United States: agreement reached between Ford and the UAW
Wage freeze and no-strike provision. The management of the carmaker and the management of the United Auto Workers (UAW) have reached a new tentative agreement. Three key measures were approved: 
Belgium: new banking sectoral agreement
The La CNE, SETca, LBC and CGSLB for unions and the Fedelfin for employers signed, on October 9, the 2009-10 banking sectoral agreement. Negotiations were held in May and September as part of the...
Italy: unions and employers in the temporary work sector agree on a single sectoral collective agreement
Single CCN. On October 9, Alleanza Lavoro signed with Assolavoro (Confindustria) and the Nidil CGIL, Alai Cisl and Uil CPO unions an agreement “restoring conventional unity” in the temporary work...
Great Britain: Royal Mail employees vote yes to national strike
A strike to protest against job and service cuts. Two years after the last national postmen strike, a similar scenario is taking shape in the UK. “This is a huge vote of no confidence in Royal...
Sweden: unions want equal pay between men and women to be a priority for the coming wage negotiations
Better compliance with anti-discrimination laws. Despite an internal study showing a relative improvement in women’s situation, the federation of private employees’ unions, Unionen, thinks that...
Lithuania: government and social partners about to sign a far-flung national agreement
Drastic cost-cutting program. Initially, the text was mostly a plan to financially save the State and the social security from 2009 to 2012. it provided for layoffs and new wage cuts (8-10% in...
Portugal: first mandatory arbitration unfreezes negotiations in paper industry
Regulatory tool. The Mandatory Arbitration Court is called when all forms of negotiation failed. In this case, the decision rendered by the Arbitration Court, made up of professionals from the...
Italy: the general strike organized by the Fiom didn’t block negotiations for the renewal of metalworkers’ CCN
In a speech given during the demonstration organized in Milan on October 9, concluding the strike aimed at “defending the national collective agreement and democracy and against layoffs and...
Germany: Ver.di union threatens to strike if negotiations with the Deutsche Post fail
Bonus in exchange for working time increase. For the management, there is no alternative to reducing personnel costs to face structural problems (increase in electronic exchanges) and economic...
Spain: employers and union organizations reopen dialog to unfreeze collective bargaining
The technical negotiators of the CEOE and Cepyme employers’ confederations and of the Workers’ Commission’s and UGT union federations created a joint workgroup (two representatives per union and...
Morocco: interview of Jamal Belahrach, chairman of the Committee on Employment and Social Relations at the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises
The goal is to build dialog with unions and no longer tripartite dialog with the government, which we used to do until now. We will discuss the problems faced by businesses and the labor code in...
Italy: independent unions specify the profile of the future “Italian confederation of basic unions”
“The union we need.” This was the slogan of the national assembly convened by the main independent unions which signed the “basic pact”: RdB, SdL Intercategoriale, Snater, Cub Informazione, Flaica...
Sweden: LO confederation refuses to sign the collective agreement on temporary work if the wage clause isn’t rediscussed
A new mode of wage calculation endorsed by all. After the negotiations started on march 24, 2009, the LO union and the Almega employers’ federation – powerful member of the Svenst Naringsliv...
Netherlands: judges forbid strike in public transportation
The Court of Amsterdam blocked the public transportation strike which should have been held this morning in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. The judges judged that the negative impact of this...
Germany: the pay gap between east and west is still over 27%
Constant wage gap. Dedicated to “The Eastern Employment Market 20 Years after the fall of the Wall,” the DGB’s study shows that the living conditions of most eastern Germans definitely improved...
Denmark: the “manufacturing” department of the 3F union sets goals for the renewal of collective agreements in 2010
For a new union unity. The national assembly of the manufacturing department of the 3F union (379 representatives) was held in Esbjerg on September 26-27. Open to the radical reform of Danish...
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...