Great Britain: London Underground secures social truce for the Olympic Games this summer
The Evening Standard, the main newspaper in London, believed the deal could see drivers earning up to £6,000 in bonuses for working during the Olympics. It quoted a senior source from Aslef, the...
Austria: first spring bargaining agreement in the textile, electrical and electrical engineering industries provide for 3.75-4.5 percent increases
The negotiations started mid-march in textile and the electrical and electrical engineering industries (see our dispatch No.  120187) were carried out swiftly since, in both cases, an agreement...
Total: amendment to the European agreement on assistance in creation, purchase or development of SMEs
New sites included.  On March 28, 2007, Total and the EMCEF (mining, chemistry and energy), FECCIA (managers in the chemical industry) and FECER (managers in energy and research) European trade...
Sweden: SEKO union joins National Employment Agency and five telecoms to set up technician training for young jobseekers
A crying need.  The telecom industry has been growing a lot in the past few years, becoming an extremely dynamic sector and playing a major part in the country’s economic development.  Therefore...
4 April 2012
Belgium: unions are campaigning for the May 7 ballot
Candidates race.  On March 27, the General Confederation of Liberal Trade Unions of Belgium (CGLSB) was proud to announce a 17 percent increase in the number of candidates which will represent it...
4 April 2012
Sweden: trade employers’ organization signed new wage agreement with supervisory staff representatives but is facing a call for strike for employees
Satisfactory agreements for managers and graduates.  The new wage agreement signed between Svensk Handel and the Unionen and Akademikerförbunden union organizations applies to executives, store...
Germany: the German army and businesses exchange staff more and more often
On March 14, at the Köln-Wahn barracks, Cassidian and the Luftwaffe signed a cooperation agreement.  It applies the advice contained in the directive released on February 1 by the German Ministry...
3 April 2012
Austria: 3.5 percent wage increase in banking
On April 1, the wages of the 80,000 banking employees went up by 3.5 percent in average.  This is the result of the wage agreement signed between the GPA-djp union (private sector employees) and...
Germany: 6.3 percent increase for public workers to influence other sectoral negotiations
Who can beat 6.3 percent?  It took 40 successive hours of negotiations for Frank Bsirske, leader of the Verdi union, the representatives of civil service employers, the Federal Minister of the...
International: overview of global union alliances
“United stand.”  A direct consequence of globalization, union action transcends borders in the form of international union alliances.  The last to date, the Ikea Global Union Alliance...
2 April 2012
Germany: unions’ globalization strategy helped by Bob King, leader of the American auto workers’ union, joining Opel’s board
of the American United Auto Workers (UAW), will become a full member of the supervisory board of Adam Opel GmbH. Sources tell Planet Labor that both General Motors and the German IG-Metall union...
Germany: 10,000 employees fired by Schlecker causes political and ideological turmoil beyond the trade industry
10,000 compulsory redundancies.  Receiver Arndt Geiwitz, who took in his hands the fate of Schlecker, which announced that it was closing 2,200 stores after the judicial settlement, postponed, in...
30 March 2012
United States: German personalities campaign against T-Mobile USA, a Deutsche Telekom subsidiary, accused of anti-union practices
On Wednesday, March 28, a group of German academics, lawyers, and union and political representatives published, in the New York Times, an open letter to “T-Mobile USA and other US subsidiaries of...
30 March 2012
Spain: government maintains reforms, social unrest grows
Demonstrations took place in several towns across the country with the catchphrase: “Quieren acabar con todo” – they want to end it all.  The El Pais daily says 170,000 marched through Madrid...
Great Britain: government wants to introduce regional pay rates across the public sector
Prior to the Budget of 21 March 2012, the government had asked the four Pay Review Bodies for NHS workers, schoolteachers, operational staff in public sector prisons and civil servants to examine...
Austria: union membership stable after 20 years down
Stabilization is almost established.  The Austrian Trade Union Confederation says a ‘turn’ was made in 2011.  After seeing its size shrink for 20 years, the ÖGB only experienced a 0.4 percent...
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: austerity measures proposed in social security financing bill for 2026
Limits on sick leave, the end of social security exemptions for apprentices, and the introduction of additional birth leave: the 2026 social security financing bill, presented to parliament on 14...
16 October 2025
2
Netherlands: ING cites AI as it plans to cut around 950 jobs
Dutch bank ING has informed the employment agency UWV that it may cut around 950 jobs by 31 December 2026. In its notification on 20 October, the lender said the planned reductions stem partly...
30 October 2025
3
France: Decathlon introduces a ‘duty to respect others’ right to disconnect’
A right-to-disconnect agreement was signed in late September for the French arm of the Decathlon sports retail group. It sets out a "duty to respect others’ right to disconnect" and provides...
14 November 2025
4
United Kingdom largely retained within scope of EWCs despite Brexit, study shows
A study published this month by the Institute for Economic and Social Research, the French trade union research organisation, examined how the involvement of British representatives in European...
5
Romania: collective agreement extended to entire insurance sector
On 3 November, Romania’s National Tripartite Council for Social Dialogue approved the extension of the collective labour agreement signed on 23 May by the Confederation of Employers in the...
6
Italy: new collective agreement for managers in tertiary sector
On 5 November, the ManagerItalia union and the employers’ association Confcommercio renewed the collective agreement for managers in Italy’s tertiary, distribution and services...