Italy: home stretch before the creation of a big chemistry, energy and textile federation within the CGIL
Planned merger. Ratified at the last CGIL congress in 2006, the merger of the Filcem (chemistry) and Filtea (textile) was slowed down by efforts against the crisis and the separate agreement on...
Germany: open strike in industrial cleaning
For a global 8.7% wage increase. An IG BAU spokesman told Planet Labor that the strike won’t take place at the same time or in all businesses, it will be “flexible and unpredictable.” It will...
Ireland: unions maintain pressure to enforce the wage agreement
Wage cut. Today, Tuesday, October 20, 2009, the Irish government will meet with the social partners for an informal meeting. The revival of negotiations on the national social pact for 2016...
Spain: the works council of Opel’s Figueruelas site rejects Magna’s plan and calls for a strike
The El Periodico daily in Aragon pointed out that 25,000 direct or indirect jobs depend on Opel Spain and launched a campaign entitled “For employment at Opel.” It says that the Spanish site...
Spain: metalworkers call for a strike on October 28
Sectoral consequence of the national fracture in social dialog. This call is the implementation of the strategy unions designed last summer after social dialog attempts failed and after they...
Italy: separate agreement for the renewal of the metalworking collective agreement
“One of the smoothest agreements in history.” This is how Roberto Santarelli, Federmeccanica’s chair, qualified the separate agreement for the renewal of the metalworking CCN, signed on October 15...
Great Britain: two-day national strike in postal sector
Mail will be totally blocked for several days. The CWU said that it made an offer to Royal Mail’s management, which the latter rejected without even looking into it. The company said the strike...
Portugal: two large employers’ associations merge to be more representative
Already contemplated in the past but never carried out, the merger between the AEP and AIP answers the need for organizational modernization and the “current national and international economic...
GDF Suez: EWC members elect a Belgian member as their secretary
On October 13, during the first meeting of GDF Suez’s EWC, recently created (see our dispatch No. 090489), the structure’s staff representatives elected a Belgian representative as secretary. His...
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...
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