News brief

Germany: focus on the partial unemployment system
vercome the crisis without collapsing, the federal government is placing all its hopes into partial unemployment (Kurzarbeit). Confirmed on February 20, 2009 by the Bundesrat, the chamber of...
Spain: the merger between the metal and textile-chemistry federations of the Workers’ Commissions won’t happen
et closer, the CCOO’s two largest federation failed to unite. The leaders of the textile-chemistry and affiliate federation (Fiteqa) decided to end the process. They argue that methods and...
EU: the College of Commissioners consults the social partners on solutions to the crisis
pean social partners (ETUC for unions, BusinessEurope, CEEP and UEAPME for employers) were invited to express themselves at the College of Commissioners on February 25. Talks on possible solutions...
Netherlands: negotiations on measures to adopt against the crisis
ein Donner, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, called for a total freeze of wages and pensions. This is one of the solutions to be proposed and discussed by the social partners. The Minister...
International: ILO sectoral meeting on the impact of the crisis on bank employees
nization (ILO) dedicated its tripartite meeting on the financial sector to the impact of the crisis on banking jobs and possible solutions to downplay this impact. The February 24-25 meeting was...
Netherlands: veil squad against discrimination
Muslim women, member of the Ibnou Khaldoun Islamic foundation, launched a “veil squad of the polders’ Muslims”. These women want to defend their right to wear the veil at work...
Austria: government prepares for the creation of a “labor foundation” for agency workers
loyment (January 2009) in the sector, Austrian agency workers are the first victims of the crisis. Supported by the social partners, Rudolf Hundstorfer, Minister of Social Affairs and Employment...
Germany: Schaeffler brings joint management home and breaks a taboo
fects. After objecting to it for several years, the Schaeffler family group announced, on February 23, 2009 in a joint press release with the IG Metall union, that it accepted to extend joint...
Netherlands: ING’s CEO won’t be paid in 2009
he ING bank, decided to do without remuneration for 2009. A decision will be made for his 2009 salary in 2010, when the policy on bank managers’ pay, currently discussed, is established...
25 February 2009
EU: BusinessEurope opposed to binding measures against environmental tobacco smoke
ion launched by the European Commission at the end of 2008 (see our dispatch No. 090028), BusinessEurope announced that it wasn’t in favor of measures forbidding smoking at work. The...
EU: Parliament demands better application of the directive on the information and consultation of workers
Ps adopted the report of French MEP Jean-Louis Cottigny (PES, FR) on the application of Directive 2002/14/EC on the information and consultation of workers. The European Parliament deplores Member...
Denmark: the 3F building union presented wage propositions for posted workers
hed its wage propositions in preparation for a collective agreement on workers posted in Denmark. However, negotiations with employers are at a standstill. (Ref. 090208) 171.40 crowns (€23)...
EU: MEPs want to extend social liability to the production line
of the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs adopted an own-initiative report inviting the European Commission to propose a legal tool establishing joint and...
Colombia: unions legally object to the government decree on minimum wage increase
State Council an application for annulment of the decree providing for a 7% minimum wage increase for 2009. Staff representatives want to show that the negotiation process provided for by the law...
Italy: latest quarterly report of the metallurgy employers’ federation sounds the alarm on the economic situation
ca employers’ federation has been carrying out a quarterly study among a panel of member businesses. The results of the 109th study for the last quarter of 2008 were published on February...
Spain: employers want freedom to lay off
nsist upon the idea that the only way to curb the rise in unemployment (from 8.5% to 14.5% in one year) is to make dismissals more flexible. They want lower compensation scales and removed...
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
EU: Commission proposes loosening of AI regulations
On 19 November, the European Commission published a proposal for an omnibus regulation aimed at simplifying the AI Act in order to ‘ensure the swift, smooth and proportionate implementation’ of...
24 November 2025
2
EU: list of new CSRD reporting standards finalised
On 4 December, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) presented the revised list of reporting indicators under the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which...
5 December 2025
3
EU: co-legislators strike agreement on Omnibus Directive
The European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached an agreement on the night of 8 December on the weakening of the directives on corporate sustainability reporting (CSRD) and corporate...
9 December 2025
4
EU: Parliament formally adopts omnibus, diluting due diligence rules
On 16 December, the European Parliament formally approved the omnibus package amending the EU corporate sustainability reporting and due diligence directives. Their application has been pushed...
16 December 2025
5
Italy: three executives from luxury goods group Tod’s investigated over worker exploitation
Italian authorities are once again turning their attention to working conditions in the luxury goods supply chain. On 20 November, the Milan public prosecutor charged three senior executives of...
28 November 2025
6
Fashion brands accused of violating trade union freedoms in Asia
On 27 November, Amnesty International released a report denouncing widespread violations of trade union freedoms in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka by both governments and suppliers to...
28 November 2025