Spain: massive turnout for the civil servants’ protest against austerity
United unions.  Turnout for the demonstrations called by the trade unions was massive across the country’s cities.  Six unions who’d never marched side to side before (UGT, Workers’ Commissions...
Italy: Automobili Lamborghini SpA and Fiom-CGIL sign company agreement improving employee participation
“We’re increasingly projecting towards our strategic goal: being the most appealing employer in the industry.”  This is how Umberto Tossi, HR manager of Automobili Lamborghini SpA, presented the...
Italy: Alenia Aermacchi (Finmeccanica) and unions sign agreement increase flexibility and result bonus
Result bonus.  Massimo Masat, Fiom national coordinator for Alenia Aermacchi, pointed out that the parameters “were changed to become truly available.”  Giovani Contento, Uilm national secretary...
Lithuania: new Lithuanian Federation of Manufacturing Unions
Long negotiations for this merger.  During the negotiations before the official decision, the leaders of the Lithuanian Chemical Industrial Workers Trade Union Federation (Lietuvos chemijos...
G4S : EWC agreement revised
Transnationality. The revised Agreement contains new definitions of information/consultation which reflect some of the recent changes in the European legislation and confirms the nature of the...
Spain: public employees down in the street against new austerity measures
Spontaneous gatherings.  These spontaneous gatherings, rather unusual in Spain, started on Friday, July 13, as soon as the reform passed.  At the same time, a group of employees working at Moncloa...
Estonia: collective agreements have a hard time proving they are efficient
After two studies written in 2010 and X-raying the country's social relations, the Estonian Minister of Social Affairs presented, on June 11, 2012, a new, shorter study entitled "The Role of...
Italy: Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) and rail CCN renewed
The final signature should be by July 20 in order to get a following from the association of rail subcontractors, Fise-Uniferr, from Legacoop-Servizi and from Confcooperative-Federlavoro.  Unions...
Germany: Deutsche Bahn and Federal Employment Agency sign national recruitment agreement
The DB’s personnel management is currently facing two challenges: demographic ageing (many people retiring) and the company’s international growth.  At the end of 2011, DB CEO Rüdiger Grube...
Spain: unions call for demonstration against new austerity package
New austerity package.  The managing committees of the two union federations met on the 11th to analyze the new adaptation program the government presented in Parliament that same morning.  The...
Great Britain: Frances O’Grady, expert in union campaigning, will become the new general secretary of the Trades Union Congress in January 2013
Before joining the TUC in 1994, O’Grady worked for the TGWU union (now part of Unite) from 1989 where she worked on successful campaigns to stop the abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board and...
Austria: 3.45 percent average wage increase in tourism and the hotel business
3.45 percent average increase.  It took the social partners in the Austrian tourism industry, which employs 200,000 people, five meetings before they could agree on a pay agreement on Tuesday...
France: busy social program for the new government
Form and content.  Regarding form, the social conference which took place in Paris on July 9-10 at the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (Conseil économique, social et environnemental...
BNP Paribas: new European agreement on employment management
This agreement “sets out the rules and processes to be observed by BNP Paribas Group companies in Europe with regard to:
Netherlands: government key in prompting BMW to takeover the Nedcar auto plant
The withdrawal of the Japanese carmaker, Mitsubishi, planned for the end of 2012, gave way to a rather special agreement: the 1,500 staff of the Nedcar plant will receive 100 percent of their...
Germany: dual higher education is booming
20 percent increase.  How to face the shortage in skilled workers?  In Germany, trying to answer this question has become an obsession for HR departments.  In a highly competitive environment...
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