News

Germany: Ver.di launches new offensive to impose “new” minimum pay in the postal sector
Wage dumping. On January 1, 2008, the federal government imposed, in a decree, that all postal business apply minimum wage, ranging between €8 and €9.8 an hour, negotiated between Ver.di and an...
EU: Parliament demands harmonization of sanctions applicable to truck drivers
On Monday, May 18th, the European Parliament adopted (158 votes for, 137 against and 7 abstentions) the report developed by Austrian MEP Hella Ranner. In this document, the conservative MEP comes...
Italy: 7th national congress of the Slai Cobas independent union ends with the conclusion that it is necessary to build a “strong class union”
Analysis of the crisis. According to the union, the right-wing, the opposition and confederal unions follow joint “strategic lines” aiming, in the end, to maintain the current economic and...
France: agreement in metalworking to improve the forecast management of employment and skills in the sector
This agreement is in line with the cross-industry agreement signed in 2008 on that theme. In the preamble, the social partners specify that it doesn’t have to do with the need to reorganize the...
Great Britain: businesses start lacking skilled applicants
High demand in skilled workers. Nearly 700 employers from all sectors and all sizes, for a total of 2.4 million workers, were surveyed by the CBI, which recently published a new report entitled...
Argentina: metalworkers get a 26.5% wage increase
The collective agreement in the metal sector in Argentina provides for a first 15% wage increase applied retroactively on April 1, 2010, a second 11.5% increase on July 1st and until March 31...
Netherlands: employers accuse unions of giving into “extremism”
The two most powerful unions in the Netherlands, affiliated with the FNV, are worrying employers. The offensive tactic adopted by the FNV and Allies (active in industry) for five years, and by the...
Germany: reelected at the head of the DGB, Michael Sommer calls for a “new social order”
For statutory hourly minimum wage amounting to €8.5. In 2006, during the last congress of the DGB, at the time divided between those in favor of a pragmatic attitude and those in favor of a...
Greece: overview of the social consequences of the crisis
Because of this bankruptcy, the new Greek government had to implement a drastic severity policy, with a neoliberal background, with the support of the European Union, the European Central Bank and...
Great Britain: the government coalition’s social program
In answering this question, there is a need to stress the balance between change and continuity. So while there are many changes (see below), these are relatively minor ones and they take place on...
Italy: Milan province signs agreement with the social partners for extraordinary employment support program
Over 1,000 workers affected and a budget exceeding €6m; these are the important figures of the “agreement to support employment, the revival of the economic productive system and against the...
Portugal: government announces new severity measures to put public accounts back on their feet by 2013
On a diet. Portugal’s Prime Minister, José Socrates, announced an additional series of severity measures to speed up the return to balanced State accounts in 2013. The Stability and Growth Program...
Italy: five major SME organizations gather within the R.eTe.- Imprese Italia alliance
Give an “identity, a single voice and joint, therefore stronger, representativeness” to small and medium-size enterprises to “modernize the representation of businesses to modernize the Italian...
Spain: José Luis Zapatero explained his austerity program to the social partners
 The controversial points of the austerity program are the following:  
EU: what framework for CSR strategies in trade businesses?
Credibility. “The public credibility of the existing CSR schemes to a large extend depends on union acceptance and engagement” declared Alke Boessiger, Uni-Commerce representative, at the...
Luxembourg: after the tripartite talks failure, the debate on the social model in Luxembourg is postponed until the autumn
Index. On May 5th, the government proposed to adjust “the index” by modifying the shopping basket which is used as a reference for the indexation (neutralization of the regulated prices, of oil...
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
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...
4
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
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: bioMérieux’s new disability agreement pivots towards mental health
The news. On 6 January 2026, bioMérieux—an in vitro diagnostics specialist employing 4,400 people in France—signed a new four-year agreement “relating to the employment...