Germany: Volkswagen staff get 3.2% pay rise
Compromise.  Pointing to the German carmaker’s good results in 2010, the IG-Metall’s collective bargaining committee announced, on December 6th, that it intended to claim for a 6% wage increase...
Netherlands: tough negotiations at NXP, Philips subsidiary
Negotiations for the future collective agreement at NXP should be difficult.  This metallurgic company created in 2006 to outsource Philips’ production of semiconductors is owned by American...
Portugal: rotating and partial strikes all week against austerity
Transport affected.  The Monday, February 7-Friday, February 11 is going to be a week characterized by partial strikes in transportation and at the Portuguese post.  The first to enter the contest...
Belgium: FGTB and CGSBL reject cross-industry agreement 2011-2012
Refusal.  After consulting its members, the FGTB refused to sign the draft cross-industry agreement 2011-2012 the social partners concluded in mid-January (see our dispatch No.  110040).  On...
Italy: social partners in “logistics, transportation and goods delivering” industry renew CCN with a unitary agreement
On the night of January 26th, Aite, Aiti, Ansep-Unitam, Assoespressi, Assologistica, Federspedi, Fedit, Fisi, Federlavoro, Legacoop servizi, Produzione e servizi di lavoro-AGCI, Anita, CNA-Fita...
Romania: fierce negotiations on the new Labor Code
Lingering negotiations.  On Wednesday, February 2nd, a new meeting took place between union representatives, Labor Minister Ioan Botis and Premier Emil Boc but it didn’t achieve the negotiations...
Morocco: youth social exclusion is destabilizing Morocco as much as other North African countries
High youth unemployment and precarious employment make a cocktail for social uneasiness.  In 2008, the unemployment rate for the 20-29 age group was 30% in Tunisia, 21.5% in Algeria and 17.6% in...
3 February 2011
Great Britain: TUC develops work program to coordinate affiliates’ industrial action against the government’s policy
Last September, at its annual congress the TUC committed itself to coordinate the resistance of its affiliates’ members’ action against the government cuts (see our dispatch No.  100656). This...
Spain: government, employers and unions sign “grand social pact”
Exercise of shared responsibility.  Bringing this pact into the tradition of social dialogue which, since the transition to democracy, has been “one of the elements that helped permanently...
Spain: government and social partners sign ace plan on the employment of young people and long-term jobseekers
The plan provides for incentives to part-time recruitment for the ailing public, like young people under 30 and long-term jobseekers who have been searching for a job for over a year.  This...
Sweden: manufacturing unions united again before fall negotiations
On January 14, 2011, the trade unions informed that they agreed on a joint bargaining agenda, since the agreement negotiated by Unionen and Sveriges Ingenjörer expires on September 30, 2011 (see...
Spain: agreement between the social partners to unfreeze the reform of collective bargaining
According to the document signed on the night of the 26th, the new system will help “rationalize and better articulate collective agreements” and encourage negotiations at company level. The...
Italy: Fiom-CGIL mobilization on January 28th against Fiat’s maneuvers and to defend collective bargaining
“Today, hundreds of thousands of metalworkers, Fiom affiliates or not, are with us” said Maurizio Landini on Friday, January 28th in Milan, on a Piazza del Duomo swarming with people, to sum up...
Belgium: restructuring at Bpost, the former public post
There will be no compulsory redundancies reassured Bpost when presenting its four-year restructuring program, which is going to require €200M in investment.  The aim is to face the drop in mail...
27 January 2011
Netherlands: FNV union wants to tackle abusive use of youth minimum wage in supermarkets
Dutch supermarkets currently employ 260,000 people, i.e. 40,000 more than in 2009, according to the FNV.  This increase is artificial, due to the massive employment of young people working part...
Germany: first report on equal opportunities between men and women at work recommends radical shift in policy
Very upsetting report.  “I hope your contribution will bring new answers to the questions raised by the policy of gender equality.  I am expecting recommendations that can be implemented” asked...
27 January 2011
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
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...
4
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...
5
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...
6
Germany: legal battle at Tesla ahead of works council election
The Frankfurt/Oder labour court has postponed a mid-November hearing in the case between the IG Metall union and Michaela Schmitz, employee representative and head of the works council at the...