News

Denmark: Parliament ratifies labor environment act reform
On May 11th, the Danish Parliament approved the most important reform of the working environment act (arbejdsmiljøloven) since it was passed in 1977. The new law “modernizes” the activity of...
Netherlands: positive agreement at Sara Lee to sweeten a social plan
A 1% wage increase, a €75 annual bonus, the possibility to take five unpaid days off, a permanent contract after 3 or 6 months of interim “if there are jobs to fulfill….” The agreement in...
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:  
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
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