News

India: an original approach to digital transformation (2)
Bangalore, India’s version of Silicon Valley is targeting, 2020 as the date for it to become the premier hub for connectivity related innovation. Despite the startup incubators, global R&D...
6 February 2017
Germany: the major political parties are honing their election arguments
Whilst on 06 February the Bavarian branch of the conservative union the CSU backed CDU Angela Merkel’s candidature as Chancellor and head of September’s general electoral list, both the...
6 February 2017
Argentina: CGT pulls out of talks with government over labour reform and announces nationwide mobilisation
Talks between the Argentinian General Confederation of Labour and the country’s government have broken down. The trade union grouping had been party to discussions, as part of which it was set to...
6 February 2017
Solvay: renewal of global framework agreement with IndustriAll Global Union boosts group’s social and diversity policy
The global framework agreement between Solvay and IndustriAll places greater social demands on the chemical company, such as having more women in leadership roles by 2020, integrating the OECD’s...
3 February 2017
Brazil: companies faced with challenge of fostering racial diversity
Around 10 years after Brazil introduced quotas for people of African ancestry in its universities, the integration of people of colour in the corporate world is on the up. However, the issue...
3 February 2017
Germany: crowdsourcing companies have their own ‘code of conduct’
On 31 January, Germany’s young federation of crowdsourcing companies presented a detailed version of the first code of conduct of its kind in the country and perhaps even in Europe that addresses...
Germany: reassessing individual bonus payments
Germany’s businesses regularly discuss the issue of individual bonus payments and performance related bonuses that make up the variable part of employee remuneration. At Bosch, Deutsche Bahn, and...
2 February 2017
India: an original approach to digital transformation
During some valuable time spent in India, a member of the Planet Labor team found it impossible to resist the opportunity to study and share how the country is progressing along its digital...
United States: President Trump’s anti-immigration order rattling companies across all sectors
Widespread opposition to President Donald Trump’s 27 January immigration executive order has been sparked both internationally and across all sectors including from the likes of Nike, Starbucks...
Portugal: launch of a digital economy development plan for business – ‘Revolution 4.0’
Portugal has announced a four–year €4.5 billion investment plan to develop ‘intelligent’ industry and promote companies’ technology growth. The so-called ‘Revolution 4.0’ program will span both...
Austria: a new plan to promote jobs and prepare for the minimum wage
On 30 January and following several weeks of conflict, Austria’s Socialist (SPÖ) Conservative (ÖVP) ruling coalition government succeeded in presenting a program that will take it up to the autumn...
Italy: Vodafone engages directly with employees to establish inclusion and diversity agenda
The Italian branch of the telephone service provider, which employs around 6,500 people of which 50% are female, launched an innovative initiative which saw it engage with employees to understand...
31 January 2017
News updates as of 26 January 2016
On the menu : Portuguese parliamentary deputies reject lower employers’ contributions, starting salaries fall in the face of rising unemployment in Brazil, UK government called on to out an end to...
25 January 2017
Italy: draft agreements for renewing oil-energy and electricity sectors collective agreements
On 25 January, following more than a year of negotiations, the social partners in both the oil-energy and the electricity sectors secured draft agreements to renew their respective collective...
25 January 2017
Germany: for 2017 IG Metall is looking to consolidate the collective agreements system and promote an employee-oriented working time policy
On 25 January during the German IG Metall annual conference, the president of the metals and electrotechnical union Jörg Hofmann presented a profile of the union’s membership for 2016 whilst also...
25 January 2017
EU: the EU Commission finalizes its project for a European Pillar of Social Rights
With the public consultation process having been completed in December 2016, the EU Commission can now finalize its White Paper for a European Pillar of Social Rights due to be published in March...
24 January 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.
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
Germany: standoff over national plan to boost collective bargaining
Under the EU Adequate Minimum Wages Directive, Germany is required to produce an action plan to boost collective bargaining coverage. That plan has stalled, however, after being blocked by the...
9 February 2026
5
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...
6
ENI incorporates just transition and AI into global agreement
On 13 January, Italian energy group ENI renewed its global agreement on international industrial relations, corporate social responsibility and the just transition with Italian unions CGIL, CISL...
5 February 2026