Portugal: merchandise carriers strike against fuel prices
Trial of strength.  The emergency meeting between the government and carriers which followed the announcement of the blockade didn’t lead to an agreement, since the most important claim on...
Alstom: interview of Patrick Dubert and Noël Huret, respectively HR manager and IR manager of the Group, on the European agreement on the anticipation of change
Patrick Dubert.  We feel there are three sides to this agreement.  First, the organization of dialogue on evolutions, preparing the future both at European and at national/local level.  Secondly...
Italy: social partners set guidelines for territorial agreements for the tax exemption of productivity wages
The Confindustria confederation for employers and the CGIL, Cisl and Uil for unions signed, on March 8th, a unitary agreement on the guidelines for local agreements granting businesses tax...
Luxembourg: renewal of banking collective agreement
Disagreements.  Debated since the end of October 2010, the collective agreement applying to Luxembourg’s banks is about to be concluded.  The social partners – ABBL for employers and LCGB, ALEBA...
France: “the debate on the competitiveness differential between France and Germany is simplistic and does not take account of non-price factors” (Eric Heyer)
Eric Heyer.  The competitiveness of an economy can be assessed based on factor which I would divide between price factors and non-price factors.  The latter are crucial and numerous.  There’s the...
Germany: first pay bargaining round in construction failed
5.9% wage increase.  Unsurprisingly, the IG BAU union and the two key employers’ organizations in the sector, the Central Union of Construction Firms (ZDB) and the Construction Employers’...
Germany: train drivers overwhelmingly vote for unlimited strike
“A clear sign.”  As in 2007-2008, the German rail sector could shortly (no date has been given yet) be paralyzed by a major conflict.  Over 92% of the GDL’s members within DB and 96% within the...
Great Britain: report gibes at vocational education and calls for a recast
Criticism.  This independent report on vocational training, commissioned by the Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove, was carried out by Alison Wolf, professor of Public Sector Management...
7 March 2011
EU: UNI Europa wants to boost EWCs in the trade industry
Fabrice Warneck.  Research shows that, in commerce as well as in other sectors, there isn’t really a problem with information, more with consultation.  Two out of three times, if there is...
7 March 2011
Spain: union report on gender equality plans
Almudena Fontecha.  The introduction of equality plans is gradual.  All businesses with250+ employees have complied with the law and opened talks to prepare their plan.  The last large businesses...
7 March 2011
Brazil: Central Workers’ Union demands removal of mandatory union tax
The Central Workers’ Union (Central Unica dos Trabalhadores, CUT) has chosen March 1st to announce the enhancement of its campaign for the removal of the union tax, started three years ago. ...
Belgium: successful mobilization against cross-industry agreement
Success.  On Friday, March 4th, many sectors in manufacturing, banking, transportation, chain stores and town services were stopped in Belgium.  The FGTB’s socialists and the CGLSB’s liberals...
Sweden: first agreement on the posting of foreign workers signed in manufacturing
Last spring, the Swedish Parliament amended the Posting Act to make it comply with the Laval decree of 2007.  The latter stated that unions had to sign a “posting agreement” (utstationeringsavtal)...
7 March 2011
Germany: IAB institute says labor market is increasingly segmented
Boom in precarious employment.  Born from the necessary flexibilization of the employment market or dangerous precariousness for others, the labor market changes since the fall of the Berlin wall...
7 March 2011
Italy: social partners sign joint opinion on work-life balance
New flexibility.  The draft the Minister of Labor presented last week (see our dispatch No.  100145) was slightly amended.  The signatories agree on “the value of organizational flexibility for...
4 March 2011
Italy: CGIL calls for general strike on May 6th
“We’re already starting with a series of initiatives, and it will be a large mobilization across the country.”  This is how Susanna Camusso, CGIL general secretary, announced, yesterday March 3rd...
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