Brazil: President Lula da Silva asks workers to reduce their claims and help businesses
z Inacio Lula da Silva, used his past as a union leader to urge workers from his country and elsewhere to abandon improvements to their working conditions during the crisis. “This is no time...
Lithuania: union revival against the crisis
ans surveyed by the Baltic Surveys Institute said they trusted their unions (32% don’t). These results are much higher than those obtained by the government (23%) and the Parliament (15%)...
Italy: Fincantieri employees mobilized after the refusal of signatory unions do a referendum on the company agreement
Uilm Uil signed the company agreement with the management of shipbuilding company Fincantieri. The Fiom-CGIL rejected it and demanded employee consultation via a referendum. The signatories...
PPR: EWC rejects restructuring plan announced for France
f PPR met for an extraordinary session in Paris, about the restructuring which will affect people employed by Fnac and Conforama in France. Although it only affects employees in one country, the...
Spain: UGT union reelects Candido Mendez as general secretary after 40th Congress
ss on April 1-4, Candido Mendez was reelected with 93.2% of votes for (none against) and more support than four years ago – when he gathered 75.9% of the votes. This reelection confirms that...
Belgium: one year to implement a policy on drugs and alcohol on the workplace
aken in the interprofessional agreement of February 2, 2007, the social partners signed, on April 1, 2009, a collective agreement on drugs and alcohol on the workplace. The goal is to give...
Germany: law on employees’ capital interest enforced
n of employees in the equity of companies” (Mitarbeiterkapitalbeteiligungsgesetz), voted on January 22, 2009 by the MPs of the majority (see our dispatch No. 090116) entered into force on...
ThyssenKrupp: the European Metalworkers’ Federation joins the IG Metall’s call for mobilization
on, IG Metall, called for an “emergency demonstration for the future and safety of employment” within ThyssenKrupp (180.000 employees) and is calling for a demonstration in Duisburg...
Italy: Cisl launches initiatives to help jobseekers in Emilia-Romania
Improve social cohesion. Roberto Pezzani, regional secretary of the Cisl’s Public Service, and Pier Ragazzini, Cisl general regional secretary explained that, to overcome the major economic crisis...
Sweden: national training program to increase the number of women on company boards
sh government launched a national training program for women (styrelsekraft) with two objectives: to make visible and distinguish women with competence for membership of company boards as well as...
6 April 2009
Finland: government revises CEOs’ bonuses and pensions in businesses partly owned by the State
New work group. Besides, recent cases showed that, in the absence of a specific system, heads of businesses enjoy contractual provisions that are extremely favorable in terms of pensions compared...
6 April 2009
Spain: the CEOE employers’ confederation re-elect Gerardo Diaz Ferran chairman
e Spanish employers’ confederation was re-elected by 83% of the votes, in spite of his reputation as a hardly consensual man within the organization and his fights with unions. He was the...
HP-EDS: the EWCs of the two groups say no voluntary wage cut program
cils of Hewlett-Packard and EDS met, on March 26-27, staff representatives expressed their opposition to the wage cuts – voluntary and permanent – proposed by HP’s European...
Mexico: airlines and airports cut 1.000 jobs each month
sector. In recent months, 6.400 jobs have been cut. Bu June, another 4.000 people will loose their job in airlines and businesses providing services on the ground. An agreement signed by unions...
Brazil: government and car industry sign pact to protect employment
ed to unfreeze $650 million to stimulate demand for cars and motorcycles. In exchange, car manufacturers will have to maintain the current level of employment in the mid term. Nevertheless...
3 April 2009
Dexia: ongoing negotiations on the implementation of the group’s “transformation plan”
n was announced in January, talks are flying around within Dexia’s EWC and in the countries affected, i.e. France, Luxembourg and Belgium. (Ref. 090365) Staff representatives’...
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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...