Germany: collective bargaining fails again at Deutsche Telekom, leading to three weeks of warning strikes
“It’s not possible that, until 2012, shareholders will receive annual dividends amounting to €3.4bn while the people who create this wealth leave empty-handed” declared Harald Dressler, one of...
Italy:Uilm held first “cross-territory” national assembly
With the slogan, “What have we done and what remains to be done?”, the Uilm gathered, on February 14-15 in Rome, nearly 200 local union leaders from all Italian provinces as well as the...
Austria: great internal retraining program in Austrian railway is having a hard time taking off
Trim administration and organize transfers.  The issue of personnel costs, i.e. 43% of total exploitation costs, is one of the ÖBB’s numerous problems and forces the public company, every year, to...
16 February 2011
Belgium: mediation on 2011-2012 cross-industry agreement failed
Employers’ support.  Will the Belgian government override the rejection of the FGTB, second largest union in the country?  The day of consultation on Monday, February 14th (see our dispatch No. ...
Germany: one plant at a time, Continental Automotive negotiates “derogatory agreements” way below the sectoral collective agreement
Continental is doing better…  The official communication of Continental Automotive is trying to look on the bright side.  Since the beginning of the year, Continental has been multiplying...
United States: interview of Wilma Liebman, chairman of the National Labor Relations Board
Wilma Liebman. The National Labor Relations Board is a federal government agency created by statute, the National Labor Relations Act, which was first enacted by Congress in 1935. It was amended...
Denmark: flexicurity system weakened by recent reforms
Highly mobile employees, secured income while unemployed and the certainty of finding a new job are the key elements of the Danish flexicurity system, based on a system of regulation of the labor...
15 February 2011
Spain: first election at Seat after controversial competitiveness agreement of 2009 strengthens UGT union
On February 10th, 12,781 employees were called to elect 119 representatives from the five sites of Martorell (Zona Franca) and El Prat (Llobregat), in the outskirts of Barcelona.  UGT is more...
Belgium: mediation on the 2011-2012 cross-industry agreement
Six years ago, when the FGTB rejected the 2005-2006 draft cross-industry agreement, the government enforced it anyway.  This time around, the situation is somewhat different.  First, the socialist...
Italy: gas and water social partners sign unitary agreement for the renewal of the sector’s CCN
After two general sectoral strikes and over 13 months of “exhausting” negotiations, yesterday February 10th, Anfida, Anigas, Assogas, Federestrattiva, Confindustria-Energia, Federutility for...
Italy: independent unions proclaim general strike on March 11th
General strike.  After presenting a positive report of the national strike in local public transport of January 26th and of independent unions’ mobilization against Fiat’s Mirafiori and Pomigliano...
Netherlands: no restructuring for DHL in 2011
The agreement reached on February 9th by the DHL transport and logistics group and the trade unions marks the end of restructurings.  DHL’s 3,000 Dutch employees have job security for one year...
Austria: transferring civil servants from the post and Telekom Austria to the police is harder than expected
The idea launched in September 2009 by the Austrian government was attractive.  Rather than keeping on paying civil servants doing nothing at the post and telecoms, why not transfer them to the...
10 February 2011
Italy: method for mandatory assessment of the risk of work-related stress
The “remedial” decree of 2009 on Testo Unico 81/2008 on health and safety at work (see our dispatch No.  090786) conditioned the enforcement of employers’ mandatory assessment of risks of...
10 February 2011
Germany: GDL train drivers union’s decision to launch strikes as of February 16th revives debate on “tariff unity”
Existential conflict for the GDL.  For the GDL train drivers’ union (34,000 members), which obtained the right to sign a special collective agreement for train drivers after spectacular strikes in...
Spain: employers and unions tackle collective bargaining reform
The representatives of Workers’ Commissions (CCOO), UGT and the CEOE employers’ organization set out the dates for the meetings and determined the themes to address: the structure and articulation...
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