Italy: Ilva or the problems that can arise between environmental and employment requirements
After the memorandum of understanding signed in July (see our dispatch No.  120491) and the adoption of a €336-million budget to clean up the site, the Ministry of the Environment created, on...
4 December 2012
Spain: Iberia unions call for 6-day strike against social plan providing for 4,500 job cuts
Unions are joining forces for the strike.  All unions representing workers in the company (UGT, CCOO, USO, Asetma, Sitcpla and CTA-vuelo – which represents ground staff and flight attendants)...
Great Britain: three-year pay deal in the engineering construction industry
Members of the Unite and GMB unions in the engineering construction industry have agreed to a 7.7% pay deal for three years, running from 2013 to 2015. The agreement covers between 50,000 and...
Austria: 3.4 percent increase for agency workers
On Tuesday, November 27, the social partners in the temporary work industry – the PRO-GE union and the representatives of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKÖ) agreed on a new collective...
Great Britain: unions are stepping up their campaigns to improve the wages and conditions of their members in contract cleaning by taking industrial action
Each dispute has been long running and marks a stepping up of the ante by the union. The strikes will be preceded by a national rally in London and followed by a mass lobby of Parliament and...
Corporate practices: staff wellbeing at the center of the economic strategy implemented by Lån & Spar Bank A/S bank
“Actions on health and the working environment were initiated as a key element in our new strategy to improve basic profits as well as client and employee satisfaction” Keld Thornæs, associate...
29 November 2012
Germany: in 2011, for the 1st time in a decade, labor cost was higher than the increases observed in the eurozone
“The numbers show what several parameters already pointed out: Germany has first-rate international competitiveness.  But there’s a downside: low wage growth and domestic demand for years.  German...
Belgium: overview of the failed negotiations for the restructurings of ArcelorMittal Liege
The survival of the steel industry in Liege at stake.  On November 19, almost all the workers at ArcelorMittal Liege rejected the proposals that arose with social dialogue.  For its part, the ...
28 November 2012
Rheinmetall: new European framework agreement on health management
Negotiations supervised by IndustriAll.  Rheinmetall AG set up its European Works Council (EWC) in 2000.  Before the summer, it signed a “European Framework Agreement on Health Management,” its...
Spain: how Microsoft Spain and Wolters Kluwer Spain are implementing telework models
e latest labor reform (Decree Law 3/2012) constitutes a legal milestone of Spanish law as telework is regulated within a legislative framework for the first time, by modifying article 13 of the...
27 November 2012
Spain: two union leaders explain their organization’s bargaining strategy in the auto industry
On November 21, Renault presented its industrial plan detailing its project to enhance activities in the Iberian peninsula. The carmaker plans to have a new model made at the Valladolid and...
Sweden: manufacturing unions call for minimum 2.8 percent wage increase for 2013
Industrifacken, the association of manufacturing unions made up of Sveriges Ingenjörer (the Swedish Association of Graduate Engineers), Unionen (the Trade Union for Professionals in the Private...
United States: Walmart in spotlight for opening on Thanksgiving night
Walmart, the global retail market leader, was forced to respond to the movement organized to denounce its social practices during the sales following Thanksgiving Day. The conflict, brought to the...
Great Britain: Virgin Media successfully derecognises CWU and BECTU
Virgin Media has won its battle to derecognise two unions within its operations. In a ballot conducted over a two week period, workers voted to derecognise the two sole recognised unions, the CWU...
SAS: the airline’s unions forced to accept major concessions
"We have almost completely transformed the company in record time. It is a first yet crucial step" rejoiced SAS CEO Rickard Gustafson at a press conference on November 19, announcing that the 8...
22 November 2012
Italy: new “Productivity Pact” formally adopted, but not by the CGIL
As expected, the "Productivity Pact" is the result of a separate agreement. Yesterday, in Rome, the government and the social partners, except for the CGIL, signed the agreement on "Guidelines for...
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