France: crisis agreement struck at Renault includes solidarity mechanism to boost compensation during short-time working and prepares for resumption of activity
The CFE-CGC, CFDT and FO unions announced yesterday, on 1 April, that they are to sign a contract “of solidarity and for the future”, which guarantees 100% remuneration for employees placed on...
Enel: trade unions and management set up a solidarity hours bank for employees who cannot telework
An agreement signed on 27 March to manage work over the next two months ‘equitably distributes the burden of significantly reduced work without increasing the burden on people’, underlined the...
EU: the European Trade Union Confederation is calling on companies to refrain from shareholder dividend payments during the coronavirus pandemic
‘Trade unions are calling on banks and big business to do their bit to overcome the economic consequences of the coronavirus crisis by suspending dividends payments and share buybacks,’ declared...
31 March 2020
France: Airbus agreement for making up unworked hours during its production suspension period
On 20 March the Airbus Group signed an agreement that was supplemented on 26 March with an addendum treating unworked time (hours and days) due to the coronavirus pandemic. The addendum sets out a...
31 March 2020
Germany: crisis agreements struck at Deutsche Telekom and ThyssenKrupp
Two new ‘crisis’ agreements, which were negotiated by video-conference, were announced last week at two major German companies in diverse sectors and differing economic conditions...
Germany: chemical industry social partners strike crisis agreement
Social partners in Germany’s chemical industry, the IG BCE union and the employer confederation BAVC, this week unveiled a ‘crisis agreement’ that will apply until the end of the year. This...
27 March 2020
France: agreement reached at Thales to manage the continuation of business, as well as its decline, amid the ongoing health crisis
Signed on 26 March by all the representative trade union organisations within at Thales (the CFDT, CFE-CGC, CFTC and CGT), the purpose of the agreement at the aerospace group is “to govern the...
27 March 2020
France: trade union call for shareholder solidarity support during the Covid-19 pandemic
On 25 March the CFDT trade union called for companies to abstain from paying dividends this a year that is beset by the negative consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. ‘While the Covid-19 health...
26 March 2020
Italy: new agreement to protect banking sector employees with  branch offices only open for scheduled customer appointments
On 24 March Italy’s banking sector employers and trade union bodies together signed a new agreement that includes the anti-coronavirus protocol from the preceding week (c.f. article No. 11732)...
25 March 2020
EU: IndustriALL Europe launches a debate on the definition for ‘essential production activities’
Europe’s industry trade union federation, IndustriALL Europe, has called for ‘stricter definitions of essential production in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries and for workers' rights to...
24 March 2020
Italy: protecting workers in the transport-logistics sectors as well as those involved in home deliveries
While the halting of all non-essential activities that was decided between 21 and 22 March has provoked the ire of the trade unions for being too lax and which may prompt these union towards...
Germany: crisis agreement struck in metals sector
Social partners in Germany’s metals sector announced on Friday 20 March their decision to suspend negotiations over the renewal of a branch agreement which was due to be agreed in principle in...
23 March 2020
France: agreement reached to ensure production activity continues at STMicroelectronics
The majority agreement signed on 18 March with two of the three trade unions (CFDT and CFE-CGC) at the semiconductor manufacturing company temporarily adapts business activity in the context of...
Spain: Inditex group to cover for one month the cost of employees having to stop work
The Inditex group, which owns fashion retailers such as Zara, has announced to unions and employee representatives that it will not, at present, activate the extraordinary short-time working...
Italy: banking sector employers pitted against trade unions over bank branch closures
On 16 March 2020 Italy’s banking sector social partners signed a protocol document to combat the coronavirus and protect both workers and customers. While the sector’s trade unions were calling...
18 March 2020
European and international social monitoring – more essential than ever
The health crisis we are currently undergoing is prompting businesses to take often unprecedented decisions in terms of work organization. We can also expect economic activity to be severely...
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...