News brief

Estonia: government suspends State contributions to the second pillar of compulsory pension schemes for two years
unced that, as of June 1, it would stop paying its contribution to the compulsory supplementary pension scheme managed by pension funds. For the moment, the people involved in this program pay out...
Brazil: 1,200 temporarily laid off at Mercedes Benz
in March, the German carmaker implemented several measures to reduce activity in one of its Brazilian factories making trucks and buses: 10% of the 12,000 workers of the site were laid off for 15...
20 April 2009
Belgium: negotiations down in the metallurgy sector?
ector is badly affected by the crisis in Belgium, the regional committee of Wallonia-Brussels of the FGTB union said no, on April 15, to the memorandum of understanding in the metal making sector...
France: Supreme Court draws a line between outplacement within the framework of international posting and illegal labor leasing
by the Criminal Chamber of the French Supreme Court can be used to differentiate situations belonging to transnational posting, subject to the provisions of Directive 96/71 and of article L...
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...
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: Cabinet adopts pay transparency bill
After several months of delay beyond the European deadline of 7 June 2026, French Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou finally presented the bill transposing the Pay Transparency Directive to the...
10 September 2026
2
Germany: IG Metall demands 5% pay rise amid severe pressure
Despite the crisis hitting the automotive industry, the leadership of the German trade union IG Metall announced on Wednesday 23 September that it would be asking for a 5% pay increase as well as...
23 September 2026
3
Italy: Crédit Agricole introduces a handbook on managerial behaviour
The document adopted in mid-July by Crédit Agricole Italia and the main banking trade unions goes beyond the proper use of meetings and emails. This six-point handbook aims to foster constructive...
3 September 2026
4
Slovakia: 6% increase in the minimum wage from 1 January 2027
The news. As Slovakia’s social partners failed to reach an agreement during tripartite negotiations, Labour Minister Erik Tomas has decided to increase the minimum wage by 6% from 1 January...
1 September 2026
5
Spain: government revisits its draft decree on salary transparency
The Spanish Ministry of Labour has opened a consultation on the transposition of the European directive on salary transparency and the reduction of the gender pay gap. This decision follows a...
8 September 2026
6
EU: Commission proposes a list of worker-related criteria for public procurement
The news. On 9 September, the European Commission published a proposal for a regulation aimed at unifying European public procurement law, which accounts for 15% of European GDP. It is notably set...
17 September 2026