News brief

ILO adopts new code of practice with guidance to strengthen health and safety for textile workers
Avoiding ‘tragedies’ such as the Rana Plaza disaster, which claimed the lives of more than 1,100 textile workers in 2013 when a building housing manufacturing facilities supplying...
13 October 2021
Great Britain: aircraft engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce seeks talent from neurodivergent cohorts
Rolls-Royce is looking for the best undergraduate student with a neurodivergent condition such as autism, hyperactivity, dyslexia, and dyspraxia. The engine manufacturer, which sponsors several...
12 October 2021
United Kingdom: leading firms pledge to offer menopause support
Since the start of the month various leading UK businesses – including supermarket giant Tesco, professional services firm PwC, health insurance company Bupa, publisher HarperCollins and...
11 October 2021
Germany: Porsche site in Leipzig to adopt 35-hour week from 2025
As part of a so-called “collective agreement for the future”, the management of sports car manufacturer Porsche and the IG Metall trade union have reached an agreement that will see...
11 October 2021
Italy: workplace safety, employability and hybrid working at heart of renewed social dialogue
The post-pandemic recovery has prompted Mario Draghi’s government, Italian businesses and trade unions to commence discussions over a variety of matters. The most urgent of all is workplace...
7 October 2021
Italy: agreement at the Stellantis motor group focuses on generational renewal across the ‘white collar’ workforce
On 22 September Stellantis, together with the Ministry of Labor, and the Fiom-Cgil, Fim-Cisl, Uilm, Fismic, UGLM and Associazione Quadri trade unions signed the ‘contratto di...
5 October 2021
United States: complaint filed against Apple for importing products made with forced labor
On 27 September the Campaign for Accountability (CfA) research arm, the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) announced it had filed a complaint against Apple for importing products made in factories...
29 September 2021
EU: European trade unions welcome the SPD victory in Germany
The European Trade Union Confederation has welcomed the SPD Social Democrat victory in Germany’s federal elections on 26 September (with 26% of the votes vs. approximately 24% for the...
28 September 2021
Great Britain: launch of first national strategy dedicated to Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Unveiled on 22 September, the UK’s national AI strategic plan aims to increase corporate use of this new technology, which has become essential in recent years. This ten-year plan includes...
23 September 2021
Great Britain: ASOS will link its executives’ salaries to the achievement of environmental objectives
On 16 September, the online ready-to-wear retailer Asos announced that starting in 2022 its executive team’s salaries will be dependent on the company’s success in reducing its waste...
22 September 2021
Austria: unemployment benefit payments could be suspended for those refusing a job carrying a Covid-19 vaccination condition
According to the daily publication Der Standard, Austrian Labour Minister Martin Kocher (ÖVP) asked the Austrian Employment Agency (AMS), in a letter dated 25 August, to “block...
22 September 2021
United States: joins the Equal Pay International Coalition
The United States has just joined the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC), an initiative led by the ILO (International Labour Organization), UN Women, and the OECD, the mission of which is to...
21 September 2021
Belgium: a tool that can provide a company’s staff vaccination rate on an anonymous basis
Occupational physicians will soon be able to find out the vaccination rate of employees in companies with more than 50 staff. This is due to a tool currently being developed, which will...
21 September 2021
Italy: ‘Historic’ agreement at Amazon establishing a labour relations system
On 15 September, and under the aegis of Italy’s Labour Minister, Amazon Logistica Srl together with the Filt-Cgil, Fit-Cisl and Uiltrasporti unions have signed what the labour bodies have...
16 September 2021
Great Britain: Morrisons supermarkets cutting sick pay for unvaccinated employees who need to self-isolate
‘From 1 October, following UK government confirmation that all adults have had the opportunity to get double vaccinated, we will no longer be paying full sick pay for pinged colleagues who...
16 September 2021
Italy: government working on ‘active policies’ as intended by the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan)
Over the 5 years spanning 2021-2025, Italy plans to spend €4.9 billion on a range of ‘active policies’, which should concern 3 million people, 75% of whom are women, the long-term...
15 September 2021
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: austerity measures proposed in social security financing bill for 2026
Limits on sick leave, the end of social security exemptions for apprentices, and the introduction of additional birth leave: the 2026 social security financing bill, presented to parliament on 14...
16 October 2025
2
Netherlands: ING cites AI as it plans to cut around 950 jobs
Dutch bank ING has informed the employment agency UWV that it may cut around 950 jobs by 31 December 2026. In its notification on 20 October, the lender said the planned reductions stem partly...
30 October 2025
3
Romania: collective agreement extended to entire insurance sector
On 3 November, Romania’s National Tripartite Council for Social Dialogue approved the extension of the collective labour agreement signed on 23 May by the Confederation of Employers in the...
4
United Kingdom largely retained within scope of EWCs despite Brexit, study shows
A study published this month by the Institute for Economic and Social Research, the French trade union research organisation, examined how the involvement of British representatives in European...
5
Germany: legal battle at Tesla ahead of works council election
The Frankfurt/Oder labour court has postponed a mid-November hearing in the case between the IG Metall union and Michaela Schmitz, employee representative and head of the works council at the...
6
France: generative AI and older workers central to BPCE’s skills management strategy
On 17 July 2025, BPCE and its trade unions signed a second agreement on jobs and career management within the banking group. The text places generative artificial intelligence at the core of its...