Austria: trade unions resume hostilities with the new government
On 08 June, the major trade union members of The Austrian Trade Union Federation (the ÖGB) announced they were in the process of informing their members of the right-wing coalition government’s...
Norway: banking sector employers now have two trade union counterparts
Conducting collective negotiations in Norway’s financial sector has been a difficult process not least because of a power struggle between the LO Finans union (the post and telecommunications...
Italy: delivery riders making big waves on the political agenda
The issue of workers’ rights as relates to digital platforms and in particular meal delivery riders has just exploded onto Giuseppe Conte’s new government’s political agenda. Upon taking office...
Germany: towards further flexibility over working time
The metals industry, Deutsche Post, Deutsche Telekom, Deutsche Bahn: an increasing number of sectors and companies are arming themselves with flexible working time models that enable employees to...
Yves Rocher: IndustriALL global launches an international campaign against the French cosmetics company
The situation here could well have panned out along the lines of typical Turkish industrial relations comprising an official union authorization combined with a legal appeal by company management...
Italy: PM Giuseppe Conte’s inaugural speech to parliament is light on detail
With little need to delve into great detail on schedules, quantitative commitments and concrete measures, newly installed Italian PM Giuseppe Conte’s made his inaugural speech before parliament...
United States: machinist union gains a foothold in Boeing’s southern State facility
Boeing technicians at the Charleston South Carolina plant have succeeded in rallying the IAM (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) to their cause with the establishment...
Germany: Opel workers guaranteed jobs until 2023 in return for wage concessions
The Sword of Damocles hanging over the 19,000 Opel workers’ jobs in Germany has been lifted. In the evening of 29 May, and following long and tough negotiations between management at the automaker...
India: job offers are biased in favor of males
According to a recent World Bank survey, job offers in India are most often explicitly biased towards males together with on average better pay for men. A World Bank analysis examined 800,000 job...
EDF: signs a new global CSR agreement
Thirteen years after its first global agreement (the first being signed in 2005 and subsequently renewed in 2009), France’s energy giant has re-engaged with the global union federations...
Germany: almost a million employees have already taken advantage of early retirement at age 63
Revealed by the Blidzeitung publication and later confirmed by the Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs, latest data over take-up of retirement at age 63 has relaunched the fierce debate of...
In brief, Amazon signs its first collective agreement in Italy
In a press statement on 23 May 2018 (here) the international services union federation Uni Global announced that the first ever company agreement was signed with online retail giant Amazon. The...
In brief, Uber is to propose social benefits cover for its independent workers across Europe
In a 23 May press statement platform-based taxi firm Uber announced it is to offer free insurance cover for its drivers including sickness, injury and maternity and paternity payments. It will...
Italy: inside the ‘government of change’ contract that has been agreed between the Five Star Movement (M5S) and the League
Although the make-up of Italy’s new coalition government (between two populist parties, the Five Star Movement (M5S) and the League) still needs ironing out, the two parties have ratified the...
Brazil: sharp dip in the number of collective agreements reached during first quarter of 2018
In the first quarter of 2018 in Brazil, the number of collective agreements that were approved was down 48% compared to the same period in 2017. The first quarter also saw a 29% dip in new...
Germany: re-elected to the helm of the DGB, Reiner Hoffmann wants to “humanise” digital capitalism
At the national congress of the DGB, Germany's Trade Union Confederation, which took place from 13 to 17 May in Berlin, 400 delegates from the body’s eight member-unions spent time debating how...
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...