Belgium: mailmen fight for decent wages and labor
en on strike for three days, until today, March 4, to ask for an increase of their status and express concern over the evolution of their job and the way the company is preparing for the...
Ireland: ICTU threatens general strike
Tensions between the country’s largest union and the government have been brewing for weeks, leading up to a proposed suspension of last September’s national wage agreement (see our dispatch...
Germany: Deutsche Telekom and Ver.di call on a mediator to clear up their payroll differences
the fourth round of wage negotiations, the Deutsche Telekom phone company, and the Ver.di services union decided, on February 28, 2009, to launch a conciliation procedure and asked Henning...
Italy: the Council of Ministers approves the bill on the reform of the right to strike
0% of union members must vote for it. Failing this, if the strike call is voted by at least 20%, it will be necessary for them to obtain approval by 30% through a “prior compulsory...
General Motors Europe: European mobilization to save Opel and Saab
s of the American firm mobilized throughout Europe to protest against the announced restructuring. Opel/Vauxhall and Saab’s employees are the main targets, while GM is planning drastic cuts...
Germany: in western Germany, the textile industry threatens with warning strikes
at the 3rd negotiation round of February 26, 2009 was “intolerable”, the IG Metall union (metalworkers), which demands a 5.5% wage increase for employees in the textile and clothing...
Brazil: legal battle on dismissals within the Embraer aircraft company
for one week the 4.270 dismissals announced by the third aircraft manufacturer in the world, Embraer, until the conciliation meeting with unions. They ask the government to nationalize the...
2 March 2009
Poland: the social partners keep talking about the crisis at their social summit
h No. 090194), a social summit held on February 25, at the request of President Lech Kaczynski, gathering unions, employers’ organizations, representatives from the government, local...
Bolivia: businesses threaten with thousands of dismissals after the minimum wage increase
against the presidential decree which commands a 12% minimum wage increase in 2009. A general wage increase in the private sector will depend on the results of the negotiation between the social...
Germany: the crisis threatens businesses’ employment pacts
A promise increasingly hard to keep. Yet, the longer the crisis last, the more businesses may not be able to keep their promise. “For the moment, many businesses are still using partial...
Spain: the merger between the metal and textile-chemistry federations of the Workers’ Commissions won’t happen
et closer, the CCOO’s two largest federation failed to unite. The leaders of the textile-chemistry and affiliate federation (Fiteqa) decided to end the process. They argue that methods and...
Netherlands: negotiations on measures to adopt against the crisis
ein Donner, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, called for a total freeze of wages and pensions. This is one of the solutions to be proposed and discussed by the social partners. The Minister...
Netherlands: ING’s CEO won’t be paid in 2009
he ING bank, decided to do without remuneration for 2009. A decision will be made for his 2009 salary in 2010, when the policy on bank managers’ pay, currently discussed, is established...
25 February 2009
Denmark: the 3F building union presented wage propositions for posted workers
hed its wage propositions in preparation for a collective agreement on workers posted in Denmark. However, negotiations with employers are at a standstill. (Ref. 090208) 171.40 crowns (€23)...
Colombia: unions legally object to the government decree on minimum wage increase
State Council an application for annulment of the decree providing for a 7% minimum wage increase for 2009. Staff representatives want to show that the negotiation process provided for by the law...
Spain: employers want freedom to lay off
nsist upon the idea that the only way to curb the rise in unemployment (from 8.5% to 14.5% in one year) is to make dismissals more flexible. They want lower compensation scales and removed...
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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...
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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...
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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...