News brief

Denmark: sacred union of political parties to increase control over foreign businesses
t signed an agreement with the opposition parties which will be enforced via a law aimed at better monitoring foreign businesses’ activity and their staff’s working conditions...
Great Britain: youth and senior employment and bonus tax on the menu in 2010-11
the Exchequer Alistair Darling presented the guidelines of his pre-Budget 2010 to the House of Commons. This program is resolutely turned towards supporting youth and senior employment, and making...
EU: employment at the center of the future Spanish Presidency’s agenda
Spanish government presented the outline of its six-month agenda for the EU Presidency. Employment is at the heart of Spain’s priorities as well as the adoption of an non-discrimination...
EU: the 27 are divided on the European Private Company Statute, especially worker participation in the managing bodies
tiations on the status of the European company isn’t accidental. The participation of workers in managing bodies is at the heart of the disagreement between the Twenty-Seven on the draft...
United States: Labor Secretary Hilda Solis presents 2010 agenda
s wants to revise, adjust and redress 90 regulations affecting labor relations. These reforms can be carried out outside any legislative process, the outcome of which remains uncertain. The...
Germany: Constitutional Court reaffirms the principle of Sunday rest
t to Klaus Wowereit, Mayor of Berlin, the Karlsruhe Constitutional Court ruled, on December 1, that the Berlin law on stores’ opening hours, which allows stores to open for the four Advent...
Portugal: government proposes raising minimum wage to 475 euros in 2010
hly minimum wage amounting to 475 euros in 2010, to apply the commitment taken with the social partners in 2006. This proposal still needs to be discussed by the social dialog committee. (Ref...
Belgium: boom of young “prepensioners” because of the crisis
the prepension system in 2008. This year, already 2,393 people have, i.e. a 400% increase in one year. In theory, early retirement – which allows workers of a certain age who were fired to...
Sweden: unions and employer fight over part-time in retail and trade for 2010 negotiations
‘ organization in retail and trade, responded strongly to the claim presented by the sector’s union, Handels, to introduce a right to full time work into collective agreements. The...
EU: employment and skills at the heart of the revival of European sectoral social dialog in finance
ing daggers at each other, trade union and employers’ organizations in the banking sector met on November 27. Talks resumed around a report commissioned by the European Commission on the new...
Netherlands: TNT Post gives up European ambitions
ced that it abandoned its strategy for a pan-European post. The Dutch group is going to sell its postal subsidiaries abroad and is looking for partners in Germany and the UK. TNT Post keeps on...
Germany: walkout at Daimler, calm at Opel
s at the Sindelfingen plan demonstrated, on Friday, December 4, in Stuttgart, to protest against the management’s will to transfer, starting in 2014, most of the production of the C-Class to...
EU: European social dialog in the paper industry on the way of formalization
e paper sector, CEPI and EMCEF, informed the European Commission in October that they wanted to take cooperation further. To validate the formalization of European social dialog in the sector, the...
Hungary: two new acts revise the functioning of tripartite and sectoral social dialog structures
arian Constitutional Court questioning the co-determination right granted to national and sectoral social dialog structures, the Hungarian Parliament adopted two acts revising the powers of these...
Spain: Michelin signs job cut agreement providing for 380 early retirements
entral works council and management signed an employment regulation program (ERE) which will be implemented on January 1, 2010 and which will end in 380 early retirements. They also announced the...
EU: political agreement on the draft directive on parental leave
Council of Ministers for Employment and Social Affairs signed a political agreement on the draft directive on parental leave, based on the agreement signed by the European social partners in June...
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
Netherlands: new government seeks to “control” social costs
In his government policy statement to Parliament on 25 February, Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten announced several measures designed to "control" social costs. Notably, he proposed raising the...
2
Spain: a bill to regulate internships
On 3 March, the Council of Ministers approved the bill on the “Status for persons undergoing non-professional practical training in companies”. The text limits the number of interns a company can...
3
Germany: launch of the “WE-Fair” alliance for binational training of skilled foreign workers
Germany continues to expand and diversify its initiatives to attract skilled foreign labour from outside the EU. In mid-March 2026, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development...
4
EU: co-legislators aim to pivot European Globalisation Adjustment Fund towards restructuring anticipation
On 25 February, the Council of the EU and the Parliament reached an agreement on the Commission’s proposed regulation to expand the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF). Under the...
5
Block to slash workforce by nearly half
The news. In his latest shareholder letter, Jack Dorsey, CEO of payment service provider Block (formerly Square), announced plans to slash the company’s workforce “by nearly half, from...