News brief

EU: half-mast European social model
i, President of the European Central Bank, or José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission? In an interview to the Wall Street Journal in early 2012, the former pointed out...
Transnational bargaining: 1st IndustriALL thematic conference focuses on standardizing procedures for bargaining and implementing international framework agreements
union leaders and experts on IFAs from 30 countries met in Frankfurt, up invitation of IG-Metall for the first thematic conference held by the new international manufacturing federation...
France: employers and unions give birth to Generation Contracts
rtners reached a tentative agreement on Generation Contracts. These contracts aim to encourage the permanent recruitment of young people while maintaining seniors active. Indeed, these two...
Poland: government reveals 2013 social program
eral months, Prime Minister Donald Tusk finally gave his general policy speech in the Diet on October 12. Social measures include bringing maternity leave to one year in mid-2013, developing...
18 October 2012
Italy: Wind, the telephone company, signs an agreement with unions on a new strategic plan to improve competitiveness and maintain employment
network management and handling, affecting about 1,600 workers, Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA agreed, in January, after the Ministry for Economic Development stepped in, to suspend this decision and...
Companies: study on the failure to apply international framework agreements and possible solutions from the Indian factories (Pune) of Volkswagen, Daimler and Bosch
the think-tank of the IG-Metall German union, published in September a case study entitled “Strengthening trade union networks through international framework agreements.” From a case...
Chile: major change for the key union which appoints a 33-year-old woman as its leader
ero, professor of philosophy, was appointed as the new President of the Workers’ United Center (CUT). This should give Chilean unionism a boost, as it is often criticized for its lack of...
Great Britain: this summer, cleaning workers scored several points on pay
eaning workers in London over the summer could herald a significant change in the balance of power in the sector. For the last few years, the campaigns of the London Citizens group, made of up of...
BNP Paribas: interview of Didier Legrand, head of Social Affairs within BNP Paribas Human Resources, about the European agreement on employment management
p signed an agreement on employment management in Europe. Didier Legrand, head of Social Affairs within BNP Paribas Human Resources, is telling Planet Labor about this initiative. (Ref. 120477)...
Portugal: commentary of the labour law reform
tments undertaken in the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the IMF, the ECB and the European Commission in return for EUR 78 billion to help the country face its sovereign debt, the...
Great Britain: new series of reforms of equality legislation
unched two consultations in view of abolishing two measures contained in the Equality Act: employers’ liability for the harassment of their staff by a third party and questionnaires for...
Norway: new agreement in construction industry
e. This is why everyone was relieved when a last-minute agreement was reached on April 21 for the sector’s 6,000 employees, between the Byggenæringens Landsforening employers’...
EU: IndustriALL European Trade Union created
, on May 16, the 200 organizations affiliated with the three European trade union federations – the European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers’ Federation (EMCEF), European...
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14 May 2012
Spain: interview of José Carlos Gonzalez Lorente, Federal secretary at Comfia-CCOO, the financial services federation, about his organization’s CSR and SRI actions
representative for Comfia-CCOO, the union federations of financial and administrative services of the Workers’ Commissions union, is telling Planet Labor about corporate social...
11 May 2012
Sweden: new provisions on “emergency overtime” in the energy industry
wage increase, the new agreement signed on March 24 between the SEF union (Svenska Elektrikerförbundet) and the EFA energy employers’ organization (Energiföretagens...
10 April 2012
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
Oliver Dietrich (IG Metall): “The advent of AI can be a means of deepening social partnership within companies”
In Germany, trade unions want to influence how AI is deployed in companies. Oliver Dietrich is an AI project manager at the regional office of the IG Metall trade union in North Rhine-Westphalia...
2
EU: social partners split over competitiveness and action on job quality
The European Trade Union Confederation and BusinessEurope have published their response to the consultation document on the European Commission's upcoming EU quality jobs initiative. The two...
4 February 2026
3
Germany: collective bargaining negotiations begin in chemical industry
Collective bargaining talks in Germany’s chemical and pharmaceutical industries are due to open this week, covering nearly 580,000 employees across around 1,700 companies. With the sector facing...
3 February 2026
4
Italy: new generational renewal agreement penned at UniCredit
The agreement signed on 30 December by UniCredit, Italy’s second-largest banking group, with the Fabi, First-Cisl, Fisac-Cgil, Uilca and Unisin trade unions aims to continue generational...
5
France: social partner talks extend far beyond contractual terminations
After a false start on 3 December, French social partners resumed talks on 7 January 2026 on potential changes to the unemployment insurance agreement, including the rules governing compensation...
12 January 2026
6
EU: banking sector social partners commit to combating violence and harassment
On 15 January, the trade union federation UNI Europa Finance and three employers’ associations in the banking sector signed a joint statement on preventing violence and harassment in the...