Spain: CEOE employers’ organization wants to reconsider wage increases set with unions for 2012
rganizations have started bargaining for the wage moderation agreement for the 2013-2014 period, the CEOE announced that it was questioning the current agreement, in force until 2012. Thus, it is...
Romania: unions and employers ask the government to revive social dialogue
s asked the Emil Boc administration, on Tuesday, to revive social dialogue, which they feel is broken after recent legislative developments and the delay in implementing some reforms passed before...
Great Britain: Labour Party leader Ed Miliband tries to reduce unions’ influence
The irony of this is that although the unions bankroll Labour and secured Miliband’s election last year (see our dispatch No.  100587), they have very little influence on decision-making and...
Sodexo: Interview of Hugh Owens, director of reward, pensions and employee relations at Sodexo UK
rd, pensions and employee relations at Sodexo UK, is telling Planet Labor how unions and Sodexo’s management have been working together for years. He is also talking about the content of the...
27 September 2011
Italy: Fiom-CGIL announces claim platform for the renewal of the metal collective agreement
embly approved, last week, its claim platform for the renewal of the 2008 national collective agreement in the metal industry. The metalworkers’ federation notably proposes reviewing the...
Poland: social partners determine working program for the coming months
artners determined, during the meeting of the tripartite committee (unions-employers-government) on September 12-13, their working program: maximum duration of fixed-term contracts, determining...
Italy: report on Italian-style joint representation
While the birth of joint organizations dates back to the first mutual rescue funds (“casse di mutuo soccorso”) in the 19th century, it is in construction and graphics that the first true joint...
Germany: gross earnings up by 4.2% in the second 2011 quarter
The vigorous growth in Germany since the beginning of the year is showing on the increase in gross incomes which, in the second 2011 quarter, went up by 4.2% in average compared with the same...
Australia: ACTU union presents biggest survey ever made on the Australian working environment
The Australian Central Trade Union (ACTU) released, on September 7th, the biggest survey ever made on the working environment. This survey, called "Voices from Working Australia" and based on the...
22 September 2011
Spain: Manpower allowed to work as a placement agency for jobseekers
The Ministry of Labor allowed Manpower to extend its competences into a placement agency. Manpower is the first private group to leave the interim sphere and take part in the placement of...
22 September 2011
Italy: CGIL, Cisl and Uil unions sign agreement reached with Confindustria on representativeness and company agreements
“We confirmed that negotiation is the province of the parties’ autonomy, not of the government.” CGIL leader Susanna Camusso summed up the outcome of yesterday morning’s meeting at the...
Lithuania: controversy over the right to strike
ike at the biggest beer manufacturer in Lithuania, “Švyturys-Utenos Alus,” revived the debate on the right to strike, very strictly supervised in the country. (Ref. 110561)...
Netherlands: employers reject “systematic” wage increases in collective agreements
.5% wage increase in 2012 and employers say it is too much. They are criticizing this trend of “systematic” increases. (Ref. 110562) One of the biggest members of the Confederation of...
Great Britain: Fujitsu staff repeatedly on strike
technology (IT) services company, Fujitsu, has experienced two recent industrial disputes. While the second conflict continues, with Unite blaming the company for failure to comply with collective...
EU: home stretch for the creation of European and international manufacturing federations
ake place on May 16, 2012 for the European federation and on June 19-20 for the international organization. (Ref. 110559) Regional structure. The merger of European manufacturing union federations...
20 September 2011
Germany: reelected as Verdi’s leader, Frank Bsirske demands the introduction of statutory minimum wage of EUR 8.5 an hour
More women on the steering committee.  Verdi, which has set equal opportunities as one of its priorities, has shown the way during its Congress.  Of the 14 people appointed to the union’s...
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
France: social partner talks extend far beyond contractual terminations
After a false start on 3 December, French social partners resumed talks on 7 January 2026 on potential changes to the unemployment insurance agreement, including the rules governing compensation...
12 January 2026