Spain: union war stronger than ever in supermarkets
Representatives from FECOHT-CCOO, Workers’ Commissions’ retail federation, and from CHTJ-UGT, its counterpart at the UGT, say that they were called to a meeting initiated by ANGED.  The order of...
Germany: Defense Minister open talks with social partners to transfer at least 17,000 soldiers and to recall reservists
When meeting with union and employers’ representatives in early September in Berlin, German Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière called on the social partners to actively support soldiers’ transfer...
18 September 2012
United States: New York stands up to Walmart
Walmart opponents have won a major victory: the supermarket backed out of entering the city of New York. This is a great victory for union members, opposed to the group from Bentonville, AR...
Spain: transport strike against the sector opening to competition
All rail unions called for this strike (Workers Commissions, UGT, Semaf, Sindicato Ferroviario and sindicato de Circulación).  This is the second day of strike since the government approved the...
EU: finance unions hope that the new European banking supervisory authority will help change practices in the sector
Profit.  Last week, the European Commission proposed a regulation providing for the supervision of all banking undertakings in the eurozone by the European Central Bank (ECB).  The first step...
17 September 2012
Chile: major change for the key union which appoints a 33-year-old woman as its leader
ero, professor of philosophy, was appointed as the new President of the Workers’ United Center (CUT). This should give Chilean unionism a boost, as it is often criticized for its lack of...
Sweden: Unionen and Handels union step in to defend IKEA staff in Turkey and sign an international framework agreement
Repeated union rights violations, aka the limits to IKEA’s great principles.  IKEA’s stores worldwide are managed either directly by the group or by franchised.  In Turkey, the stores are managed...
France: employers and unions open “ambitious” talks on the labor market reform
Tight schedule.  This first one-hour meeting was only about the schedule.  The CGT, CFDT, FO, CFTC and CFE-CGC unions and the Medef, CGPME, and UPA employers’ organizations will get to the heart...
Austria: metalworkers’ unions accept partial questioning of 40 years of unitary collective bargaining
Negotiate fast to negotiate more.  “Until now, unions have been doing their best to maintain joint collective negotiations with the six employers’ organizations.  We’re sad we still have not...
Brazil: Mercedes-Benz freezes pay to save jobs
3,000 surplus jobs kept.  The metalworkers’ union in the ABC area (the name given to the Sao Paulo metropolitan zone), affiliated with the Unified Workers’ Central (CUT), and Mercedez-Benz...
Corporate practices: new agreement on “demography and the creation of a competitive and sustainable personnel structures” for Unilever DACH staff in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
Project mostly initiated by the central WC.  It took the social partners at Unilever Deutschland four years to reach an agreement on “Demography and the creation of a competitive and sustainable...
13 September 2012
Brazil: Sao Paulo metalworkers on strike for pay
The metalworkers’ federation of the State of Sao Paulo (EMF/CUT-SP), affiliated with the Unified Workers’ Central, has been organizing several strikes and mobilization actions within the framework...
Portugal: CGTP union mobilizes against austerity
The General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP) is calling for a day of struggle and a gathering on September 29 in Lisbon against austerity. Independent, unorganized movements have called...
Germany: a majority of Länder is about to support a bill introducing universal minimum wage
The issue of the introduction of universal minimum wage was revived after the Land of Thuringia, run by a conservative/social-democratic coalition, presented an initiative for a bill introducing...
Italy: Monti seeks agreements from the social partners to increase productivity
Bringing back the competitiveness of Italian businesses would be “even more important than the spread” Mario Monti said, hence the need for employers and unions to find an agreement on the...
Great Britain: unions could mobilize against the government’s austerity policy
The political temperature of the union battle against the government’s austerity programme moved up several notches at the annual gathering of the Trades Union Congress. Prior to it, the general...
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