Denmark: the social partners in transportation and logistics place competitiveness at the heart of their new collective agreement
“I’m really glad we reached an agreement after a few days of discussion with the obvious aim of helping Danish businesses be more competitive.”  Karsten Dybvad, leader of DI, rejoiced with the...
Romania: Jucu comes back to life after Nokia left
DeLonghi and Bosch to forget Nokia.  2012 couldn’t have gotten a better start in Jucu (central Romania).  Indeed, since the beginning of the year, two large multinationals have decided to come to...
23 February 2012
Italy: employees at Sisme, the manufacturer of motors for household appliances, commit to co-finance the investment to revive the Italian establishment
“Workers bring ideas and part of the resources” said Alberto Zappa, secretary of the Fim-Cisl in Como, when announcing the signature of the unitary agreement of February 16 by the Fim-Cisl...
Germany: are corporate unions threatening social peace?
Calling on the government.  In two inflammatory press releases, Dieter Hundt, head of the German employers’ association (BDA), said that the strikes organized since February 16 by 200 air traffic...
Denmark: young people take more sick leaves than seniors
In the private and public sectors, 20-30 year-olds take the most sick leaves.  The record is for communal employees, where 25-29 year-olds took 14.4 sick days in 2010 as opposed to 10.7 for...
22 February 2012
Nordic countries: unions and governments are thinking about the Nordic social system of the future
Stakes for the Nordic system.  Nordic system means Welfare State with a global social security system, high taxes and strong unions.  Some also add gender equality and ambitious environmental...
22 February 2012
Great Britain: recent statistics on strikes show considerable increase
Overall strike activity has sunk to an all time low of just 92 strikes in 2010 with a mere 132,000 workers involved and 365,000 days not worked. In 2009, there were 98 strikes involving 209,000...
Romania: end of the Electrolux strike
Back to work.  This morning, after 20 days of strike, Electrolux’s Satu Mare plant reopened its doors and normal activity resumed (see our dispatch No.  120099).  For 20 days, production had been...
Germany: IG-Metall accuses BMW of excessively using temporary work
77,000 employees, 11,000 agency workers.  Since January 1, 2012, temporary employees receive sectoral minimum wage (see our dispatch No.  110795).  However, for the IG-Metall, this precarious form...
20 February 2012
EU: UNI Europa and Postal Euromed sign a cooperation agreement
Revolutions.  Created in 2007, Postal Euromed, which gathers operators from 14 Mediterranean countries, is in line with the EU’s Barcelona process, notably aiming to improve economic cooperation...
20 February 2012
Great Britain: the conflict with the seven subcontracting construction firms who left the joint industry board is fading down
The conflict is the result of the attempt by a group of seven large electrical contracting employers to simultaneously cut wage rates by up to 30% and establish a new bargaining forum. The attempt...
Italy: intensifying movement against the new national banking collective agreement
Dissent over the agreement renewing the banking collective agreement signed on January 19 (see our dispatch No.  120046) is reaching “unprecedented levels” among signing unions and non-union...
Italy: Confindustria employers’ organization kicks off the procedure for the election of its future President
On Monday, February 13, the Committee of the “Three Wise Men” (Luigi Attanasio, Antonio Bulgheroni and Catervo Cangiotti) officially launched the procedure for the succession of Emma Marcegaglia...
Germany: 2.7 percent wage increase for Vattenfall’s 15,000 employees
Initially, the wage committee of the three unions (IG BCE, IG-Metall and Verdi) was asking for a 6 percent wage increase, the extension of the job security agreement until 2018, and a new...
Denmark: agreement renewing the banking collective agreement
“These discussions were unusually long and complicated (…).  The economic situation in the sector and in society brought up pressure like I’ve never seen in all my years of conventional...
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