Germany: metal partners sign “historical” collective agreement on job security with a minimum wage increase
l and Gesamtmetall (employers) in the “pilot region,” North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) announced, on Thursday, February 18 in Düsseldorf, that they reached an agreement on wages and...
Great Britain: heating and ventilation engineers to enjoy agreements signed between unions and electrical firms
the Electrical Contracting Industry, which gathers employers in the electrical sector, and Unite, the key construction union, defines standard working conditions for the trade. This structure is...
Germany: the small Confederation of Christian Unions (CGB) signs an “exemplary” collective agreement in the temporary sector
ve agreement in the temporary sector between the Confederation of Christian Unions (CGB-CGZP) and the Federation of Small Temporary Employers (AMP) is an affront for the large trade union...
Germany: IG-Metall and Volkswagen sign pact on job security through 2014 for 95,000 German employees
Job security through 2014. While the German economy is in slow motion, Volkswagen’s assembly lines are working full speed and the company is affording the luxury of granting job security to 95,000...
Austria: energy and oil social partners negotiate 1.45-1.7% wage increase
It is after their second meeting that the energy social partners concluded an agreement on the evolution of wages and bonuses in the sector. The agreement, which affects 18,000 employees, provides...
Denmark: negotiations for the renewal of the manufacturing collective agreement were temporarily paused
The objective to reach an agreement by February 12 presented by the social partners when negotiations started for the renewal of the manufacturing collective agreement (see our dispatch No...
Italy: Cisl creates new union for atypical workers
“Flexible and independent workers have to be paid and protected better than others” said Cisl general secretary Raffaele Bonnani when launching the new union, Felsa (see our dispatch No. 090989)...
Companies: unions urge HSBC and Santander to sign an international framework agreement
Community banks. Uni Finance targeted these two banks in particular because they’re leaders in financial services for individuals, or at least presented as such. HSBC, already well established on...
Sweden: Ericsson implements training on better working conditions for all its managers
Arbetsmiljöverket imposes working on the labor environment. The Working Environment Act imposes that businesses systematically work on this topic, following the Arbetsmiljöverket’s directives. The...
Spain: unions mobilized against pension reform
The leaders of Workers’ Commissions (CCOO) and of the UGT called for their first mobilization against the government since Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero came to power in 2004. For the moment, they...
Germany: Verdi and IG-Metall reject the collective agreement presented in January with the Association of Temporary Employers (BZA)
High competition between the social partners. The two big German unions, Ver.di and IG-Metall, may pay a very high price for their faux-pas in the temporary sector. This sector, which only truly...
Spain: metal sector prepares for negotiations for its first national collective agreement
According to CCOO, the metal sector most suffered from employers’ freeze on the revision of wage criteria in 2009 (see our dispatch No. 090617). The situation was even chaotic because of the...
Italy: anticrisis strategy at the center of the 3rd Congress of the Uilcem, the Uil’s chemistry-pharmacy, mining, energy and oil federation
The Unione Italiana Lavoratori della Chimica dell'Energia e del Manifatturiero (Uilcem, the Uil's chemical, pharmaceutical, mining, energy, oil, engineering, services, rubber-plastic, glass...
Spain: details of the framework agreement on collective bargaining 2010-12
Here are the guidelines of the agreement the union and employers’ organizations signed on February 9 (see our dispatch No. 100120).
Spain: employers and union organizations reach an agreement unfreezing collective bargaining for 2010-2012
1% increase in 2010. The agreement signed on February 8 by Gerardo Diaz Ferran for the CEOE employers’ organization, Ignacio Fernandez Toxo for Workers’ Commissions and Candido Mendez for UGT was...
France: summary of the social partners’ work at cross-industry level
ations are still working on the social projects started in 2009. The key fieldworks of these negotiations, which are going to last until next spring, include employment, the modernization of...
Most viewed articles of the month on mind HR
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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
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...
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...