News brief

Poland: the anti-crisis emergency law is overlooking temporary workers
According to Polskie Forum HR, the professional umbrella organization for temporary employment companies, more than 75,000 temporary workers risk losing their jobs. The emergency ‘Crisis...
23 April 2020
Mexico: employers’ confederation calls on the State to cover part of salary outlays in a bid to avoid redundancies
Mexico’s employers confederation body, Coparmex, is seeking the establishment of a ‘solidarity salary’ for Mexican workers that are being hard hit by the Covid-19 related...
23 April 2020
Denmark: financial sector agreement giving more flexibility to companies and employees to resume activity
On 17 April, the Financial Sector Employers’ Association (FA) and the Finansforbundet trade union reached an agreement that sets a framework for the gradual reopening of workplaces in the...
22 April 2020
France: banking sector social partners issue a joint declaration on employee and customer safety
Not an agreement, and nor a protocol at branch level, but instead a joint declaration signed on 20 April by the French Banking Federation (FFB) and the main banking sector unions namely, the...
22 April 2020
Spain: Seat to test its 15,000 employees for Covid-19 before resuming production
Volkswagen Group’s Spanish car producing subsidiary Seat, has announced it will carry out mass screening of its assembly line staff. Testing will be carried out gradually at a rate of 3,000...
22 April 2020
Argentina: Government extends access to wage subsidy to all companies
Argentina’s government has decided to pay up to 50% of workers’ net salary for companies with reduced or halted business activity due to the Covid-19 lockdown that has been in place...
22 April 2020
Spain: broadens access to short time working
On 21 April, the Spanish government announced a series of additional measures to complete, correct and adjust the emergency provisions (c.f. article No.11729) that were put in place at the...
22 April 2020
Great Britain: coronavirus boom in trade union membership.
On 20 April, one of the UK’s largest trade unions, Unison (public sector), released a statement showing a record number of people seeking to take out membership. Since the start of 2020...
22 April 2020
United Kingdom: Covid-19 job retention scheme extended
The UK’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is to be extended until the end of June, the government announced on 17 April. Under the scheme, UK firms can ask the state to cover 80% of its...
20 April 2020
France: mutual insurance companies encourage employees to take days off during the health crisis with donations to charity for each day taken
While French companies sway back and forth between negotiation and unilateral measures to organise the use of annual leave, as they strive to manage this ongoing period of declining activity (on...
17 April 2020
United Kingdom: 1 in 4 executives at FTSE 100 firms take pay cut amid coronavirus crisis (study)
In order to combat the Covid-19 health crisis, 25 of the 100 companies listed on the UK’s flagship FTSE 100 index have cut executive pay, according to a study conducted by the High Pay...
16 April 2020
Argentina: Covid-19 classified as an occupational disease
Covid-19 is now classified as an “unlisted occupational disease” according to a decree published this week in Argentina. The text says this standard applies to persons “carrying...
16 April 2020
Spain: Inditex group to keep paying all employees in April despite closure of all its stores
Spanish clothing giant Inditex, which owns the retailer Zara, does not plan to make use of the extraordinary temporary lay-off measure (ERTE) that would allow it to claim special aid from the...
16 April 2020
Hungary: several large automobile firms and their suppliers recommence production
At Audi some 100 workers have started working once again in the engine department. The automobile manufacturer devised a comprehensive range of measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in...
16 April 2020
Germany: a tax-free Corona-Bonus for employees
Spring is the season of bonuses and other profit-sharing payouts, particularly in the automotive sector. Looking at the industry’s major manufacturers, bonuses amount to €5,900 at BMW...
15 April 2020
Hungary: companies allowed to unilaterally extend reference period for calculating working time to two years
Under Hungary’s labour code, the reference period for calculating average working hours in the event of unequal distribution of working periods over the year is a maximum of 16 weeks, except...
14 April 2020
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
Catherine Chavanier (CDC Habitat): “Social dialogue on AI facilitates its deployment”
In February, CDC Habitat (10,500 employees) signed a two-year framework agreement governing social dialogue on AI. Catherine Chavanier, HR Director of the subsidiary of CDC (Caisse des dépôts et...
2
Greece: hospitality sector signs first collective agreement aligned with National Social Pact
The hospitality sector (125,000 employees), one of Greece’s largest industries after retail, signed a new two-year collective agreement on 17 March. The text, effective from 1 April 2026...
3
Germany: a wave of redundancy plans in the automotive sector
The latest financial results presented in early 2026 by major German car manufacturers show sharp declines. This collapse in profits has triggered the announcement or confirmation of massive job...
16 March 2026
4
France: La Poste to launch negotiations for an AI agreement
Following the lead of firms such as Axa, Syensqo globally, and more recently CDC Habitat, La Poste group management will open negotiations on an AI regulation agreement during the first half of...
5
Germany: crisis and transformation wage agreement in the chemical sector
Following a two-day marathon negotiation in Bad Breisig (Western Germany), the social partners of the German chemical and pharmaceutical industries—the IG BCE trade union and the BAVC employers'...
27 March 2026
6
France: Club Med includes “multiculturalism” in its professional equality agreement
In December 2025, Club Med and the CFTC, Unsa, and FO trade unions signed an agreement on professional equality and working conditions. It introduces measures addressing AI, pay transparency, and...
23 March 2026