Labour relations

On 10 December the social partners in the rubber and plastics sectors concluded an agreement to renew the national collective agreement for the period from 01 January 2016 until 31 December 2018...

15 December 2015

Germany: the Federation of Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) launches a nationwide action program facilitating refugees’ inclusion into the labor market

While the number of officially recorded asylum seekers topped the one million mark at the start of December, debate continues unabated in Germany over refugees’ job prospects as well as over the...

14 December 2015

Italy: sharp rise in indefinite employment contracts in the agency work sector

The Assolavoro Observatory, the employers’ association in the agency sector, published data on contracts concluded in the sector for September 2015. The main news is that the number of indefinite...

14 December 2015

Portugal: social consultation starts over the minimum wage

Antonio Costa’s new socialist government has launched a debate on raising Portugal’s minimum wage. The Prime Minister invited the country’s social partners in person to the first social...

11 December 2015

Belgium: social partners conclude an agreement on the return to work for those on long-term illness leave as well as on economic unemployment

In the evening of 09 December, both unions and business leaders concluded an agreement over government proposals on both the return to work for those on long-term illness leave as well as on...

10 December 2015

Great Britain: CWU signs a radical new job security and attendance pattern agreement with BT telecommunications

Members of the Communications Union (CWU) have strongly backed the ‘Transformation Agreement’ their union negotiated with BT Consumer operations, the customer care and service operations wing of...

9 December 2015

Germany: management at Siemens together with the company’s central works council and the IG Metall union collaborate to stimulate employee creativity by way of an ‘innovation fund’

In a joint declaration published on 08 December the Siemens works council (WC) and the IG Metall union announced they had concluded an agreement with management at the German industrial giant that...

9 December 2015

Italy: Michelin comes to agreement with unions over its reorganization plan

Following worker mobilization, the French tyre maker came to an agreement with the unions over reorganization in Italy’s Piedmont region where it employs some 3,700 workers. In the agreement one...

7 December 2015

United States: the UAW strikes an historic victory in the U.S. south during union elections at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee

The United Auto Workers union UAW has finally got its foot in the door of the Volkswagen plant at Chattanooga in Tennessee. The skilled trades workers on the Passat assembly line voted by 108 in...

7 December 2015

Netherlands: PostNL signs a new five-year agreement to help manage its upcoming business reorganisation

In October 2015 management at PostNL together with the unions FNV, CNV, and VHP2 concluded an agreement in principle over a social plan for the Dutch postal operator. Employees voted in favour and...

4 December 2015

Finland: negotiations to renew collective agreements and improve competitiveness are going nowhere

Echoing the position it adopted in 2007 the business leaders body for industry, EK, announced at the end of November that it was refusing to negotiate a new cross-industry framework agreement on...

4 December 2015

Spain: political parties present their proposals in front of the general election on 20 December

As campaigning starts for the general election on 20 December, the main political parties are putting forward their proposals to reform labor legislation and free up the jobs market.

3 December 2015

Portugal: the new socialist led government looks to consumption to relaunch the economy

António Costa’s socialist government has announced a series of measures that should relaunch the economic activity in 2016. Measures abolishing certain austerity led taxes and levies imposed...

3 December 2015

Germany: during its ‘Job Summit’, Lufthansa and the unions agreed to deepen their cooperation

Plagued by continuous strike action over the past two years, on Wednesday 02 December, Lufthansa invited the three unions that are established within the company; Verdi (ground staff), Ufo (flight...

2 December 2015

Italy: Enel signs a development and innovation protocol promoting generational replacement

On 27 November, Italy’s energy company, Enel together with the unions signed a protocol on development and innovation that includes a framework agreement on “intergenerational solidarity and...

2 December 2015

Switzerland: the private postal service sign their first ever collective agreement

On Monday 30 November, social partners from the private post sector, the employers’ federation KEP & Mail and two postal sector trade unions Syndicom and Transfair, announced that they have...

1 December 2015

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25 September 2026

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

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

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...

8 October 2026

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

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