Belgium: the social partners sign a draft cross-industry agreement
The cross-industry draft agreement provides for a standard rise in wages of 5 % over two years and a gross minimum wage raise. Improvements are also made for professional training. Most social...
France Telecom : international framework agreement on fundamental rights signed
France Telecom will be particularly attentive to the prevention of forced work, to the prohibition of child labour and the exploitation of children, to health and job security, to the respect of...
Germany: 2007 will be an important year for wage negotiations
In 2007, important collective agreements will be renegotiated in the main branches of German industry: metalworking industry, chemical, printing works, but also wholesale and retail trade. Given...
Volkswagen: agreement on early retirements at Forest plant
After three days of negotiations, the trade unions and management of Volkswagen Forest reached, on December 20th, an agreement concerning the payment of the anticipated retirements (pre-pensions)...
21 December 2006
Schneider Electric: a negotiation on the anticipative management of restructurings
The French industrial group Schneider Electric has just launched a negotiation with the European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF) on the anticipative management of restructurings to accompany the...
Spain: the strategy for health and safety at work will be adopted soon, but without a territorial union representative
The Spanish government is set to adopt its strategy for health and safety at work next January. But the creation of a territorial union representative in charge of prevention and health in small...
TUI : German tour operator will cut 3600 jobs, primarily in Great Britain
During a press conference on December 15, 2006, in Hamburg, Michael Frenzel, president of the board of directors of the German group of tourism and maritime transport TUI, announced a drastic...
15 December 2006
Austria: trade unions sell the “bank of workers” and pay their debts
Founded by the Austrian trade unions 84 years ago, the "bank of workers" will continue from now on its activities under the demanding supervision of Cerberus, an American fund directed by John...
Areva: an agreement on equal opportunities; interview with Bart Samyn
After asking Maureen Kearney, secretary of Areva's European Work's Council (see our story n°061234) to comment on the European agreement on equal opportunities closed out within the Areva group...
Volkswagen: already 700 voluntary departures at Forest plant in Belgium
Workers of Volkswagen's Forest plant who will agree to leave deliberately will be given a departure bonus of 25 000 to 144 000 euros. An agreement on the matter was concluded on December 8th 2006...
Strabag SE : difficult beginning for the agreement on workers’ representation in the SE
Registered as a European company, on October 12th, 2004, Strabag, the Austrian and European construction firm, finally concluded an agreement on workers' representation in May 2006. Broadly...
Belgium: trade unions point out wage gap between men and women
According to a survey based on 20000 workers, the gender gap in terms of salaries is 24 % on a yearly basis and 12 % on an hourly basis. The presence of trade unions in the firm has a tendency to...
Areva: agreement on equal opportunities, interview of Maureen Kearney
Maureen Kearney, secretary of the European work's council of Areva (CFDT), Irish, analyzes the agreement on equal opportunities signed within the Areva group (see story n° 061207). We also publish...
Belgium: towards a charter of good behaviour to reduce strikes in Walloon public transport
After consultation of management and trade unions of the public transportation network (TEC), the experts of the Laboratory of studies on new technologies, innovation and change (Lentic) will...
PSA Peugeot-Citroën : international agreement on social responsibility is ratified
Management of the French automobile constructor PSA has informed that the international framework agreement (IFA) on the group's social responsibility is now ratified. It has entered into force in...
Germany: employers do not rule out a wage increase in 2007 in the Metal industry
After the latest negotiations in this sector, Gesamtmetall and IG-Metall had agreed on April 22 to a 3% wage increase effective June 1, 2006 (see story n° 06400). This was the first time that 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: 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
5
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
6
UK: duty for employers to inform workers of their right to join a trade union postponed to 1 January 2027
The news. On 25 September, the British government published its response to a consultation launched on 23 October on the duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union. The...