News brief

EU: IndustriALL European Trade Union created
, on May 16, the 200 organizations affiliated with the three European trade union federations – the European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers’ Federation (EMCEF), European...
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14 May 2012
Spain: interview of José Carlos Gonzalez Lorente, Federal secretary at Comfia-CCOO, the financial services federation, about his organization’s CSR and SRI actions
representative for Comfia-CCOO, the union federations of financial and administrative services of the Workers’ Commissions union, is telling Planet Labor about corporate social...
11 May 2012
Sweden: new provisions on “emergency overtime” in the energy industry
wage increase, the new agreement signed on March 24 between the SEF union (Svenska Elektrikerförbundet) and the EFA energy employers’ organization (Energiföretagens...
10 April 2012
Germany: unions’ globalization strategy helped by Bob King, leader of the American auto workers’ union, joining Opel’s board
of the American United Auto Workers (UAW), will become a full member of the supervisory board of Adam Opel GmbH. Sources tell Planet Labor that both General Motors and the German IG-Metall union...
Belgium: parental leave goes from 3 up to 4 months
Ministers adopted a draft royal decree planning to add one month to parental leave, in keeping with Directive 2010/18 which provides for four months’ parental leave. The draft also...
Germany: regions are trying to attract skilled workers
the growing importance of the shortage of skilled workers in Germany. These past few years, over 700 networks gathering different roleplayers (chambers of commerce, employment agencies, towns...
19 March 2012
Netherlands: soaring precariousness on the labor market
insurance released figures, saying that they were “shocking,” showing that no more than 2,000 people signed a permanent contract in 2011, as opposed to 83,000 in 2010. Fixed-term...
Germany: IZA institute says the removal of systems facilitating early retirement at 55 greatly helped increase seniors’ employment rate
r first report on “A Labor World Adapted to Age,” Ursula von der Leyen, German Employment Minister, said that Germany made “remarkable progress” in terms of seniors’...
Spain : commentary of the latest labor reform
ment, with the support of the Spanish people, the Mariano Rajoy administration promised to go through with the labor market reform even if it committed to keep on exchanging with the social...
21 February 2012
EU: changes introduced by the draft regulation on the protection of private data in labor relations
Commission adopted a draft regulation on the protection of data which deeply reviews existing rules. Ariane Mole, Partner at the Bird & Bird law firm, has agreed to tell Planet Labor about the...
20 February 2012
France: focus on recent court rulings on the working time of managers following the Supreme Court decree invalidating the annual working days system in the chemical sector
preme Court rendered a decree where it states that the annual working days system introduced in the chemical industry does not provide enough guarantees regarding the right to time off. Thus...
Alstom: European agreement on social commitments during the transition period of the joint venture between Alstom and Shanghai Electric
ederation (EMF) and Alstom management have already signed European agreements concerning social guarantees within the framework of an operation likely to have an impact on employment. In a new...
Great Britain: government will transpose parental leave European directive in 2013 instead of 2012
, which must be transposed by March 8, 2012, will only be implemented in March 2013 in the UK. The reason given is that it will be included in a new, more flexible policy on parental leave...
Italy: the three key union confederations present a unitary platform to reform the labor market
17, the leaders of the CGIL, Cisl and Uil – Susanna Camusso, Raffaele Bonanni and Luigi Angeletti – kicked off their unitary platform for the labor market reform. In addition to...
18 January 2012
Portugal: new social agreement bans controversial working time increase while adding flexibility
t signed by the Portuguese government, employers and the UGT ends a controversy on the increase of working time with no financial compensation in the private sector. This plan of adding 30 minutes...
18 January 2012
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
Import bans on forced labor products are multiplying
Under pressure from new US tariffs, many countries have presented texts in recent weeks to ban the import of products made with forced labor. A real breakthrough for workers' rights or a mere...
9 September 2026
2
Germany: a “simplification” proposal for the Corporate Governance Code
In early August, the Government Commission presented proposals to reform the Deutscher Corporate Governance Kodex (DCGK), Germany’s Corporate Governance Code. The proposals are primarily aimed at...
31 August 2026
3
France: EDF served formal notice for failure to comply with its sustainability due diligence obligations
The news. On 23 September, Greenpeace France announced that it had served EDF with a formal notice for failure to comply with its sustainability due diligence obligations due to the risks of harm...
24 September 2026
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Slovakia: a bill to “clarify” personal data protection measures
The news. The Slovak government approved a bill on personal data protection on August 26, 2026. This text aims to clarify existing regulations regarding employees’ rights and...
7 September 2026