National industrial relations
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Portugal: merchandise carriers strike against fuel prices
Trial of strength. The emergency meeting between the government and carriers which followed the announcement of the blockade didn’t lead to an agreement, since the most important claim on...
14 March 2011
Alstom: interview of Patrick Dubert and Noël Huret, respectively HR manager and IR manager of the Group, on the European agreement on the anticipation of change
Patrick Dubert. We feel there are three sides to this agreement. First, the organization of dialogue on evolutions, preparing the future both at European and at national/local level. Secondly...
10 March 2011
Italy: social partners set guidelines for territorial agreements for the tax exemption of productivity wages
The Confindustria confederation for employers and the CGIL, Cisl and Uil for unions signed, on March 8th, a unitary agreement on the guidelines for local agreements granting businesses tax...
10 March 2011
Luxembourg: renewal of banking collective agreement
Disagreements. Debated since the end of October 2010, the collective agreement applying to Luxembourg’s banks is about to be concluded. The social partners – ABBL for employers and LCGB, ALEBA...
9 March 2011
France: “the debate on the competitiveness differential between France and Germany is simplistic and does not take account of non-price factors” (Eric Heyer)
Eric Heyer. The competitiveness of an economy can be assessed based on factor which I would divide between price factors and non-price factors. The latter are crucial and numerous. There’s the...
8 March 2011
Germany: first pay bargaining round in construction failed
5.9% wage increase. Unsurprisingly, the IG BAU union and the two key employers’ organizations in the sector, the Central Union of Construction Firms (ZDB) and the Construction Employers’...
7 March 2011
Germany: train drivers overwhelmingly vote for unlimited strike
“A clear sign.” As in 2007-2008, the German rail sector could shortly (no date has been given yet) be paralyzed by a major conflict. Over 92% of the GDL’s members within DB and 96% within the...
7 March 2011
Great Britain: report gibes at vocational education and calls for a recast
Criticism. This independent report on vocational training, commissioned by the Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove, was carried out by Alison Wolf, professor of Public Sector Management...
7 March 2011
EU: UNI Europa wants to boost EWCs in the trade industry
Fabrice Warneck. Research shows that, in commerce as well as in other sectors, there isn’t really a problem with information, more with consultation. Two out of three times, if there is...
7 March 2011
Spain: union report on gender equality plans
Almudena Fontecha. The introduction of equality plans is gradual. All businesses with250+ employees have complied with the law and opened talks to prepare their plan. The last large businesses...
7 March 2011
Brazil: Central Workers’ Union demands removal of mandatory union tax
The Central Workers’ Union (Central Unica dos Trabalhadores, CUT) has chosen March 1st to announce the enhancement of its campaign for the removal of the union tax, started three years ago. ...
7 March 2011
Belgium: successful mobilization against cross-industry agreement
Success. On Friday, March 4th, many sectors in manufacturing, banking, transportation, chain stores and town services were stopped in Belgium. The FGTB’s socialists and the CGLSB’s liberals...
7 March 2011
Sweden: first agreement on the posting of foreign workers signed in manufacturing
Last spring, the Swedish Parliament amended the Posting Act to make it comply with the Laval decree of 2007. The latter stated that unions had to sign a “posting agreement” (utstationeringsavtal)...
7 March 2011
Germany: IAB institute says labor market is increasingly segmented
Boom in precarious employment. Born from the necessary flexibilization of the employment market or dangerous precariousness for others, the labor market changes since the fall of the Berlin wall...
7 March 2011
Italy: social partners sign joint opinion on work-life balance
New flexibility. The draft the Minister of Labor presented last week (see our dispatch No. 100145) was slightly amended. The signatories agree on “the value of organizational flexibility for...
4 March 2011
Italy: CGIL calls for general strike on May 6th
“We’re already starting with a series of initiatives, and it will be a large mobilization across the country.” This is how Susanna Camusso, CGIL general secretary, announced, yesterday March 3rd...
4 March 2011
Our mind news
Crédit Agricole is to adopt stricter rules on remote work from mid-March onwards. The rules will be tightened for employees, but the maximum number of days working remotely will remain unchanged.
29 January 2026
The three representative trade unions at Orange France have until 10 December to validate an agreement on gender equality, work–life balance and anti-discrimination measures. While the text...
8 December 2025
In 2025, for the first time, the universal registration documents of major European companies contain the sustainability reporting required by the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive...
31 October 2025
Candice Guillot, group director of employee experience and HR performance at Talan (7,000 employees), outlines for mind RH her vision and strategy for introducing artificial intelligence at the...
20 October 2025
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...
21 January 2026
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
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...
15 January 2026
5
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
6
EU: banking sector social partners commit to combating violence and harassment
On 15 January, the trade union federation UNI Europa Finance and three employers’ associations in the banking sector signed a joint statement on preventing violence and harassment in the...
16 January 2026