Sweden: manufacturing unions adopt new model agreement
Key regulations of the new agreement.  The new agreement develops two aspects: 
Germany: GDL train drivers’ union signs company agreement with SBB Cargo Deutschland rail company
A company agreement more advantageous than the federal framework agreement.  According to the GDL, SBB Cargo Deutschland opened the debate by saying that the company agreement had to be based on...
EU: new team at the head of the European Trade Union Confederation
General secretary and deputy general secretaries.  Bernadette Ségol has been a part of European and international trade unionism since 1975, at first at the International Textile Federation...
Belgium: report on negotiations in the metal industry
Metal construction.  Metal construction (CP 111) is the biggest sector in the metal industry.  The equal committee (CP) notably includes aeronautics, metal construction or even the auto industry. ...
Spain: CCOO define guidelines for the future
The text presented to the union’s federal council by Ignacio Fernandez Toxo was approved by 139 votes for and 16 abstentions on May 12th.  Key points Toxo mentioned included information about the...
EU: 12th ETUC Congress matches European trade union solidarity against governments’ national withdrawal
Solidarity and future ETUC role.  As Workers’ Commissions’ Javier Doz summed up, “Europe is distressed with the rise of nationalism but it doesn’t seem to affect the union movement.”  And this was...
Great Britain: end of the dispute between British Airways and the Unite union
The dispute began in 2009 over the imposition of cuts to cabin crew staffing levels. The union opposed both the cuts and their unilateral imposition. Despite the initial gaining of an injunction...
Sodexo: mass catering company and SEIU union settle accounts through legal action
SEIU action.  The case brought to the NLRB concerns events that took place in February and May 2010 in the kitchens of the Tulane and Loyola universities, when SEIU representatives were trying to...
Spain: wage cuts and mobility, first pitfalls in the negotiations for the new collective agreement in the savings bank industry
With the current inflation forecasts, employers’ offer would mean a 1% pay cut as of 2011, which would have repercussions on the following years.  Union representatives said this offer was...
Italy: Inail’s occupational medicine department publishes “White Paper on exposure to nanomaterials and their impact on workers’ health and safety”
In Italy, nearly 200 structures (57% public and 43% private) are engaged in R&D for nanotechnologies.  In 2008, around 670,000 people were said to be working in microelectronics, chemistry...
United States: rebirth for the National Labor Relations Board
The amendment passed in Arizona recognizes only secret ballot elections as the means for representation elections and prohibits a process known as “card check” with which a majority of employees...
EU: ETUC 12th Congress to open in Athens on may 16th
Representatives from 82 organizations and 12 sectoral federations from 36 European countries, representing about 60 million members, are expected on May 16th in Athens, a few days after the 10th...
Italy: Cisl and Uil union confederations get closer
The Cisl and Uil’s confederal secretariats met on May 5th for “joint confrontation on the most important themes of the labor world, with an economic situation characterized by recovery that goes...
Great Britain: latest statistics on union membership show that the fall continues
Union density - the relative measure of the percentage of all workers who are members of a union - fell by 0.8% from 27.4% in 2009 to 26.6% in 2010. Union membership in absolute terms fell by...
France Telecom: first meeting for the global works council
Introduced via an agreement signed on June 23, 2010 by the telecom, the six French unions present in the company, the global union alliance UNI France Telecom, gathering unions recognized by the...
International: towards the creation of a global manufacturing union federation
Statuses.  The task for created last year in preparation for the creation of a global manufacturing union met in Frankfurt on May 5th.  Its 37 members, representing the three union organizations...
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