News brief

Netherlands: new partial unemployment system
reduction system (Arbeidstijdverkorting, ATV) temporarily established in October to allow businesses to “save” their employees without dismissing them (see our dispatch No. 081049)...
Great Britain: ACAS publishes corporate equality and diversity guide
y & Diversity”, the guide published by ACAS – in charge of relations between employers and employees – explains employers and managers how to promote equality in recruitment...
Netherlands: wage moderation and retirement at 67
omic recovery package presented on March 25, 2009 by the Dutch government is the increase of old-age pension (AOW) from 65 to 67. Moreover, the Netherlands Trade Union Confederation (FNV) accepted...
EU: the gas sector to work on skills shortages, diversity, health at work and restructurings
al social dialogue committee of the gas sector, which gathers the EPSU and the Emcef for unions and Eurogas for employers, is getting its bearings. After a meeting on March 19, the sectoral social...
Spain: Workers’ Commissions propose a “State Pact for Economy and Employment”
, Ignacio Fernandez Toxo, CCOO’s new general secretary, defended dialogue and understanding between the government, unions and employers’ organizations to face the crisis better...
Belgium: Facebook banned from the workplace
mart Business Strategies specialized magazine shows that more and more businesses limit their employees’ internet access for personal use. Although the phenomenon isn’t new, it...
Great Britain: outreach workers to inform construction workers in their own language
of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) identified foreign workers as a particularly high-risk group in terms of health and safety. Polish, Romanian and Indian workers in London will now be...
Ukraine: bill to protect women and heads of households
March 18 to Parliament, is aimed at improving the protection against dismissal for employees with dependent children. It is part of the current policy aimed at protecting jobs (see our dispatch...
Germany: validation of “simple differentiation” clauses negotiated exclusively for union members
009 (Ref. 4AZR 64/08), the Federal Labor Tribunal rejected the complaint of a non-unionized employee demanding to benefit from the advantages exclusively negotiated by Ver.di for employee members...
Great Britain: Equality and Human Rights Commission calls for a radical reform of the equal pay act
air and transparent pay system, not women fighting in court says the Equality and Human Rights Commission, calling for an in-depth revision of the law, even beyond the bill on this issue the...
Sweden: the failure of negotiations on a new national collective agreement is a missed opportunity for reforming the industrial relations system
loyers’ association Svenskt Naringsliv announced its decision to interrupt negotiations on the renewal of the industrial relations system founded in 1938. The social partners had vastly...
Italy: “short week” spreading South to face the crisis
tors (textile, agency…), solidarity contracts (CdS) are relatively rare in the metallurgy sector, which the Cassa Integrazione (CIG, see our dispatch No. 080932) is the preferred method to...
Lennox Europe: establishment of a European works council
ope (1.750 employees) and the special negotiating body, composed of French (CFDT, CFE-CGC, CFTC, CGT, FO) and Spanish (CCOO, UGT) union organizations signed, on January 20, 2009, an agreement...
Spain: one of employers’ main think tanks proposes structural reforms
Empresarios presented a document entitled “New Solutions to Create Jobs”. The text, developed by one of employers’ most influential think tanks, analyzes current shortcomings of...
Philips: small impact of the EWC on restructurings
) met at the end of last week. The management announced that the company is in a difficult situation, without giving any details as to the number of jobs threatened in Europe. The Forum’s 23...
Great Britain: bill to increase redundancy compensation
ose its reputation of country where laying off isn’t expensive? A majority of Labor MPs and unions support a bill which would increase maximum layoff pay. The government is thinking and...
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
France: Yves Rocher convicted of breach of duty of vigilance for infringement of freedom of association
The specialised chamber of the Paris Judicial Court convicted Yves Rocher on 12 March for breaching its duty of vigilance. The group was sued by Turkish employees dismissed in 2018 by a subsidiary...
12 March 2026
2
Spain: business support package to tackle the economic impact of the Middle East conflict
The Spanish government approved a series of measures on 20 March to support companies facing rising energy prices. In return, these businesses are prohibited from making redundancies for economic...
23 March 2026
3
EU: Council adopts position on simplifying AI rules
The Council of the EU approved its position on 13 March regarding the “omnibus regulation” proposal, published last November by the Commission to simplify the AI Act. Confirming the...
20 March 2026
4
Germany: a corporate group supports local political engagement via its “Democracy Charter”
Large corporations in the Hesse region, surrounding Frankfurt, are defending local democracy by enabling employees to volunteer in local public life through an initiative dubbed the "Democracy...
11 March 2026
5
United States: Coca-Cola subsidiary sued by the administration over women-only event
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced on 18 February that it is launching federal proceedings against Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast for “sex-based...
6 March 2026