France : agreement signed on employee protections and social measures amid recommencement of activity at EDF
The agreement, signed on 3 June with all the group's trade unions and the French energy group, addresses the challenges of relaunching business with a global approach. In addition to covering how...
TOTAL: agreement signed establishing the European Works Council of the future European Company (SE)
On 15 April, the French energy producer and provider concluded an agreement on employee involvement in the future European Company (SE), the conversion into which was approved at the shareholders’...
Spain: the El Corte Inglés retail group is resuming business by facilitating functional and geographical mobility
The CCOO, Fagsa, Fetico, and UGT unions have reached an agreement with management for the El Corte Inglés group on the conditions for returning to work following the nationwide lockdown and the...
EU: social partners in the automotive sector call for an ambitious recovery plan for the sector
‘During the financial crisis (2008-13), the automotive sector lost 440,000 jobs (in car production and the aftermarket). If no measures are taken, this number risks being dwarfed by the current...
Spain: employers walk away from cross-industry talks in protest against potential abolition of 2012 labour reform
On Wednesday, employers walked away from talks over an extension of partial unemployment measures following the lifting of the state of alert in Spain. The move came after a surprise announcement...
USA: ‘Big 3’ automakers set to restart on 18 May
Without any great fuss or fanfare, the Big 3 North American automakers are preparing to gradually reopen their production sites during the week of 18 May, and they have been negotiating with UAW...
EU: social partners in Europe’s tourism industry make joint call for urgent measures to support sector
A joint declaration by European social partners in the hospitality, restauration and food industries – the European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT) as well as...
United States: one of Amazon’s leading activists takes up the cause of essential workers
Chris Smalls, who sees himself as "the whistleblower fired by Amazon" for demanding more protection from Covid-19, is creating his own defense movement called The Congress Essential Workers to...
Telefonica: global agreement signed that defines minimum standards for returning to work
On 12 May, Spanish telephone operator Telefonica together with UNI Global Union, and the CCOO and UGT trade unions, signed a global agreement that sets out a ‘return to work’ framework for the...
Belgium: agreement reached on the resumption of work in the metal and technology sectors
On 11 May trade unions in the metal sector along with the Agoria (technology) employers body signed an agreement for resumption of work amid the coronavirus health crisis. As a complementary text...
EU: European banking sector social partners pen joint declaration on necessary working and employment conditions for providing responsible and ethical financial products services
The joint declaration signed by the European social partners in the banking sector on 7 May represents a step towards “the development of responsible and sustainable provision of financial...
France: the Paris Ile-de-France Region together with the social partners are jointly defining innovative organization methods, especially in terms of work, so as to manage public transport use during lockdown
As the country prepares for an easing of its lockdown restrictions to commence on 11 May, France’s primary region, in terms of population and economic activity, is embarking upon a decidedly new...
Italy: the future president of Confindustria (employers’ body) evokes the idea of favoring company over branch level negotiations for organizing work amid the current crisis
Currently heading up Assolombarda, the powerful Milanese branch of the employers' organization, Carlo Bonomi will officially take over as head of Confindustria on 20 May. However trade unions are...
Belgium: commerce sector social partners approve a plan setting the conditions for the safe resumption of business
Belgium’s non-food stores will be able to reopen from 11 May. As such, on 30 April the social partners signed a declaration and approved the Phoenix Plan, which details specific measures to...
EU: European social partners in temporary agency work sector issue joint recommendations on managing the Covid-19 crisis
On 29 April, Europe’s social partners in temporary agency work sector, namely WEC-Europe (employers) and UNI-Europa (trade unions), published joint recommendations on ‘Protecting workers in 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
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...