News brief

Poland: better regulation of internships soon
n Parliament provides for a new legal framework for internships for young graduates from secondary and higher education. This text is aimed at facilitating young people’s employability and...
Finland: tough start for wage negotiations in the industry
Industries (employers, EK) and the Council of Finnish Industrial Unions (TP) split up, in late march, over a disagreement which predicts bumps in the road for the negotiations to take place within...
Great Britain: unions and employers ask the government to compensate partial unemployment
, the government is going to publish its coming budget, the TUC, the British Chambers of Commerce an the EEF representing the industry, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and the Work...
Germany: IG Metall signs an agreement reducing partial unemployment costs and extending fixed-term contracts
day, April 15th by the IG Metall union and the Sudwestmetall employers’ federation in southern Germany opens the way for the renewal of fixed-term contracts for four years instead of two and...
Estonia: government suspends State contributions to the second pillar of compulsory pension schemes for two years
unced that, as of June 1, it would stop paying its contribution to the compulsory supplementary pension scheme managed by pension funds. For the moment, the people involved in this program pay out...
Brazil: 1,200 temporarily laid off at Mercedes Benz
in March, the German carmaker implemented several measures to reduce activity in one of its Brazilian factories making trucks and buses: 10% of the 12,000 workers of the site were laid off for 15...
20 April 2009
Belgium: negotiations down in the metallurgy sector?
ector is badly affected by the crisis in Belgium, the regional committee of Wallonia-Brussels of the FGTB union said no, on April 15, to the memorandum of understanding in the metal making sector...
France: Supreme Court draws a line between outplacement within the framework of international posting and illegal labor leasing
by the Criminal Chamber of the French Supreme Court can be used to differentiate situations belonging to transnational posting, subject to the provisions of Directive 96/71 and of article L...
Netherlands: social agreement in addition to economic recovery plan
resented by the Dutch government on March 25 (see our dispatch No. 090335) came with a wide social agreement which the social partners negotiated at length. Its key measure is the increase of...
Poland: arduous talks on bills deriving from the anticrisis package
veloped their “anticrisis action package”, mostly focused on labor law, the government sent its own propositions for measures. However, during the bilateral meeting of the social...
Italy: Cisl, Uil and Confindustria sign the confederal agreement enforcing the reform of the conventional system
growth, development of employment and increased productivity,” the two union confederations Cisl and Uil and the Confindustria employers’ association signed, on April 15, 2009, the...
Germany: temp’s Christian trade unions (CGZP) cannot negotiate collective agreements
n court on April 1 is going to revive the controversy on the introduction of minimum wage in the temporary sector. Indeed, competition between collective agreements signed by the CGPZ and the...
EU: Parliament and Council keep talking about the revision of the working time directive and focus on the opt-out
of the working time directive are still on. This is the message expressed by two press releases published by the Council of EU Ministers and the European Parliament after the meeting of April 15...
Lithuania: flexible Labor Code via collective bargaining
artite committee gathering the State, unions and employers looked at the Labor Code amendments proposed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, the Lithuanian Free Market Institute and the...
Netherlands: CEOs’ pay strongly decreasing
the largest businesses listed on the stock exchange dropped by 21% in 2008, revolving around 3 million euro annually, says a study carried out by the De Volkskrant daily. This subject is closely...
Great Britain: deepening gender pay gap in finance
women for similar jobs in finance shows the last report of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). The latter launched a survey to understand the reasons for this gap. The results will be...
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
Pascale Rauline (Axa EWC): “European charter formalises ongoing and accelerated social dialogue on AI”
On 27 November, Axa and its European works council (EWC) signed a charter setting out principles governing the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) and guaranteeing social dialogue on the...
2
Germany: crisis-hit industries cast shadow over 2026 bargaining cycle
In 2026, collective wage agreements for nearly 10 million employees in Germany are set to expire. With upcoming negotiations in crisis-hit 'pilot' sectors such as chemicals and metalworking, the...
2 December 2025
3
Bulgaria: government approves bill to encourage sector-level collective bargaining
On 26 November, the Bulgarian government approved amendments to the labour code designed to reinforce the legal framework for sector-level collective bargaining. The reform aims to stimulate...
2 December 2025
4
EU: social partners in telecoms sign joint statement on AI
On 16 December, the social partners in Europe's telecommunications sector unveiled a joint statement on artificial intelligence. They propose an action plan for skills and commit to raising...
18 December 2025
5
Inditex European works council mobilises on value sharing
In a joint statement, 10 trade unions comprising the European works council of the Inditex clothing group are calling for rallies in Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal, France, Italy and Germany...
6
Germany: Erwin Hymer Group’s innovative and award-winning AI agreement
Fed up with negotiating separate agreements for each new artificial intelligence (AI) tool, the social partners at Erwin Hymer Group (8,900 employees) have instead secured a broad, overarching...
12 December 2025