Renault: EWC expresses solidarity with Spanish workers
results for 2008, a delegation of Spanish employees went to Paris to express concern over their job’s future. The French car manufacturer’s EWC supported this approach in a...
Germany: investment bankers at the Dresdner Kleinwort to press charges to get their bonus
essed a around €1 billion in their unit in 2008 – the managers of the Dresdner Kleinwort investment bank – a subsidiary of Dresdner Bank, bought by the Commerzbank in January...
12 February 2009
Areva: evaluation of the European project on the development of social dialogue via the framework agreement on equal opportunities
e ODEO (“Open dialogue through equal opportunities”) project, which includes Areva’s EWC bureau and management representatives, presented its final report to the European...
Poland: statutes of the new Confederation of Metalworkers’ Unions published
The Confederation of Metalworkers' Unions, created on January 7 (see our dispatch No. 090038) published its statutes, formalizing this inter-union structure, aimed at representing member...
Netherlands: interview with professor Kees Cools on managers’ pay
It did not reach a consensus for three reasons. First of all, we would have been the first and only country in the world to accept such a general standard. And then we would have taken the risk of...
11 February 2009
Italy: bill reforming the right to strike in essential public services presented to unions
eshold for unions calling for a strike, prior declaration of individual participation to the strike, sanctions for those violating standards and a possible obligation to carry out a...
Germany: conflict in the metal sector after a wage increase was postponed because of the crisis
r and sales in the automotive industry, the Gesamtmetall, the employers’ organization of the metallurgy sector, announced that the sector’s companies want a major delay of the second...
Germany: rail unions sign the Deutsche Bahn’s new collective agreement
hree rail unions – Transnet, GDBA and GDL – validated, on February 5, the collective agreement negotiated with the Deutsche Bahn’s management on January 30, 2009. It provides...
Switzerland: after voting yes to the free movement of Bulgarian and Romanian workers, unions ask for measures against social dumping
Referendum outcome. Despite predictions of a close finish, the accord extension was approved by just under 60% of voters. In total, the bilateral agreement providing for the free movement of...
Slovakia: the social partners agree to limit wage increases in 2009
he key trade unions have committed to wage demand pragmatism for 2009, in an effort to preserve the Slovak labor market in a country which highly depends upon exports. They committed not to ask...
Great Britain: Total’s employees at the Lindsey refinery go back to work after obtaining 102 positions for local workers
refinery, owned by Total, ended last week. Faced with the wildcat strike of British employees against the employment of Italian and Portuguese workers posted by a subcontractor employed to extend...
Slovenia: employers and union organizations criticize the lack of social dialogue
or employers’ and union organizations sent an open letter to the president of the Slovene government where they expressed concern about recent developments in social dialogue. They think...
Finland: the social partners reform unemployment benefits and pensions
izations – SAK for blue collars, STTK for white collars, AKAVA for university-level trades – and the confederation of Finnish industries (EK) reached an agreement on a major social...
Netherlands: outcry after the announcement of double bonuses for ABN Amro managers
mplained after a double bonus was awarded to about 500 managers for the second year in a row. It is suspicious as to the fairness of this bonus, awarded to the highest levels of the hierarchy...
Spain: unions and employers’ organizations fight about the inflation rate to take into account for wage increases
nion confederations, defined the threshold for wage increases to 2%, while the CEOE employers’ confederation draws the line at 1%. After seven years of consensus on the prices defined in the...
Italy: the CGIL mobilizes against the separate agreement on the reform of the conventional system
he largest union confederation in Italy unanimously approved a strategy to object to the January 22 separate agreement on the reform of the conventional system (see our dispatch No. 090080) signed...
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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...