Germany: IG-Metall wants to bargain for collective agreements two months early
“The current state of talks (editor’s note: with employers) is advanced enough so we can quickly start early collective bargaining with employers” said Jorg Hoffmann, leader of the IG-Metall in...
Spain: government presents draft labor market reform
After the controversy sparked off by the reform of the pension scheme and the government’s comings and goings around the issue of the possible extension of the duration of contributions (see our...
Sweden: Sandvik’s new company agreement provides for 500 leaves, including about 100 for demotivated or low-skilled workers
egotiated in June 2009 is nearing its end, Sandvik, world equipment leader, negotiated with unions indirect means to have 500 collaborators leave. One of the planned measures is to encourage...
Italy: Intesa Sanpaolo signs group agreement on employment with exceptions to the CCN’s minimum rules
lo signed an agreement with banking unions on an employment program for the group. The Fisac-CGIL refused to sign the text which provides that, for four years, new employees’ wages will be...
Germany: Verdi union demands better working conditions for banking employees during next round of collective bargaining
Tremendous mental pressure, Ver.di says. Convinced that the financial crisis was partly caused by worsening working conditions in banks (high pressure, race for marketing goals, stress, leaves...
Slovenia: bill on minimum wage to take better account of increasing cost of living
The few weeks that preceded the adoption of the bill on January 21 and its transmission to the MPs on January 28 were characterized by a lot of controversy between the social partners and the...
Luxembourg: social partners renew transport collective agreement
The agreement applies to all professional firms of merchandise transport by road, moving, courier, express mail and logistics. Thus, it covers around 10,000 employees. Open one year ago, the...
International Paper: agreement establishing the EWC
This agreement, subject to British law, established a European Works Council where “central management will provide transnational information relating to its operations in the European Union (EU)...
Belgium: agreement on working and wage conditions for workers that aren’t covered by a joint committee
Residual committee. In Belgium, employers and union organizations negotiate working and pay conditions within the framework of sectoral joint committees. Yet, CP 100, created in 1074, is a...
Netherlands: new collective agreement in metalworking and electrotechnical engineering
n the heavy industry in the Netherlands will keep enjoying early retirement at 62 thanks to the new collective agreement signed on January 25 by the FME employers’ organization and the FNV...
Belgium: workers march and question businesses’ notional interests
Tense social context. These past few weeks, announcements of mass layoffs poured in Belgium. Opel Antwerp is going to close, putting 2,600 jobs at risk. In Jupille, next to Liege, AB InBev unions...
Germany: Federal Labor Court condemns booming low wages and thinks about removing “tariff unity” in businesses
The annual press conference of the Federal Labor Court was tainted with the economic crisis. Statistics and data Mrs. Schmidt presented on January 27 confirmed that.
Italy: CGIL declares general strike for March 12
“The need to face the economic crisis and its impact on employment, the urgency to act at once to bring balance to the tax burden in favor of salaried workers and pensioners and amend the...
Germany: Federal Administrative Court cancels minimum wage in postal sector
al Administrative Court ruled, on January 28 in Leipzig, that the procedure which led the German government, in 2007, to extend to the entire postal sector the minimum wage negotiated between the...
Germany: 200,000 agency workers get a 5% wage increase
An agreement which took time. The agreement signed affects about one in three temporary employees. It will enter into force on May 1, 2010 and expire on April 30, 2012. It provides for a first...
Slovakia: Parliament passed an act on extension of collective agreements
This reform will be a crucial change for many employers, because as of now the employers can get covered by the higher level collective agreement without any previous participation in the...
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
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...