Sweden: IF Metall signs highly disputed agreement on apprenticeship and occupational integration
An agreement accused of wage dumping. Pointing to the fact that Sweden has the highest youth unemployment rate in the Nordic countries, IF Metall signed an agreement aiming to facilitate young...
Italy: Fiat signs new derogatory agreement for Mirafiori plant
The “newco” which will take over Mirafiori’s bodywork plant will be, as anticipated (see our dispatch No.  100895) subject to a new collective contract derogating from the national legislative and...
Poland: 5.24% minimum wage increase on January 1, 2011
This 5.24% minimum wage increase should affect a few thousand workers.  These are mostly low-skilled or disabled workers.  PLN 1,386 gross (about €347) amount to approximately PLN 1,000 after tax...
Sweden: new sectoral agreement in communications provides for 2.9% wage increase
A central agreement that fits with market reality.  Several unions, SEKO (workers’ unions in, notably, the energy, postal, telecommunications, traffic, road and transportation sectors), ST (union...
Estonia: unions demand minimum wage increase and social budgets
Too much flexibility, not enough security.  The Estonian Trade Union Confederation (EAKL) has recently been drawing attention to several problems. In October, it published a study named...
Portugal: minimum wage will increase to EUR500 in 2011, but gradually
Gradual increase.  Minimum wage in Portugal is going to increase by €10 a month on January 1, 2011, for a total of €485 a month (+5.3% with inflation at 2.2%).  Then, it will be increased again in...
Germany: retail trade prepares for the introduction of minimum wage in the first 2011 quarter
Around €8 an hour.  Minimum wage in retail trade?  No one was expecting this, even though the social partners have been talking about it since 2008.  Josef Sanktjohanser, leader of HDE, confirmed...
Spain: Catalonian Juan Rosell elected as the new President of the CEOE employers’ organization
Catalonian entrepreneur Juan Rosell was elected with 444 votes in favor (i.e. 62.5% of voters) as opposed to 247 for Santiago Herrero, the other candidate for the Presidency of the CEOE employers’...
21 December 2010
Great Britain: growing “cut price action”
More and more “cut price action.” Of the 4,336 ballots organised in the last five years for industrial action, in 87% of cases workers have answered the strike question in the affirmative, and the...
Portugal: government wants to limit layoff pay and facilitate negotiation at company level
Limiting layoff pay.  At this stage, the government hasn’t defined the limit and sent the case back for social dialogue.  However, layoff pay can only be limited for labor contracts signed after...
Italy: new Fiat-Chrysler joint venture will remain outside the Italian industrial relations system
After Fiat left the negotiating table on the future of Mirafiori (see our dispatch No.  100861), Sergio Marchionne, Fiat’s managing director, agreed, on Friday, December 10th, in New York, with...
Greece: latest mobilization episode shows people are still angry
Demonstrations were equally massive (the largest gathering since May 5th) in Athens and Thessalonica, the second largest city in the country.  All unions, private and public alike, took part in...
Germany: the Union of Christian Unions in the temporary sector isn’t authorized to sign collective agreements, Federal Labor Court rules
Victory for Verdi and the Land of Berlin. For the Union of Temporary Christian Unions (Tarifgemeinschaft Christlicher Gewerkschaften für Zeitarbeit und Personalserviceagenturen - CGZP), which...
15 December 2010
Italy: Telecom Italia launches its “school of labor relations”
“With this initiative, Telecom Italia keeps building a system marked by dialogue between the partners, the only one that can generate value for the entire society” declared Telecom Italia’s...
EU: European unions in the streets, Wednesday, December 15th
Unions are protesting against the austerity measures that impact wages and question the Welfare State in some European countries.  They notably blame the EU for determining aid to drastic wage...
14 December 2010
Veolia Environnement: rider to EWC agreement introduces flexible exchange of views
Build from the 2005 agreement.  The initial agreement, which dates back to October 10, 2005, already contained innovative provisions. It stated,“The vocation of the Veolia Environnement European...
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