Belgium: social partners in favour of creating a leave allowance for Covid-19 vaccinations
Following a request by Pierre-Yves Dermagne, Belgium’s economy and employment minister, the country’s National Labour Council – a body made up of representatives from employer...
Germany: Volkswagen’s new car software developer, CSO, signs an ‘iterative’ collective agreement
On 28 January Volkswagen Group management together with the IG Metall union announced the signature of an in-house agreement for the 4,000 employees of the Group’s new software development...
3 February 2021
Great Britain: Airbus employees agree a reduction in working hours and salaries in order to avoid layoffs
On 01 February, and following weeks of negotiations with the aircraft manufacturer, the Unite trade union announced that its members working at the Airbus site in Broughton, Wales, had voted in...
Spain: a draft collective agreement concluded for the banking sector that also frames remote working
On 29 January the Asociación Española de Banca (AEB – Spain’s banking employers association), together with representatives of the CCOO, UGT and FINE trade unions concluded the broad outlines of a...
2 February 2021
Belgium: inter-professional collective agreement signed for the implementation of compulsory telework in companies during 2021
On 26 January 2021, Belgium’s National Labor Council (a joint employer-employee representative body that negotiates inter-professional collective agreements), together with trade union...
United States: President Biden’s first pro-union and occupational health and safety initiatives
As soon as he arrived in the White House, President Joe Biden made his mark on the relationship between his administration and the trade unions. Almost immediately upon his swearing in, the 46th...
27 January 2021
Google: Alpha Global, a global trade union alliance launches as a counterweight to the company
Less than 3 weeks after the announcement of the launch of a Google labour union (the Alphabet Workers Union) in the United States an international coalition of 13 Google unions (Verdi, Unionen...
Belgium: negotiations for the next national inter-professional agreement sticking over the salary standard
This is a key moment for Belgium’s labor relations. The bi-annual inter-professional agreement as negotiated by the ‘Group of 10’ representatives of the country’s private...
United States: rate of union membership rises despite fall in member numbers, due to decline in wage and salary employment
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of workers in the US who are members of a trade union fell by 321,000 to 14.3 million, according to a report published on 22 January by the Bureau of Labor...
EU: recommendations from European trade union federations to help EWC representatives manage the impact of Brexit
The trade union federations IndustriAll Europe, Uni Europa, EFFAT, EPSU, ETF and EFBWW have issued “joint […]  recommendations to EWC/SE coordinators and worker representatives in SNBs, EWCs and...
22 January 2021
TK Elevator: signs a global framework agreement
On 25 November 2020 the TK Elevator group (TKE group) together with IndustriALL Global union, the German works council, the European Works Council and the German trade union federation IG Metall...
21 January 2021
France: Solvay signs teleworking agreement that implements the group’s new global mobile working policy
On 18 December 2020, Belgian chemicals group Solvay signed an agreement with the French CFDT and CFE-CGC trade unions, albeit without the CGT union, to enhance flexibility by giving employees in...
20 January 2021
Great Britain: fresh decision on European Works Councils against the backdrop of Verizon’s transfer of its representative agent to Ireland and the removal of UK representatives
Is this the final episode in the Verizon European Works Council (EWC) saga? Barring a reversal on appeal, it would appear that despite its determined activism, the Verizon EWC (c.f. articles...
19 January 2021
Italy: generational renewal efforts more intense than expected at Intesa Sanpaolo, which announces 1,000 additional young hires
On 14 January 2021, Intesa Sanpaolo, which is currently integrating its recent takeover target, UBI Banca, announced it will hire 3,500 young people by the first half of 2024, i.e. 1,000 more than...
Solvay: global agreement on minimum levels of protection revised to align paternity and co-parent leave with maternity leave
On 15 December 2020, the management of the Belgian chemicals firm Solvay and its global staff representation body, the Solvay Global Forum (see article n°10248), revised their first global...
18 January 2021
United Kingdom: trade unions boosted by the pandemic (study)
Amid a technological boom, positive results in negotiations with the government and an upsurge in membership, UK trade unions have enjoyed an unprecedented revival during this health crisis...
18 January 2021
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: collective agreement for rubber and plastics sector focuses on new skills
A month ahead of schedule, the Federazione Gomma Plastica employers' organisation and the Filctem-Cgil, Femca-Cisl and Uiltec trade unions have renewed the collective agreement for the rubber and...
5 January 2026
5
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...
6
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