Germany: construction union lays the foundations for “alternative” wage negotiations
ress (20th Gewerkschaftstag – September 14-17), the IG BAU announced a reorientation of its stands for future collective bargaining. On the menu: high wage increases and minimum claims above...
Portugal: workers in ailing businesses get better protection if wages are temporarily not paid
r 14 introduces better protection for workers if their ailing business can temporarily not pay their wages, by suspending their labor contract to receive unemployment benefits. (Ref. 090855) The...
Great Britain: TUC’s annual congress focused on economic policy
C union was held in Liverpool on September 14-17. Unions called for a new policy protecting jobs, pensions and the middle classes. Gordon Brown promised he would protect jobs in the public sector...
Brazil: auto workers at Sao Paulo get a pay raise used as a goal by other metalworkers on strike
union obtained a 6.53% wage increase – higher than inflation – for the 53,000 workers of the car plants in Sao Paulo. However, the new collective agreement doesn’t affect workers...
Great Britain: CWU threatens with national strike
Wildcat strikes throughout the country. Since June 19, 2009, there have been 34 days of strike, from southern England to northern Scotland, in over 235 Royal Mail establishments. The last...
Italy: Fiom-CGIL confirms intention to launch a national strike in metalworking on October 9
ccanica employers’ federation rejected the proposition made by the Fiom-CGIL, largest metalworkers’ union, to conclude a temporary agreement to avoid the adoption of a separate...
Portugal: new act introduces new tax system for golden parachutes
(No. 100/09) introduces a special tax system for managers’ benefits if they leave the company earlier than expected. It also amends corporations’ tax code to introduce a 35% tax for...
General Motors: Magna’s takeover of Opel creates fear
d by the German government for the recovery of the German carmaker Opel bring fears of a restructuring program affecting, at first, employees in Belgium, Spain and Hungary. On Monday, September...
Netherlands: for the first time, unions are going to discuss the wages of ING’s managers
ING, the largest bank in the Netherlands, agreed they would talk, in October, about huge wages within the bank, as part of the extension to December 31, 2011 of the current collective agreement...
Germany: IG-Metall wants to reform its structures and focus on recruiting members
ll, the largest trade union in Germany (2.3 million members), announced that his organization was going to change its structure and improve the resources granted to local offices. They will have...
Germany: substantial conflict could burst between Verdi union and the Deutsche Post
tember 14, 2009 in Berlin, Andrea Kocsis, VP of the Verdi services union, accused the Deutsche Post AG of using the economic crisis as an excuse to attack employees’wages and working...
Italy: beginning of negotiations between the social partners on employee profit-sharing
distribution of profit to workers” – demanded by Labor Minister Maurizio Sacconi to reach a ‘joint opinion’ with the social partners within two months – has been...
Poland: social conflict around the privatization of the ENEA energy group
ing, to privatize the ENEA energy group, relations between the government and the group’s unions have been particularly tense. Unions denounce the conditions of the privatization, in favor...
Italy: towards a separate agreement for the renewal of the metalworking CCN
f the metalworking national collective agreement resumed on September 10, the Federmeccanica employers’ federation announced that it would only base the negotiations on the joint platform...
Austria: collective bargaining about to be tough in metalworking and civil service
s’ unions will open negotiations with their wage claims in preparation for the annual collective negotiations which will start on October 9, 2009. Negotiations in civil service and trade...
Germany: SPD and unions to help employees save their company
ement often “employee capital interest act” two social-democrat ministers, Olaf Scholz (Employment and Social Affairs) and Peer Steinbrück (Finance) presented, on September 8, the...
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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
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...
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
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...
6
France: generative AI and older workers central to BPCE’s skills management strategy
On 17 July 2025, BPCE and its trade unions signed a second agreement on jobs and career management within the banking group. The text places generative artificial intelligence at the core of its...