Italy: Cisl, Uil and Confindustria sign the confederal agreement enforcing the reform of the conventional system
growth, development of employment and increased productivity,” the two union confederations Cisl and Uil and the Confindustria employers’ association signed, on April 15, 2009, the...
Germany: temp’s Christian trade unions (CGZP) cannot negotiate collective agreements
n court on April 1 is going to revive the controversy on the introduction of minimum wage in the temporary sector. Indeed, competition between collective agreements signed by the CGPZ and the...
Netherlands: new union requirements on partial unemployment
Since April 1, businesses hit by the crisis can send their employees to partial unemployment, up to half their working time, for three months which can be renewed twice (see our dispatch No. ...
Lithuania: flexible Labor Code via collective bargaining
artite committee gathering the State, unions and employers looked at the Labor Code amendments proposed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, the Lithuanian Free Market Institute and the...
SNOP: establishment of a European works council
FSD, composed of SNOP SA, specialized in making metallic constituents for the car industry, and the SNOM toolmaker (nought in July 2008), has 2.403 employees in Europe. It is present in France...
Netherlands: CEOs’ pay strongly decreasing
the largest businesses listed on the stock exchange dropped by 21% in 2008, revolving around 3 million euro annually, says a study carried out by the De Volkskrant daily. This subject is closely...
Whikhahn: international framework agreement
With this agreement, the company, which only employs 600 people (400 at the headquarters in Germany), commits to respect the ILO’s international labor standards for all its employees. For the...
Great Britain: employers look for alternatives to laying managers off
How do businesses adjust to the economic crisis? According to the 2009 survey carried out by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and the CELRE (the salary survey specialist), employers tend...
Poland: conclusions of the second social summit
summit was organized on the initiative of President Lech Kaczynski. Gathering, notably, the Prime Minister, union and employers’ representatives, economists, local governments, this summit...
Brazil: President Lula da Silva asks workers to reduce their claims and help businesses
z Inacio Lula da Silva, used his past as a union leader to urge workers from his country and elsewhere to abandon improvements to their working conditions during the crisis. “This is no time...
Lithuania: union revival against the crisis
ans surveyed by the Baltic Surveys Institute said they trusted their unions (32% don’t). These results are much higher than those obtained by the government (23%) and the Parliament (15%)...
Italy: Fincantieri employees mobilized after the refusal of signatory unions do a referendum on the company agreement
Uilm Uil signed the company agreement with the management of shipbuilding company Fincantieri. The Fiom-CGIL rejected it and demanded employee consultation via a referendum. The signatories...
PPR: EWC rejects restructuring plan announced for France
f PPR met for an extraordinary session in Paris, about the restructuring which will affect people employed by Fnac and Conforama in France. Although it only affects employees in one country, the...
Spain: UGT union reelects Candido Mendez as general secretary after 40th Congress
ss on April 1-4, Candido Mendez was reelected with 93.2% of votes for (none against) and more support than four years ago – when he gathered 75.9% of the votes. This reelection confirms that...
Belgium: one year to implement a policy on drugs and alcohol on the workplace
aken in the interprofessional agreement of February 2, 2007, the social partners signed, on April 1, 2009, a collective agreement on drugs and alcohol on the workplace. The goal is to give...
Germany: law on employees’ capital interest enforced
n of employees in the equity of companies” (Mitarbeiterkapitalbeteiligungsgesetz), voted on January 22, 2009 by the MPs of the majority (see our dispatch No. 090116) entered into force on...
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...