Italy: negotiations on the renewal of metalworkers’ national collective agreement resumed
Negotiations for the renewal of metalworkers' national collective agreement started again on January 9, with both parties openly willing to sign an agreement as soon as possible. For the first...
EU : a study on European works councils
77 companies took part to the survey, representing 10 industrial sectors in 12 countries of the European Union. A third have a workforce of over 50,000, just under a third have less than 10,000...
Suez-Gaz de France: update of the information-consultation process for the merger
Suez's management declared, on January 8, that the unfavourable judgement rendered by its European dialogue body "end the procedure of consultation of staff representation bodies" and enables to...
Portugal: a white paper on labour law reform
Relationship between law, collective agreements and labour contract. Traditionally, the law established binding minima that could only be improved by the collective agreements and the labour...
Estonia: the unions oppose the bill on employment contracts
The bill of the Reformist Party in government seeks to facilitate severance by simplifying procedures and reducing the period of notice as well as the amount of severance pay. The unions reacted...
Italy: consultation between the government and unions on the “wage issue”
The "wage issue" was presented as the government's priority for 2008. It is also a priority for the Cgil, the Cisl and the Uil which, in their November 24 platform, asked for a reduction of the...
Bulgaria: unions ready to strike against the draft bill on collective bargaining
Unions threatened to launch a general strike in the spring if Parliament adopts the draft bill on collective bargaining, which would establish a conciliation procedure before launching any...
EU: EWCs calling to the Commission’s attention about the content of the future amended directive on EWCs
Welcoming a possible modifications of the directive on European works' councils (see our article No. 071000,) several EWCs (Alcatel-Lucent, Chemtura, Italcementi and Securitas) sent Vladimir...
Hungary: judgment on the lawfulness of a strike under a valid collective agreement
According to the decision of the Metropolitan Court of Budapest, laid down last December 21, 2007, a strike lanched by the Independent Union of Rail Man (VDSZSZ) to request a compensation for...
Germany: employers dread tough tariffs for 2008
A few days before wage negotiations in the public sector start, which will be the beginning of a series of other negotiations, employers' organizations warned : too important tariff agreements...
Great Britain: agenda for labour law reforms
Several texts concerning labour law are coming into effect this year. They notably plan to toughen sanctions for non-respect of minimum wage, mostly for temp work agencies, employers' legal...
Belgium: several national collective agreements adopted
The national Labour Council approved, on December 20, 2007, a series of national collective agreements (CCT) and of judgments to enforce several parts of the interprofessional agreement for the...
Luxembourg: new collective agreement for the banking sector
After long and tough negotiations, the Association of Luxembourg's Banks and Bankers (ABBL) and the largest union in the sector, Aleba, signed, on December 28, a new collective agreement for the...
Spain: illegal workers have the right to strike
The Constitutional court gave illegal immigrants working in Spain the right to strike. It declared that the provision of the law on foreigners, which only grants the right to assemble and to...
Telefonica Group: “code of conduct” on workers’ rights
The telecommunication group Telefonica, the trade union federation Uni Global and the Spanish unions UGT and CC.OO signed, on December 17, a "code of conduct" on workers' rights, renewing the...
Spain: equality plan for Banesto
After the Santander bank (see our article No. 070841), the Banesto bank is now signing a gender equality plan to enforce the law on effective gender equality. It also aims at putting equal...
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...