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...
United Kingdom: sizeable pay rise for Rolls Royce employees, as it looks to reduce pension spending
After five months of intense negotiations, engineering company Rolls Royce has reached an agreement with trade unions that will see its 22,000 UK employees get a pay rise of between 7% and 11.7%...
Germany: company works councils focus increasingly on employee psychological welfare
Two years after the Hans-Böckler Foundation survey of company works councils’ major foci relating to negotiated company agreements (c.f. article No. 9681), the Foundation has repeated the project...
Germany: Deustche Bahn’s ‘digital pact’ intends for employees to share in the digital transformation related productivity gains
At the end of March 2018 Deutsche Bahn’s social partners signed a framework agreement on digitalization for the German rail company and on the means for establishing a ‘sustainable transformation...
Finland: agreement in the construction sector concludes cycle of decentralised negotiations
The agreement that has been struck in Finland’s construction sector marks the end of a period of negotiations, in progress since the summer of 2017, over the main collective agreements covering...
In brief, agreement in principle reached in Luxembourg’s banking sector
On Friday 11 May, social partners in Luxembourg’s banking sector announced that they had reached an agreement in principle on a new collective agreement for banks, to run from 1 January 2018 to 31...
Italy: mixed picture for employment data amid political tensions
Companies under pressure, the burgeoning gig economy, more and more unpaid internships and a rising number of temporary employment contracts: all these elements combining at a time when Italy is...
Germany: Deutsche Bahn’s ITC subsidiary DB Systel is undergoing major digital change
Deutsche Bahn’s ITC specialist subsidiary DB Systel has launched a radical transformation in its work organization that will affect its 4,000 workers. Already underway, the process has impacted...
Norway: a 2.8% salary increase for the offshore sector
On 04 May 2018 an agreement that delivers benefits to workers on offshore oil platforms was concluded between Norsk Olje og Gas, the employers’ body that groups companies operating in the offshore...
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
France: Bayer puts female health and inclusive parenthood at the centre of its equality policy
In a new agreement on gender equality highlighted by mind RH, Bayer commits to strengthening its parenthood policy. Furthermore, the company is anticipating pay transparency and introducing...
25 September 2026
2
Germany: Volkswagen cancels almost all collective bargaining agreements signed with IG Metall
The Volkswagen brand announced on 30 September that it is terminating 10 of its 13 internal collective bargaining agreements, effective 31 December 2026. The announcement, which the carmaker...
1 October 2026
3
France: final document on the work of the Labour, Employment and Pensions Conference
After six months of discussions between French social partners, the guarantors of the Labour, Employment and Pensions Conference submitted the conclusions of the discussions to the Prime Minister...
17 September 2026
4
Germany: Employers’ representatives seek to limit the rights of works councils
The Employers' Federation of German Employers' Associations (Bundesvereinigung der Deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände - BDA) published a report at the end of September in which it proposes a...
5
Germany: working time dispute between Mercedes and the IG Metall Union
The news. At the beginning of September, Mercedes-Benz asked employee representatives and the IG Metall union to agree to an increase in the weekly working time from 35 to 40 hours, without any...
16 September 2026
6
Germany: major day of union action in the automotive industry ahead of collective bargaining
A few weeks before the start of collective bargaining in the German metalworking sector, the IG Metall trade union mobilised nearly 175,000 workers across more than 200 industrial sites on 21...
22 September 2026