Germany: Commerzbank adopts new pay system oriented towards long-term success
New bonus-malus system. Saved from bankruptcy in 2008 when the State gave €18.2 billion, the Commerzbank is the second bank in German after HVB to deeply reform its bonus system. This reform was a...
Denmark: equal pay is the priority of HK’s 30th union congress
Members in the foreground. HK’s 30th extraordinary Congress, in Copenhagen on November 7-10, reelected the current chair, Kim Simonsen, in office since January 2008 (see our dispatch No. 080033)...
Austria: metalworkers’ union imposes claims for the new sectoral collective agreement
Strong union will. The Austrian metalworkers’ union is gloating while Austrian employers are having a hard time “buying the agreement.” On Monday, at 6:00 pm, the sector’s social partners...
Spain and Portugal: outcome of the annual meeting of the four Iberian unions
Iberian union summit. The annual meeting of the four Iberian union confederations, the CGTP (General Confederation of Portuguese Workers), CCOO (Workers’ Commissions), its Spanish counterpart, and...
Spain: CCOO and UGT criticize businesses’ application of the new collective agreement in mass distribution
The trade federations of the two big unions, UGT and CCOO (Workers’ Commissions) object to the new flexible way of dividing working hours and the “wicked” implementation of the new collective...
Italy: CGIL calls on Cisl and Uil to follow for a general strike
The CGIL says that over 100,000 people took part in the national demonstration in Rome on November 14 – with the tagline “Work and the Crisis: we demand answers” – to ask the government to adopt...
Germany: 2010 collective bargaining schedule
The schedule attached lists negotiations expected in 2010 and 2011 but we are only mentioning next year’s dates below.
Spain: unions come back to the negotiating table after employers promised to unfreeze sectoral agreements
Since negotiations were broken in July, the UGT and CCOO unions have been demanding, before they can return to the negotiating table, that employers unfreeze the 1,500 collective agreements it has...
Company: EPSU European trade union adopts internal procedure for the negotiation of transnational agreements
The EPSU already signed European agreements but, until now, it managed negotiations on a case-by-case basis. But since this type of negotiation is increasing, the organization’s executive...
Brazil: sixth national employee walk focused on working time cuts
The demonstration on Wednesday, November 11 was the biggest of the six now traditional Working Class Walks (“Marcha de la Clase Trabalhadora”) organized since 2004. This year, the annual...
Italy: two programs may be subject to a vote during the next CGIL Congress
CGIL divided in two. The obvious political disagreements of the organization conference of May 2008 (see our dispatch No. 080456) have spread within the largest union confederation in Italy. Thus...
Sweden: unions present claims for 2010 bargaining
Demanding union requests to boost the economic recovery. The LO (blue collars), TCO (executives and white collars), IF Metall (metalworking), Pappers (paper industry), Livsmedelsarbetarförbundet...
Germany: new minimum agreement in industrial cleaning waiting for employers’ decision
It’s the first time a sectoral minimum wage agreement is subject to the new procedures implemented by the liberal conservative government coalition. The latter gave employers’ representatives a...
Spain: social partners in favor of the introduction of short-time working based on the German system
The idea of replacing layoffs by working time cuts with wage compensation from the State was Ignacio Fernandez Toxo’s, leader of the Workers Commissions (CCOO). “Employees in ailing businesses...
Netherlands: new light metal collective agreement postpones wage increases to 2011
Increases postponed to 2011. The General Employers’ Association (Algemene Werkgevers Vereneging – AWVN), affiliated with the Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (VNO-NCW), the...
Gras Savoye: agreement establishing the EWC
Scope and significant change of the legal structure. The new EWC affects all EU countries where the group has at least one subsidiary “whose accounts and annual totals are included in mandatory...
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...