Denmark: traditional unions keep going historically down
In spite of a slight decrease in the number of workers because of the crisis, the unionization rate has gone from 66.9 up to 67.3 percent, with 8,000 new members between 2011 and 2012, due to the...
Areva: golden rules for the implementation of the European agreement on competences forecast
During a meeting organized on May 29-30 within the framework of the development of the European agreement on competences forecast signed in 2011, 50 representatives from personnel, management and...
Norway: new agreement in logistics and freight provides for new night work organization
The agreement signed on May 13 has removed the strike threat in cargo and freight transport, particularly in the Schenker Norway, Tollpost Glob and DHL international firms. In the end, the...
Germany: 4.3 percent wage increase at Volkswagen
It comes as no surprise that Volkswagen’s social partners aligned themselves – with a few differences – with the agreement signed in the metal industry on May 19 (see our dispatch No.  120326). ...
Spain: call for indefinite strike in coal industry
The miners’ movement is growing.  Mobilization in the mining industry started a few weeks ago with punctual days of strike.  As interlocutors failed to respond, unions decided to increase the...
Germany: nearly one in two employees gets holiday bonus
A recent survey by the WSI Institute of Economic and Social Research of the Hans-Böckler Foundation found that 46 percent of German employees get a holiday bonus (Urlaubsgeld). This bonus...
Luxembourg: insurance social partners sign new collective agreement
Mobilization.  While the insurance sector is doing well in the Netherlands, employees and unions don’t understand why the Association of Insurance Firms (ACA) is calling for a 50 percent cut to...
Great Britain: PCS and Unite services unions are getting closer while RMT and TSSA transport unions are having a hard time taking it to the next level
Industrially, there is logic to the two unions working together where they both have members employed by the same organisations. However, this degree of overlap is relatively small, given that the...
Italy: Filctem-CGIL, Femca-Cisl, and Uilcem-Uil unions commit to present unitary platforms for the renewal of their sectoral collective agreements
Opening the season of the renewal of agreements in chemistry-pharmacy, rubber, plastic, energy and oil, and gas and water, affecting approximately 450,000 workers, the managements of the...
Germany: chemistry collective negotiations lead to a 4.5 percent wage increase and a “demographic corridor”
This year, in the race for wage increases, the chemical industry hasn’t done better than the metal industry which, a few days ago, secured a 4.3 percent increase over 13 months (see our dispatch...
Denmark: government kicks off tripartite negotiations on social reforms
Increase working time to add 20,000 jobs to the labor market in 2020, thus enriching the State by DKK 4 billion (€ 538,268,228) a year – that’s the government’s key objective for the tripartite...
Temporary work: study by the Prisme French employers’ organization, “crossed perspective in France and Europe in 2012” on representation and opinions on temporary work in four European countries
Temporary work more skilled in France.  Aged 24 in average, French temporary workers mostly start temporary work after being unemployed (54 percent).  A major change, more students and graduates...
Ferrovial: international framework agreement signed with the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI)
This agreement contains the commitment to comply with union freedom and the right to collective bargaining, with a commitment beyond neutrality since it reads that the company will “adopt a...
Italy: 20th Istat survey reports on ‘rough patch’ for Italian economy
Istat CEO Enrico Giovanni presented the latest annual report on May 22, explaining this ‘rough patch’ for the country’s economy.  Unlike last year (see our dispatch No.  110379), he says that...
Spain: last-ditch stand for unions against the labor market reform
Spend one night and one day protesting against a useless, unfair and detrimental reform.  It is a way of reminding that unions won’t give in and will keep fighting “night and day” against a...
Belgium: liberals pass 10 percent mark in social election
Victory.  The increase in the number of candidates suggested that the CGLSB’s liberals were going to do well (see our dispatch No.  120303).  And they did, passing the symbolic 10 percent mark...
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...
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