News brief

Netherlands: TNT Post competitors fight about working conditions
e government refused more flexible labor market conditions to Sandd and Selekt Mail, rivals of former national post TNT Post. Sandd sued the State to cancel the September ordinance which imposes...
Austria: trade workers will get a 1.5% wage increase on January 1, 2010
November for the 570,000 employees (Angestellte) in trade was used for workers (Arbeiter) in the sector (storekeepers, drivers…), i.e. about 100,000 people. Unlike the agreement for...
Great Britain: government improves support to youth employment and the fight against long-term unemployment
government published a white paper to fight against the impact of the recession on employment. It notably provides for a subsidy of 2,500 pounds for employers taking on 16-17-year-old apprentices;...
Belgium: anticrisis measures extended to June 30, 2010
en the social partners failed, the Federal Government decided, on December 15, during a limited Council of Ministers, to add six months to three measures adopted in June to face businesses’...
Portugal: notice of strike for December 24th in retailing
e and Service Workers of Portugal, CESP (affiliated with the CGTP-IN), called for a 24-hour strike on Christmas Eve to protest against the sector’s employers’ request to bring maximum...
Germany: labor cost increase down after two quarters up
ember 9 by the Federal Statistics Agency show that labor costs have been still in Germany for the 3rd 2009 quarter compared with the second 2009 quarter. It is a sign of stabilization of working...
Italy: social partners sign joint opinion of employee participation in enterprise profits
l partners save the CGIL signed a joint opinion recognizing employee participation in enterprise profits as an element of quality employment and productivity. The document provides for a follow-up...
Germany: Deutsche Bahn to cut nearly 14,000 jobs within five years
Tagesspiegel” daily wrote that the German railway, Deutsche Bahn, allegedly intends to cut around 14,000 jobs over the next five years, to overcome the impact of the crisis. The merchandise...
Spain: BBVA closes bank agencies on Saturday morning
d an agreement to close the 3,000 offices on Saturday morning. Workers will enjoy working time compensation. (Ref. 091141) As of December 26, BBVA employees will be free on Saturday, in exchange...
Sweden: Scania signs another company agreement for its 12,000 employees
national bus and truck manufacturer, announced that it signed a new company agreement with the If Metall (metalworkers’ union) and Teckniksföretag (supervisory union). As Veli-Pekka...
Belgium: ACV-CSC Textura and CSC Metal merge, creating ACV-CSC Metea, the federation of industry and the technology sector
d textile federations of the CSC, the Belgian Christian union, officially merged, creating ACV-CSC Metea. This new organization should help the union have a better say in sectoral bargaining...
Triumph International: Thai and Filipino unions organize a European tour to object to 3,600 compulsory layoffs
nternational, one of the world leaders in women’s lingerie, let go 3,600 workers in three plants in Thailand and the Philippines. Triumph justified this by operating losses and a global...
EU: the Twenty-Seven open the debate on the post-2010 Lisbon Strategy
on December 10-11, the heads of State and government of the EU, gathered in Brussels, opened the debate on the reform of the Lisbon strategy. They want it to be an “ambitious”...
United States: BP fined 87.4 million dollars by OSHA
Health Administration, OSHA, fined BP 87.4 million dollars for failure to respect safety rules in its Texas refinery. This fine, of an unprecedented amount, shows the new government’s will...
Netherlands: fewer judges agree to the judicial termination of labor contracts
ans have been accepted this year. The Het Financieele Dagblad daily says that courts refused 18% of layoff requests in 2009, as opposed to 12% in 2008 and 10% in 2007. Only 9.3.3% of layoffs were...
Germany: collective agreements signed by the Christian Union in the temporary sector are useless
hristian Trade Unions (CGZP), which appealed to the ruling rendered by the Berlin Labor Court in April, was defeated again. Confirming the decree of the first instance tribunal, the regional labor...
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