News brief

Ecuador: paternity leave introduced
vernment of Ecuador approved the introduction of a ten-day paternity leave. However, only workers in the public and private sector affiliated with the social security will be entitled to it, i.e...
Spain: controversy over employers’ proposal to create anti-crisis labor contracts
labor contract” with lower layoff pay was launched by the employers’ confederation of the Madrid region and used by Gerardo Diaz Ferran, leader of the CEOE employers’...
Netherlands: De Unie abandons the agreement negotiated by its internet branch for Polish agency workers
executives’ union, announced that it abandoned the collective agreement negotiated during the week end of February 1 by the Internetvakbond, its internet branch, together with the...
France: Brussels worried about the condition to maintain production in the country to give aid to the sector
10, Nelly Kroes, Commissioner for Competition, asked the French government to explain the plan to support the car industry presented to the press this week. She is worried about the guarantee to...
Areva: evaluation of the European project on the development of social dialogue via the framework agreement on equal opportunities
e ODEO (“Open dialogue through equal opportunities”) project, which includes Areva’s EWC bureau and management representatives, presented its final report to the European...
Spain: large businesses unwilling to negotiate equality plans in spite of the legal obligation
nforcement of the law on gender equality, the labor market is still resisting and very few businesses have developed equality plans or significantly increased the number of women within their...
EU: calls for proposals to support social dialogue published
ished three calls for proposal aimed at supporting social dialogue with the co-funding of actions launched by the social partners. The call for proposals on information, consultation and the...
Italy: bill reforming the right to strike in essential public services presented to unions
eshold for unions calling for a strike, prior declaration of individual participation to the strike, sanctions for those violating standards and a possible obligation to carry out a...
Germany: conflict in the metal sector after a wage increase was postponed because of the crisis
r and sales in the automotive industry, the Gesamtmetall, the employers’ organization of the metallurgy sector, announced that the sector’s companies want a major delay of the second...
Germany: rail unions sign the Deutsche Bahn’s new collective agreement
hree rail unions – Transnet, GDBA and GDL – validated, on February 5, the collective agreement negotiated with the Deutsche Bahn’s management on January 30, 2009. It provides...
Latin America: some 20.000 miners lost their job since the beginning of the crisis
nd for metal, leading to continuous production cuts, thousands of miners are unemployed in Chile, Peru, Brazil and Mexico. The governments are starting to express concern, while the different...
EU: coming adoption of three directives materializing joint immigration policies
e European Parliament gave an agreement in principle for a proposal for a directive providing for sanctions against employers of illegally staying third-country nationals. The MEPs will formally...
Italy: Fiat increases partial employment because of the worsening crisis
white collars in Turin would be placed in Cassa Integrazione (see our dispatch No. 080932) in March. The unrest caused by the extension of partial unemployment led to a first conflict in the...
Slovakia: the social partners agree to limit wage increases in 2009
he key trade unions have committed to wage demand pragmatism for 2009, in an effort to preserve the Slovak labor market in a country which highly depends upon exports. They committed not to ask...
Great Britain: Total’s employees at the Lindsey refinery go back to work after obtaining 102 positions for local workers
refinery, owned by Total, ended last week. Faced with the wildcat strike of British employees against the employment of Italian and Portuguese workers posted by a subcontractor employed to extend...
Slovenia: employers and union organizations criticize the lack of social dialogue
or employers’ and union organizations sent an open letter to the president of the Slovene government where they expressed concern about recent developments in social dialogue. They think...
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 launches consultation with social partners on quality jobs
On 4 December, the European Commission launched the first phase of consultation with social partners with a view to a European directive on jobs, which is scheduled for the end of 2026. It could...
4 December 2025
2
EDF bans alcohol on all its sites
From 1 January 2026, French energy giant EDF (180,000 employees) will prohibit alcohol consumption at all internal and external corporate events, from social gatherings to seminars. The policy...
26 November 2025
3
United Kingdom: government scraps plan to introduce ‘day one’ protection against unfair dismissal
The UK government announced on 27 November, in a statement, that it would not be introducing the right to challenge unfair dismissal (without cause) from the first day of employment in its...
3 December 2025
4
Poland: bill adopted to amend definition of psychological harassment
On 27 November, the Polish cabinet adopted a draft amendment to the labour code aimed at simplifying the definition of psychological harassment at work, or “mobbing” (Article 94 3)...
4 December 2025
5
EU: MEPs demand directive on algorithmic management
Members of the European Parliament have called for a directive on algorithmic management. Such legislation would introduce obligations for companies to inform employees, assess health and safety...
17 December 2025
6
Austria: European rules on wage transparency expected to cause a cultural shock
With the gender pay gap in Austria being the second largest in the European Union (18.3%), the Austrian government has promised to introduce a bill next spring to transpose the European directive...
27 November 2025