United States : negotiations stall between General Motors and the UAW trade union
46,000 United Auto Workers (UAW) members working at General Motors (GM) have entered their fourth week of strike action as both the trade union and GM management teams remain firmly camped in...
8 October 2019
Germany : 2019/2020 schedule for collective bargaining
The Hans Böckler trade union foundation has recently published its mid-term review for collective agreements in 2019, as well as a calendar for negotiations taking place in the remainder of 2019...
7 October 2019
Belgium: a banking sector agreement that focuses on training and teleworking
On 30 September, Belgium’s banking sector social partners including Febelfin (employers’ federation), and the CGSLB, FGTB, and CSC trade unions bodies signed an agreement that will apply to almost...
3 October 2019
Germany: persistent East-West pay gap
According to a survey by the Hans Böckler Foundation (trade unions) released two days ahead of Germany’s national unity day, and almost thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall...
SUEZ : renewed European agreement on professional equality detailed by group industrial relations director
On 12 September 2019, global utilities group SUEZ signed a new European agreement on professional equality that applies to almost 61,000 staff working across all its subsidiaries Europewide. The...
2 October 2019
Greece: trade unions mobilize in protest at ‘Growth Policy draft law’
For the second time in September, private and public sector trade unions have called for strike action, this time to take place on 02 October. The unions are protesting the ‘Growth Policy draft...
1 October 2019
Ireland : coalition of NGOs and unions join international campaign for a four-day week
On 26 September in Ireland, the creation of a new “coalition of businesses, unions, environmentalists, academics and NGOs” was announced, in line with the international campaign to...
30 September 2019
Spain: new collective agreement and voluntary redundancy plan open to over-53s at Telefónica
Company leadership and trade unions (UGT and CCOO) at Telefónica agreed to renew the collective agreement that applies to the Spanish telecommunications group’s three main branches in its home...
30 September 2019
EU : industry trade union federation IndustriAll Europe launches campaign to promote collective bargaining
A seven-month campaign that seeks to demonstrate the positive impact of collective bargaining is in the offing. On Thursday 26 September, the trade union federation IndustriAll Europe launched its...
27 September 2019
United States: USW union secures a presence in a Google contractor company
On 24 September 2019 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 80 employees at the IT services company HCL voted by a 61% majority to join the United Steelworkers Union and have the union represent their...
26 September 2019
Germany: chemicals union seeks the implementation f an ‘Account for the Future’ during the upcoming collective negotiations
On 19 September, and following earlier grass-roots consultations, the Federal Commission for the Chemicals and Energy sector union’s (IG BCE) collective negotiations published the trade union’s...
26 September 2019
Poland: social partners call on government to set up a new skills-enhancement fund
On 18 September 2019 during the Social Dialogue Council meeting, the social partners adopted a resolution calling on the government to set up a fund for bettering qualifications and competences...
26 September 2019
Germany: Verdi’s new president, Frank Werneke seeks to gain ground in companies without collective agreements
A page is turning for Germany’s second largest trade union.* The 1.9 million members of the services union Verdi are to get a new president as its founding leader Frank Bsirske (age 67) steps...
25 September 2019
Austria: Metallurgy sector collective negotiations get underway that ‘Should be heard in the tills!’
On 23 September in Austria’s capital Vienna, the head of the PRO-GE industry union, Rainer Wimmer used these words to summarize the goals of his own organization and that of the private...
25 September 2019
United States: a drivers association mobilizes to defend the AB 5 law
Behind Californian Assembly Bill 5 that facilitates the official recognition of employee status for drivers with Uber and its competitor, Lyft, can be found the RSDU association – the Rideshare...
25 September 2019
Italy: several sectors renew their national collective agreements
The renewal of the energy and oil sector national collective agreement (NCA), signed on 19 September 2019 (c.f. article No. 11365) has launched what is set to be a particularly busy period for...
24 September 2019
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...