News brief

Romania: government blocks pension increase, angering pensioners who threaten to go down in the street
iament adopted the 2010 budget. Because of the severe recession which affected the country in 2009, this budget is very strict. The pension scheme is one of the many victims of this budget...
Italy: the first Observatory on occupational safety was set up in Milan
Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL), the Regional Equal Committee for Occupational Safety in Construction (CPT) and the Tribunal of Milan created, on January 14, the first Italian...
Poland: launching of the National Development Committee
ounced during the last social summit in March 2009, the National Development Committee met for the first time on January 7. This structure, which gathers all sorts of experts, will soon look into...
Great Britain: guide helps businesses prepare for the implementation of employees’ right to request time to train
inesses with over 250 employees will have the right to request free time to attend vocational training. All employees will be concerned in 2011. To prepare businesses to deal with this new right...
Denmark: historical agreement for the closure of the last cigarette plant in Denmark
or the shutdown of House of Prince was qualified as “the best agreement” of this kind in the country. Not only does it provide for generous compensation for the 500 employees who will...
Italy: youth employment program for 2020
tween school and work, revive technical and vocational education, apprenticeship contracts, revise the role of postgraduate training…these are some of the priorities of the “Italia...
Germany: Opel’s WC opposed to 9,000 job cuts in Europe
h the parent company, General Motors, calmed down a little, Klaus Franz, chairman the central works council of Opel, German subsidiary of GM, vividly criticized, on December 29, 2009, the savings...
Spain: government prepares draft pension reform
e of the draft reform seems rather limited. The key amendments the government wants to introduce affect the extension of periode of the contributions and survivors’ pensions. The final...
Italy: Enel and unions sign framework agreement on training
tion of the Social Responsibility Protocol signed in April 2009, the agreement concluded on December 23 by Enel and unions brings about a new era in terms of training. The new equal committee...
Netherlands: faster e-court for labor disputes
nage disputes related to everyday life – unpaid wages, labor disputes. It will work faster as soon as the parties present their problem. This court, which is more like an arbitration court...
Netherlands: reform of unemployment benefits in the offing
or Economic Affairs announced that he wanted to further cut the duration of unemployment benefits, which was already reduced from five years to a maximum of three years and two months in 2005...
Poland: towards an amendment of the law on temporary work
zynski, President of the Republic, sent a bill to the Parliament concerning “the amendment of the law on the employment of temporary workers.” In reality, this bill is aimed at...
Germany: IG-Metall proposes the creation of a “sectoral fund” to fight against the heightened decrease in apprentices
mber of apprenticeship contracts in 2009, the IG-Metall is expecting another 10% drop for 2010. According to the union, this decrease is “jeopardizing the flagship of German vocational...
Slovakia: the law bringing labor law in compliance with European laws on atypical workers was permanently adopted
Assembly of the Slovakian Republic adopted an amendment to the Labor Code following the European Commission’s demands regarding the failure to transpose provisions on part-time work...
Denmark: negotiations for the collective agreement started in manufacturing
of the collective agreement in manufacturing started on January 6. Traditionally, the manufacturing agreement opens the season and has a pilot role for other negotiations. Unions demand stronger...
Tools: overview of union claims in 2010 in some France’s neighboring countries
l year for collective bargaining. Caution is still necessary for employers, while for the trade unions, even though safeguarding employment remains a priority, it is important that employees...
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
Oliver Dietrich (IG Metall): “The advent of AI can be a means of deepening social partnership within companies”
In Germany, trade unions want to influence how AI is deployed in companies. Oliver Dietrich is an AI project manager at the regional office of the IG Metall trade union in North Rhine-Westphalia...
2
EU: social partners split over competitiveness and action on job quality
The European Trade Union Confederation and BusinessEurope have published their response to the consultation document on the European Commission's upcoming EU quality jobs initiative. The two...
4 February 2026
3
Germany: collective bargaining negotiations begin in chemical industry
Collective bargaining talks in Germany’s chemical and pharmaceutical industries are due to open this week, covering nearly 580,000 employees across around 1,700 companies. With the sector facing...
3 February 2026
4
Italy: new generational renewal agreement penned at UniCredit
The agreement signed on 30 December by UniCredit, Italy’s second-largest banking group, with the Fabi, First-Cisl, Fisac-Cgil, Uilca and Unisin trade unions aims to continue generational...
5
France: social partner talks extend far beyond contractual terminations
After a false start on 3 December, French social partners resumed talks on 7 January 2026 on potential changes to the unemployment insurance agreement, including the rules governing compensation...
12 January 2026
6
EU: banking sector social partners commit to combating violence and harassment
On 15 January, the trade union federation UNI Europa Finance and three employers’ associations in the banking sector signed a joint statement on preventing violence and harassment in the...