News brief

Sweden: learning agreement in the wood industry departs from layoff order to keep young skilled workers
e wood and furniture sector signed by the GS union (Forest, Wood and Graphic Workers’ Union) and its employers’ counterpart, Tra och moberlindustriforbundet (furniture and wood...
Austria: banking employees get a 1.36% raise
to go through the four statutory negotiating meetings to reach, on Tuesday, January 19, a wage agreement. The sector’s 80,000 employees will see their salary increase of 0.75% on February 1...
Great Britain: family policy at the heart of the electoral debate
s, the Department for Children, Schools and Families presented, on January 20, a Green Paper on Families which contains several proposals on how to improve work-life balance. It notably promises a...
Colombia: 3.64% minimum wage increase after failed negotiations between the social partners
a 3.64% minimum wage increase after the recurrent stalemate of negotiations between unions and employers on the issue. The increase is lower than planned inflation in 2010 – 2%, like in...
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...
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
Italy: Enel signs agreement to manage the effects of AI on work
An agreement signed at the end of July by the electricity company Enel (31,000 employees) and the unions Filctem-Cgil, Flaei-Cisl, and Uiltec is pioneering in the Italian energy sector. It aims to...
7 September 2026
2
Italy: artificial Intelligence on the menu of Barilla’s new company agreement
Prior consultation with trade unions on innovations related to artificial intelligence, strengthened training, and progress on parenthood: these are the main new features of the agreement signed...
2 September 2026
3
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
4
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
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