News brief

Tesa: agreement on employee representation in the future European company
rmany of the European company status (SE), Tesa AG – one of the world leaders in adhesive tapes – is about to complete its transformation into an SE. In late 2008, the management of...
Italy: unions mobilize against the closure of an Indesit plant
electrical appliances maker, has confirmed its decision to close its dishwasher plant with 600 workers at None (near Turin) and transfer production to Poland. But unions are mobilized against this...
General Motors: management to explain its intentions concerning its Brussels subsidiary
an Commission, the managers of General Motors, GM US and GM Europe are going to meet, today Friday March 13, with the EU Ministers for Industry concerned by the situation of the carmaker...
Belgium: government announces three measures to combat age discrimination
ter for Employment and Equality, Joëlle Micquet, announced three new measures to increase the fight against age discrimination. This intervention follows the publication of an analysis on job...
Germany: wage agreement for Lufthansa’s cabin crew
ust avoided an unlimited strike of its cabin crew. After tough negotiations (see our dispatch No. 090072), the German airline’s management, the Ufo cabin crew union (Unabhängige...
Italy: first law on “guaranteed minimum income” in the Latium region
s and atypical workers who aren’t entitled to partial unemployment compensation or to any other form of social dampers, the Regional Council of the Latium (Rome area) approved the Guaranteed...
Germany: wage agreement signed in the industry in west Germany against a crisis background
otiations, the IG Metall iron and steel union and employers adopted, on March 10, 2009, a new collective agreement for the 85.000 employees of the textile and clothing industry in the former...
Netherlands: 15% wage cut for postmen
group TNT Post (former TGP Post, national company) have to accept a 15% wage cut in preparation for the liberalization of the postal market. An agreement in principle – which must still be...
Spain: Supreme Court accepts double wage scale at Repsol Quimica
g, the chemistry branch of the Repsol oiler obtained satisfaction. In November 2008, a Supreme Court ruling overrules the case law. Beforehand, unions were supported in similar cases, and the wage...
Germany: the Grand Coalition wants to improve legislation on setting bosses’ wages
anagers’ pay and bonuses is still raging, the parties of the Grand Coalition, CDU/CSU and SPD, adopted, during a summit meeting on the night between march 4 and march 5, 2009, new rules to...
EU: the Commission’s annual report points to lasting delay in terms of gender equality
mission presented its annual report on equality between men and women. Even though women’s employment rate – 58.3% – is now close to the Lisbon objective – 60% – the...
Italy: record hike in appeal to partial unemployment
rmal partial unemployment of over 500% was recorded in the industry in February compared with the same period in 2008. The increase topped 1.000% in the iron and steel sector. Unions warn about a...
Italy: businesses cannot use fingerprints to control workers’ presence
ric identification systems to check if their employees are present and when they come in and out, except for security purposes. This is what the Italian Monitoring Authority on the protection of...
EU: the 27 Ministers of Labor are working on the social impact of the crisis
uropean Ministers for Employment and Social Affairs, gathered in Brussels for a Council of Ministers, discussed the social consequences and the impact on employment of the crisis. They insisted to...
Bulgaria: new compensation for employees when working time is reduced
bal economic crisis, which appeared to affect more seriously the national economy in the last months, the Bulgarian government has taken a step towards mitigation of the crisis’ effects on...
China: the end of an era for white collars
ars is the focus of this third chapter of our series of reports on “China and unemployment”. In control on the labor market, these employees are forced to lower their wage expectations...
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
United Kingdom: government urged to legislate against forced labour
After consulting victims, businesses and NGOs, the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner (IASC) has published a report showing that the UK is lagging behind in the fight against forced labour. The...
13 January 2026
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EU: European Parliament calls for a directive on just transition
On 20 January, MEPs approved, with 420 votes in favour, an own-initiative report calling for a just transition directive. The text calls for the protection of workers to be guaranteed in the...
20 January 2026