News

United States: Teamsters oppose driverless trucks
Truck drivers from the Teamsters trade union have convinced the US Congress to exclude particularly heavy trucks from its draft legislation on driverless vehicles. The decision provides temporary...
9 October 2017
News update as of October 5, 2017
On the menu : in Portugal, Volkswagen Autoeuropa Workers Commission election reshuffles the cards, in Luxembourg a tripartite project to support digital competences development, Caterpillar calls...
4 October 2017
EU: Commission adopts proposal for a European framework for quality and effective apprenticeships
This draft recommendation, that still needs to be endorsed by the Member States, identifies 14 key criteria that EU countries and stakeholders should use to develop quality and effective...
4 October 2017
Carrefour: interview with CSR Head Bertrand Swiderski on the Bangladesh Accord
Carrefour was one of the first companies to sign the 2013 Bangladesh Accord on Fire & Building Safety (c.f. article No. 130323) and is also one of the first to have renewed its commitment as...
4 October 2017
Spain: a wages report explains the phenomenon of wage devaluation disparities
A report by Funcas (a private non-profit think-tank organization created and financed by CECA (Spanish confederation of savings banks)) has delivered a statistical overview of the impact of the...
4 October 2017
Italy: the impact of inflation on minimum salary levels is upsetting the social climate in certain sectors and has re-ignited the debate over collective negotiations
Tensions are brewing in the rubber-plastics sector. The national collective agreement intends for previously agreed (last year) salary rises to be revised according to the observed inflation rate...
4 October 2017
Germany: refugee integration pilot project seen as a success
According to the IG Metall union the success of this experiment has proved conclusive: as part of a joint pilot project launched in April 2017 by the Baden-Württemberg Esslingen IG Metall section...
4 October 2017
ASOS: signs a global framework agreement with IndustriALL Global
In a Global Framework Agreement (GFA) signed on 02 October, the UK clothing company ASOS commits to adopting policies and procedure that develop collective bargaining and social dialogue along its...
3 October 2017
Great Britain: Aviva pledges 25% of headcount will be older than 50 by 2022
The insurance giant is looking to set an example by hiring 1,000 over-50s over the next five years. This ‘senior-friendly’ policy come sa year after Andy Briggs, chief executive of the Aviva UK...
3 October 2017
Portugal: a law on workplace harassment comes into force
Going forward victims of moral or sexual harassment in a company or administrative service in Portugal will be afforded better protection. The law adopted in August 2017, and which came into force...
3 October 2017
Portugal: pension reductions for early retirement abolished for individuals with long careers
Individuals in Portugal who have had lengthy careers will be able to take early retirement, without seeing their pension reduced. Around 15,000 people will be affected by this first phase of...
2 October 2017
Belgium: banking sector collective agreement for 2017-18 targets industry response to digitalisation
On 29 September, social partners from the Belgian banking sector reached a deal on a new collective agreement. For the first time, the agreement includes a supplementary pay rise guarantee and...
2 October 2017
Spain: ‘civic work stoppage’ and general strike planned in Catalonia tomorrow (brief)
On 2 October, the leadership of the regional strands of the CCOO and UGT – Spain’s largest trade union groupings – announced that an agreement had been reached in principle on the previous day to...
2 October 2017
Spain: Balearic Islands’ hotel sector breaks with trend of wage moderation with a 17% pay rise spread over four years
The Federación Empresarial Hotelera de Mallorca, a hotels federation on the Spanish island, reached a deal on quality employment in the hotel sector with the CCOO and UGT trade unions on 28...
29 September 2017
United Kingdom: employers and unions join forces to demand that citizens’ rights be guaranteed after Brexit
While negotiations over the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union continue to stagnate, with EU negotiator Michel Barnier yesterday estimating that it would take months for talks to...
29 September 2017
United States: Supreme Court again to examine payment of union fees (brief)
The United States Supreme Court has agreed to once again study the obligation for public-sector employees to pay union fees. So-called fair share fees are paid by non-members to unions that strike...
29 September 2017
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.
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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
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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
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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...
4
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...
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Italy: new collective agreement for managers in tertiary sector
On 5 November, the ManagerItalia union and the employers’ association Confcommercio renewed the collective agreement for managers in Italy’s tertiary, distribution and services...
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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...