United Kingdom: working week of 120,000 Royal Mail workers reduced by one hour
From today, Monday 1 October, employees of the UK postal service are to see their weekly working hours cut from 39 to 38 hours. This unprecedented measure is part of the so-called Four Pillars of...
1 October 2018
Germany: spotlight on increasing rising use of social media by company works councils
The Amazon-verdi blog, the Obi-verdi blog, Siemens Dialog, Schaeffler-Nachrichten, …, German company works councils are increasingly turning to the different social media (blogs, Facebook...
27 September 2018
Airbus SE : the aeronautics group uses European and international social dialogue as a transformation lever
an international social dialogue forum in place, the Airbus Global Forum, in order to ‘strengthen a feeling of belonging across the Airbus entities’ and as a ‘lever for change...
26 September 2018
Italy: H&M signs first company agreement
On 24 September, the Swedish clothing company’s Italian subsidiary that employs more than 5,000 staff across more than 150 H&M, Cos, and &Other Stories sales outlets signed an agreement...
26 September 2018
Germany: 3.6% wage increase in chemical sector
Social partners in Germany’s chemical sector have struck an agreement that will see the wages of the 580,000 workers in the industry increase by 3.6% over a period of 15 months. Holiday pay will...
20 September 2018
Austria: combatting new working time legislation is at the heart of metals trade union demands
Austria’s annual collective bargaining round that affects approximately 186,000 workers across size sub-sectors is set to start on Thursday 20 September with trade unions Pro-GE (Industry) and...
20 September 2018
BNP Paribas: global agreement on fundamental rights and social floor penned with Uni Global Union
On 18 September, the French banking group signed, along with global service sector union Uni Global Union, its first global deal. In addition to reaffirming its commitments on human rights in the...
18 September 2018
Italy: historic agreement preserves the future of Ilva and saves jobs
After months of twists and turns and a final 18-hour round of negotiations, an agreement was reached on Thursday 6 September to save Italian steelworks company Ilva. The deal, agreed by Italian...
7 September 2018
Greece: after eight years in economic crisis, Alexis Tsipras seeks to restore labor law
On 20 August 2018, Greece’s third and last EU bailout plan that was signed in 2015 after difficult negotiations between Athens and its creditors (EU, ECB, IMF) finally came to a close. PM Alexis...
4 September 2018
Brazil: a new collective agreement for the banking sector
On 29 August, following weeks of protracted negotiations, (c.f. article No. 10775), representatives of the public and private sector banking employees came to agreement with FEBRABAN, the...
4 September 2018
United States: Microsoft requires its suppliers and contractors to provide at least 12 weeks of paid parental leave upon the birth or adoption of a child (in brief)
This new policy, announced during the week of 27 August applies across all its US supplier companies employing at least 50 staff and which carry out ‘substantial work’, by which is understood...
4 September 2018
Argentina: another general strike scheduled to protest job cuts
The General Confederation of Labour (CGT) in Argentina has called for a general strike to take place on Tuesday 25 September, which would be the fourth such strike since the centre-right president...
3 September 2018
Spain: occupational illnesses linked to the work done by hotel cleaning ladies to be recognised by health insurers, following pressure from the group of workers Las Kellys
Spain’s ministry for employment has demanded that health insurance companies immediately recognise a series of complaints experienced by hotel cleaning staff, such pain and inflammation resulting...
3 September 2018
Great Britain: Royal Mail mental health training for employees with first-aid training
In the months ahead all Royal Mail’s first-aiders will be offered officially recognized mental health training. The program, which was agreed with the CWU union aims to guarantee staff a fresh...
29 August 2018
United States: Walt Disney to pay $15 minimum per hour
Negotiators at Disney together with a coalition of 6 trade unions have agreed that over the next four years the minimum hourly wage at the Florida Walt Disney World theme park will rise from $10...
29 August 2018
Esprit: global framework agreement is signed that promotes human rights in the supply chain
On 06 August in a joint press statement, global union federation IndustriALL Global Union and the clothing brand’s European subsidiary announced the signing of a global agreement covering 525,000...
27 August 2018
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...