News

Netherlands: special team against fraud in temporary agencies
A special team, part of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, was set up on December 1 to monitor fraudulent temporary work agencies. (Ref. 110748)
Great Britain: seven companies in the construction industry to leave sectoral collective agreement to be free to establish their own working conditions
The seven contracting companies are Balfour Beatty Engineering Services (BBES), NG Bailey Building Services, Crown House Technologies, Gratte Brothers, SPIE Matthew Hall, Shepherd Engineering...
Germany: unions and employers call on government to drop its plan to introduce a premium for stay at home mothers
Ideological battle.  When is a mother considered a ‘good mother’?  Is a mother who puts her child in daycare to go to work a bad mother, a “Rabenmutter” (unnatural mother) or, on the contrary, a...
2 December 2011
Spain: new president asks the social partners to negotiate proposals for a draft labor market reform by January 6
The future President, who will take up office on December 21, gave the social partners the roadmap for the coming labor market reform. He asked them to present a negotiated text by January 6...
Romania: the list of new sectors still has not been defined
Legal void.  Six months after the new Romanian Social Code came into force in July, the sectors planned in the text still haven’t been defined, to the great displeasure of union and employers’...
United States: draft labor deal between Boeing and the Machinists union paves the way for out-of-court settlement of the legal dispute over the South Carolina plant
End of the legal dispute.  Last April, the Machinists union turned to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which pressed charges against Boeing management for violating the right to strike...
United States: NLRB reforms union vote procedure
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB, federal agency in charge of monitoring compliance with union rights) approved, on Wednesday, November 30, the reform of the unionization procedure...
1 December 2011
Great Britain: two million civil servants strike against pension reform
High turnout.  British unions won a victory, claiming that two million civil servants went on strike on November 30 – government says 1.2.  According to the Department for Education, 62% of public...
Germany: 2.7 percent wage increase at RWE and beginning of talks on job cuts at EON
2.7 percent increase at RWE.  The agreement signed on November 29 by the IG BCE (chemistry) and Verdi (services) unions with RWE, second energy producer in Germany, still needs to be approved...
United States: American Airlines files for bankruptcy to cut wage costs
True, American Airlines isn’t doing well.  The group has lost over $11 billion since 2001.  The last financial report, published in October, points to $162M lost.  And forecasts for the end of...
30 November 2011
Italy: negotiations between Fiat and unions for the group’s new collective agreement start with an incident with the Fiom-CGIL union
Negotiations for the new national collective agreement of Fiat after it left Confindustria (see our dispatch No.  110720) is off to a rough start for the Fiom.  Its leader, Maurizio Landini, left...
Austria: 3.6% increase for 520,000 trade employees
After 4 meetings and 16 hours negotiating, the social partners in Austrian trade reached an agreement on wages.  If they had failed, the GPA-dip union threatened to strike, as the start of the...
Netherlands: draft reform to let businesses derogate from collective agreements when they have problems
The goal is to avoid bankruptcies with the recession announced for 2012.  The point is to make sure that the weakest businesses are not bound by the sectoral agreements negotiated annually.  The...
29 November 2011
Great Britain: government paves the way for simpler health and safety regulations
 Reducing businesses’ burden.  In early 2011, the government started reforming occupational health and safety (see our dispatch No.  110189), mainly focusing on simpler regulations.  Professor...
International: ICEM international union federation holds last Conference before the creation of the big industry federation
Gathered for three days in the Argentinean capital, the 800 delegates representing about 200 affiliated union organizations elected Senzeni Zokwana (NUM, South Africa) and Manfred Warda as...
Switzerland: towards minimum wage at Confederation level?
Right and amount.  “In Geneva, people were afraid to vote for this right without knowing its definite amount” explained Giangiorgio Gargantini, representative of the SIT, the interprofessional...
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1
France: Cabinet adopts pay transparency bill
After several months of delay beyond the European deadline of 7 June 2026, French Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou finally presented the bill transposing the Pay Transparency Directive to the...
10 September 2026
2
Germany: IG Metall demands 5% pay rise amid severe pressure
Despite the crisis hitting the automotive industry, the leadership of the German trade union IG Metall announced on Wednesday 23 September that it would be asking for a 5% pay increase as well as...
23 September 2026
3
Spain: government revisits its draft decree on salary transparency
The Spanish Ministry of Labour has opened a consultation on the transposition of the European directive on salary transparency and the reduction of the gender pay gap. This decision follows a...
8 September 2026
4
EU: Commission proposes a list of worker-related criteria for public procurement
The news. On 9 September, the European Commission published a proposal for a regulation aimed at unifying European public procurement law, which accounts for 15% of European GDP. It is notably set...
17 September 2026
5
Spain: approval of decree on employees’ right to clear information on working conditions
The Spanish government validated, on September 8 in the Council of Ministers, the decree transposing the European directive on transparent and predictable working conditions. This text requires...
9 September 2026
6
France: bioMérieux strengthens its end-of-career support measures
The news. In vitro diagnostic specialist bioMérieux (4,400 employees in France) and unions CFDT, CFE-CGC, and CGT signed a new agreement on June 18, 2026, dedicated to end-of-career...
10 September 2026