Labour relations

Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin wall, Germany is still divided. After an arduous seven-week strike in 1984, the 35-hour working week was secured in 1995 in former West Germany’s...

25 June 2019

Italy: innovative agreement struck at Luxottica

On 21 June, Italian eyewear company Luxottica (merged with Essilor) and trade unions Filctem-Cgil, Femca-Cisl, and Uiltec-Uil signed a particularly innovative company agreement (here) that will...

25 June 2019

United Kingdom: a non-European group may change the country of its representative agent for negotiating an EWC

In a decision passed on 18 June (here), a Central Arbitration Committee in the UK declared that the leadership of a non-European company, in this case Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE), may...

24 June 2019

ILO: Centenary Declaration sets human-centred agenda for the organisation

The 1944 Declaration of Philadelphia opened with these strong words: labour is not a commodity. It also established a series of primary objectives for the International Labour Organization –...

24 June 2019

Switzerland: what are the repercussions of the women’s strike of 14 June? (in brief)

Can the impact of the massive ‘women's strike’, which brought nearly 500,000 Swiss people onto the streets of the country on 14 June, be assessed? In the eyes of Unia, the largest trade union in...

24 June 2019

Germany: port operator Eurogate negotiates landmark automation agreement

Social partners at Eurogate, one of the largest port operators in Germany, with around 5,000 employees, penned a collective agreement “on the future” at the end of 2018, following several years of...

17 June 2019

United States: UAW union rejected again by workers at Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee

Once again trade unionists from the United Auto Workers (UAW) have been defeated in elections at the Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, a city in the southern state of Tennessee. The result came...

17 June 2019

Germany: IG Metall warns that many companies have no strategies to handle the major industrial changes ahead

During a press conference held in Frankfurt on 05 June, and on the occasion of the presentation of its ‘Transformation Atlas’, Germany’s IG Metall trade union has launched a ‘Red Alert’ over the...

6 June 2019

Telefónica: cross-cutting digital transformation

Spanish telecommunications giant Telefónica, which is present in 24 countries and employs more than 120,000 people across the world, spoke to Planet Labor about its digitalisation ambitions and...

6 June 2019

Argentina: annual salary agreements for the commerce, oil and metallurgy sectors

With inflation rampant, social partners from Argentina’s key economic sectors including commerce, oil, and metallurgy, are reaching a series of annual salary agreements. Salary revaluations have...

5 June 2019

United States: tech employees are stirring themselves

Until now IT programmers, designers, and all different types of software editors have been quite dismissive of collective action. Being well paid they don’t really see how collective agreements...

28 May 2019

Norway: joint union-business work project to contribute to national reflection on AI and ethical digitalization at work

Negotia, the largest member of YS, Norway’s third biggest union confederation, has jointly launched a shared reflection with Telenor, the country’s largest telecommunications company, on AI and...

27 May 2019

Argentina: Assessment of the Macri government’s social policy

Six general strikes in under four years. The call by the central CGT union (The General Confederation of Labor) for strike action on Wednesday 29 May marks the sixth strike since President...

27 May 2019

Switzerland: is the nationwide women’s strike set for 14 June actually within the law?

At the end of March 2019 a multitude of women’s’ networks launched a call to strike action: ‘Frauen Streik’ setting the symbolic date of 14 June as the day for the strike. The movement comprising...

23 May 2019

Italy: major parties adopt anti-austerity stance ahead of European elections

Despite significant divergence in their respective views on Europe, the main parties in Italy appear to agree on one thing: enough of austerity. In a country that is yet to return to its GDP...

21 May 2019

France: debate over the CGT’s international strategy during its 52nd Congress questions the ‘hyper-institutional’ approach of both the ITUC and ETUC and takes a first step towards the WFTU

The WFTU has had a chequered past. Established in 1945, it was primarily made up of unions affiliated with or sympathetic to communist parties. In 1995 the CGT took the decision to exit the...

16 May 2019

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France: Orange submits gender equality agreement – including AI provisions – for union approval

The three representative trade unions at Orange France have until 10 December to validate an agreement on gender equality, work–life balance and anti-discrimination measures. While the text...

8 December 2025

mind RH analysis – Initial findings from CSRD social indicators

In 2025, for the first time, the universal registration documents of major European companies contain the sustainability reporting required by the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive...

31 October 2025

Candice Guillot (Talan): “Our recruiters save just over 80 hours per year on administrative tasks thanks to AI”

Candice Guillot, group director of employee experience and HR performance at Talan (7,000 employees), outlines for mind RH her vision and strategy for introducing artificial intelligence at the...

20 October 2025

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...

15 October 2025

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Pascale Rauline (Axa EWC): “European charter formalises ongoing and accelerated social dialogue on AI”

On 27 November, Axa and its European works council (EWC) signed a charter setting out principles governing the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) and guaranteeing social dialogue on the...

3 December 2025

Germany: crisis-hit industries cast shadow over 2026 bargaining cycle

In 2026, collective wage agreements for nearly 10 million employees in Germany are set to expire. With upcoming negotiations in crisis-hit 'pilot' sectors such as chemicals and metalworking, the...

2 December 2025

Bulgaria: government approves bill to encourage sector-level collective bargaining

On 26 November, the Bulgarian government approved amendments to the labour code designed to reinforce the legal framework for sector-level collective bargaining. The reform aims to stimulate...

2 December 2025

EU: social partners in telecoms sign joint statement on AI

On 16 December, the social partners in Europe's telecommunications sector unveiled a joint statement on artificial intelligence. They propose an action plan for skills and commit to raising...

18 December 2025

Inditex European works council mobilises on value sharing

In a joint statement, 10 trade unions comprising the European works council of the Inditex clothing group are calling for rallies in Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal, France, Italy and Germany...

24 November 2025

Germany: Erwin Hymer Group’s innovative and award-winning AI agreement

Fed up with negotiating separate agreements for each new artificial intelligence (AI) tool, the social partners at Erwin Hymer Group (8,900 employees) have instead secured a broad, overarching...

12 December 2025