Poland: the social partners sign a joint declaration on stress
The trade unions (union forum, NSZZ Solidarnosc, OPZZ) and employers' organizations (Lewiatan, Confederation of Polish Employers, Business Center Club, Association of Polish Craftsmen) signed, on...
Germany: the new leader of the Transnet rail union presents new conditions to the privatization of the Deutsche Bahn
Gathered at a congress on Sunday and Monday, the 326 representatives of the Transnet union - leading rail union with 230.000 members - elected Alexander Kirchner as their union's president. He's...
China: labor contract law is far from being respected in businesses
By reporting the proof of repeated violations by his employer and obtaining winning his case at the arbitration committee, Huang Weimu - a migrant worker in the Guangdong Province - has become an...
Enel: agreement on the establishment of a European works council
The management of the Enel group - Italy's largest and Europe's second power company (73.500 employees) - and the special negotiating body reached an agreement on November 6, 2008, on the...
Ireland: the social partners approve the national wage agreement
On November 17, 2008, the trade unions and employers approved the transitional agreement 2008-09 on wages (see our dispatch No. 080717) which is part of the second phase of the "Towards 2016...
Switzerland: UBS Outlines Variable Compensation Reform
In a move designed to bring about a "cultural shift" in the company, Switzerland's largest bank UBS has outlined a sweeping variable compensation plan reform. Notably, executive bonuses and...
GDF-Suez: EWC in favor of the wage increase
After the claim made by the European trade unions present within EDF's EWC in favor of wage increases, it is now GDF-Suez's turn to request a "more ambitious social policy enable a fairer share of...
Germany: train drivers at the Deutsche Bahn want a 10% wage increase
Whereas the "5 sages" (famous economists for the Federal government) predicted that Germany would enter recession in 2009, the joint committee for wage negotiations of the two major rail unions...
Repsol: agreement on the establishment of a union network for Spain, Latin America and the Caribbean
If the creation of transnational "union coordination" is becoming a common practice, the recognition of such coordination by a company is much less so. But it is the case of the Spanish group...
Slovakia: the Parliament is debating on the creation of a low-wage bonus
The Slovak lower parliamentary house is currently debating a state-funded benefit proposal designed to stimulate employment within the low-paid sector. If passed, the draft amendment to Act No...
StatoilHydro: revision of the international framework agreement
The management of the Norwegian group StatoilHydro (29.500 employees) and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) with its Norwegian affiliate...
Germany: several companies refuse to apply the wage agreement in the metal sector
Hardly signed, the collective agreement which provides for a 4.2% wage increase in two steps for the 3.6 million workers in the metal and electronic sectors (see our dispatch No. 080888) is...
Argentina: Supreme Court ruling ends union monopoly
The Supreme Court ruled that the legislation which prevents a worker from being elected union representative if he wasn't a member of the official trade union, the CGT, was unconstitutional. This...
Bolivia: the government imposes a 12% wage increase upon businesse
The Bolivian government announced a decree determining to 12% the wage increase in the private sector in 2009. Companies say this is unworkable, and unions raise the bar to 25%. (Ref. 080894)
HP-EDS: first evaluation of the European trade union day of action
The European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF) and the UNI Europa union federation evaluated, on November 13, 2008, the first European day of action organized the same day to object to the...
Venezuela: the National Assembly working to reduce working time to six hours a day
Reducing working time from eight to six hours a day was part of the draft reform of the constitution, rejected by a referendum in December 2007. However, this measure, proposed by the government...
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...