tense negotiations, the Verdi services union and Postbank, a Deutsche Bank subsidiary, announced that they signed a pay deal, on the night of May 15, in Hanover. From July 1, 2013, the...
Italy: “gender bargaining” guidelines defined by female representatives at Filctem, the CGIL’s energy and chemistry federation
On May 7, the national representatives meeting of the Filctem-CGIL (oil, chemistry, pharmacy, rubber, plastic and gas-water union) focused on ways to promote “gender bargaining,” considered as the...
Sweden: 2013 agreement for the construction of roads and railways banks on working environment
The SEKO service and communication union and Sveriges Byggindustrier construction employers’ organization signed a new agreement on April 12 for the construction of roads and railways.  The wage...
Great Britain: pay freezes are down but that doesn’t mean that real wages are up
Data from the independent pay monitoring body, Incomes Data Services (IDS), shows that pay freezes are now in decline. Figures for the first quarter of 2013 reveal that pay deals where no salary...
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
Germany: standoff over national plan to boost collective bargaining
Under the EU Adequate Minimum Wages Directive, Germany is required to produce an action plan to boost collective bargaining coverage. That plan has stalled, however, after being blocked by the...
9 February 2026
5
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...
6
ENI incorporates just transition and AI into global agreement
On 13 January, Italian energy group ENI renewed its global agreement on international industrial relations, corporate social responsibility and the just transition with Italian unions CGIL, CISL...
5 February 2026