News brief

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...
EU: compromise on the revision of the globalization adjustment fund
reached a compromise for the revision of the European Globalization Adjustment Fund (EGF). This revision should enable the EU to fight against the social consequences of the crisis and should be...
Portugal: work on a new social security code began
reform of the labor code, the social partners are opening talks on the social security code, to provide a single reference document throughout the country. In addition to gathering scattered...
Denmark: the Muslim faith isn’t very popular on the workplace
that Muslim religious symbols and practices have nothing to do on the labor market. This is the observation of a recent survey carried out by the weekly journal of the LO union. The two largest...
France: carmakers sign agreements to avoid layoffs and maintain pay during partial unemployment
carmaker Renault and four union organizations (CFDT, CFTC, CFE-CGC and FO) signed a “social crisis agreement” aimed at saving “8.000-10.000 jobs in France in 2009.” The...
Siemens: the German multinational launches a real policy on diversity management
ng the Chinese Jill Lee to the post of “chief diversity officer,” Siemens announced the launching of several internal networks in charge of promoting women and young managers of high...
9 April 2009
EU: comprehensive note on the future EWC directive
he European Commission to present its draft revision of the EWC directive. Once started though, it only took a few months to be adopted. The compromise reached in December 2008 will be permanently...
Great Britain: businesses failing to pay damages to their employees after ruling will be blacklisted
Justice, the list will contain the names of individuals or businesses which, having failed to honor damages defined by employment tribunals in favor of an employee, forcing the latter to go back...
Poland: conclusions of the second social summit
summit was organized on the initiative of President Lech Kaczynski. Gathering, notably, the Prime Minister, union and employers’ representatives, economists, local governments, this summit...
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
Catherine Chavanier (CDC Habitat): “Social dialogue on AI facilitates its deployment”
In February, CDC Habitat (10,500 employees) signed a two-year framework agreement governing social dialogue on AI. Catherine Chavanier, HR Director of the subsidiary of CDC (Caisse des dépôts et...
2
Greece: hospitality sector signs first collective agreement aligned with National Social Pact
The hospitality sector (125,000 employees), one of Greece’s largest industries after retail, signed a new two-year collective agreement on 17 March. The text, effective from 1 April 2026...
3
France: La Poste to launch negotiations for an AI agreement
Following the lead of firms such as Axa, Syensqo globally, and more recently CDC Habitat, La Poste group management will open negotiations on an AI regulation agreement during the first half of...
4
France: Club Med includes “multiculturalism” in its professional equality agreement
In December 2025, Club Med and the CFTC, Unsa, and FO trade unions signed an agreement on professional equality and working conditions. It introduces measures addressing AI, pay transparency, and...
23 March 2026
5
France: bioMérieux’s new disability agreement pivots towards mental health
The news. On 6 January 2026, bioMérieux—an in vitro diagnostics specialist employing 4,400 people in France—signed a new four-year agreement “relating to the employment...
6
Germany: a wave of redundancy plans in the automotive sector
The latest financial results presented in early 2026 by major German car manufacturers show sharp declines. This collapse in profits has triggered the announcement or confirmation of massive job...
16 March 2026