Italy: consultation between the government and unions on the “wage issue”
The "wage issue" was presented as the government's priority for 2008. It is also a priority for the Cgil, the Cisl and the Uil which, in their November 24 platform, asked for a reduction of the...
Bulgaria: unions ready to strike against the draft bill on collective bargaining
Unions threatened to launch a general strike in the spring if Parliament adopts the draft bill on collective bargaining, which would establish a conciliation procedure before launching any...
EU: EWCs calling to the Commission’s attention about the content of the future amended directive on EWCs
Welcoming a possible modifications of the directive on European works' councils (see our article No. 071000,) several EWCs (Alcatel-Lucent, Chemtura, Italcementi and Securitas) sent Vladimir...
Hungary: judgment on the lawfulness of a strike under a valid collective agreement
According to the decision of the Metropolitan Court of Budapest, laid down last December 21, 2007, a strike lanched by the Independent Union of Rail Man (VDSZSZ) to request a compensation for...
Germany: employers dread tough tariffs for 2008
A few days before wage negotiations in the public sector start, which will be the beginning of a series of other negotiations, employers' organizations warned : too important tariff agreements...
Great Britain: agenda for labour law reforms
Several texts concerning labour law are coming into effect this year. They notably plan to toughen sanctions for non-respect of minimum wage, mostly for temp work agencies, employers' legal...
Belgium: several national collective agreements adopted
The national Labour Council approved, on December 20, 2007, a series of national collective agreements (CCT) and of judgments to enforce several parts of the interprofessional agreement for the...
Luxembourg: new collective agreement for the banking sector
After long and tough negotiations, the Association of Luxembourg's Banks and Bankers (ABBL) and the largest union in the sector, Aleba, signed, on December 28, a new collective agreement for the...
Spain: illegal workers have the right to strike
The Constitutional court gave illegal immigrants working in Spain the right to strike. It declared that the provision of the law on foreigners, which only grants the right to assemble and to...
Telefonica Group: “code of conduct” on workers’ rights
The telecommunication group Telefonica, the trade union federation Uni Global and the Spanish unions UGT and CC.OO signed, on December 17, a "code of conduct" on workers' rights, renewing the...
Spain: equality plan for Banesto
After the Santander bank (see our article No. 070841), the Banesto bank is now signing a gender equality plan to enforce the law on effective gender equality. It also aims at putting equal...
Germany: Opel GmbH to pay retrospectively for extra company pension to 20.000 pensioners
After two rulings at the federal Labour Court rendered in 1993 and 2002 by virtue of the principle of equal treatment among workers, Opel negotiated with its EWC a retroactive payment of an...
Italy: social partners from the electric sector renew their collective agreement’s economic part
The agreement to renew the national collective agreement was signed on December 18, 2007. Unions are satisfied with this text which grants an average 116 euros increase for the 2008-2009 period...
Sweden: reactions to the Court of Justice’s decision in the Laval Partners case
The decision of the Court of Justice of the European Communities concerning the case P Baltic Bygg and its parent company, the Latvian group Laval Partneri (see our article No. 071034), whose...
Spain : the agreement which will supervise sectorial company negotiations in 2008 was signed
Social partners decided, for 2008, to renew the interprofessional agreement on collective negotiation signed in 2007, with a few novelties in terms of work-life balance, and harassment as part of...
Germany: GDL breaks negotiations with the Deutsche Bahn and starts a new strike
The train drivers' union GDL unexpectedly broke the negotiations started on December 4 with the DB, which had enabled to stop strike movements in Germany. The union announced that train drivers...
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