News

Finland: social partners can’t agree on solutions to guarantee the future of pensions
Work longer in exchange for better standards of living at work. Faced with the outcry caused by its decision to bring retirement age from 63 to 65 (see our dispatch No. 090251), Prime Minister...
EU: employment market in computer and optical products by 2020
Imports. Even though, in 2006, the computer and optical products sector reaped in €154 billion in profit, the report ordered by the European Commission shows that, over the last decade, imports...
Belgium: different types of leaves booming
More types of leaves and more beneficiaries. Leave for imperative reason, time credit, leave to care for a very sick parent, maternity leave, paternity leave, breastfeeding leave… there are more...
Spain: employers and union organizations reach an agreement unfreezing collective bargaining for 2010-2012
1% increase in 2010. The agreement signed on February 8 by Gerardo Diaz Ferran for the CEOE employers’ organization, Ignacio Fernandez Toxo for Workers’ Commissions and Candido Mendez for UGT was...
Great Britain: end of the consultation on the transposition of the new EWC directive
Scope. The consultation document notes that the 1999 Regulations will continue to apply but with amendments. Besides, it excludes some agreements from the scope of the new directive: pre-existing...
Italy: a job as prize in a supermarket contest
The Tigros supermarket chain (Lombardy) set the example with the first contest of this kind in three provinces (Varese, Verbania and Novara) in September 2009. For one month, it brought into play...
Germany: IG-Metall wants to bargain for collective agreements two months early
“The current state of talks (editor’s note: with employers) is advanced enough so we can quickly start early collective bargaining with employers” said Jorg Hoffmann, leader of the IG-Metall in...
Spain: government presents draft labor market reform
After the controversy sparked off by the reform of the pension scheme and the government’s comings and goings around the issue of the possible extension of the duration of contributions (see our...
Netherlands: Parliament criticizes plan to limit severance pay for high wages
This is an unusual situation: on February 3, the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA, in power), rejected, in Parliament, a reform presented by one of its own Ministers, Piet Hein Donner. The Labor...
Estonia: applying European law will force employers to better pay third-country employees
In Estonia, citizens from the European Union (EU) and Switzerland don’t need a work permit to perform paid employment. All they have to do is declare their place of residence within three months...
Chile: new public agency to validate workers’ professional skills
The new public human resources agency, called “Chile Valora,” will examine Chilean workers’ skill level and give them certificates matching their professional category. The goal is to certify...
Germany: works councils will be elected from March 1 to May 31
Elections in every company with 5 or more employees. A works council may be elected in every establishment employing 5 or more workers, provided that the latter want it. If no worker takes the...
Germany: Verdi union demands better working conditions for banking employees during next round of collective bargaining
Tremendous mental pressure, Ver.di says. Convinced that the financial crisis was partly caused by worsening working conditions in banks (high pressure, race for marketing goals, stress, leaves...
Slovenia: bill on minimum wage to take better account of increasing cost of living
The few weeks that preceded the adoption of the bill on January 21 and its transmission to the MPs on January 28 were characterized by a lot of controversy between the social partners and the...
Luxembourg: social partners renew transport collective agreement
The agreement applies to all professional firms of merchandise transport by road, moving, courier, express mail and logistics. Thus, it covers around 10,000 employees. Open one year ago, the...
International Paper: agreement establishing the EWC
This agreement, subject to British law, established a European Works Council where “central management will provide transnational information relating to its operations in the European Union (EU)...
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
Italy: Enel signs agreement to manage the effects of AI on work
An agreement signed at the end of July by the electricity company Enel (31,000 employees) and the unions Filctem-Cgil, Flaei-Cisl, and Uiltec is pioneering in the Italian energy sector. It aims to...
7 September 2026
2
France: Bayer puts female health and inclusive parenthood at the centre of its equality policy
In a new agreement on gender equality highlighted by mind RH, Bayer commits to strengthening its parenthood policy. Furthermore, the company is anticipating pay transparency and introducing...
25 September 2026
3
Germany: Volkswagen cancels almost all collective bargaining agreements signed with IG Metall
The Volkswagen brand announced on 30 September that it is terminating 10 of its 13 internal collective bargaining agreements, effective 31 December 2026. The announcement, which the carmaker...
1 October 2026
4
France: final document on the work of the Labour, Employment and Pensions Conference
After six months of discussions between French social partners, the guarantors of the Labour, Employment and Pensions Conference submitted the conclusions of the discussions to the Prime Minister...
17 September 2026
5
Germany: working time dispute between Mercedes and the IG Metall Union
The news. At the beginning of September, Mercedes-Benz asked employee representatives and the IG Metall union to agree to an increase in the weekly working time from 35 to 40 hours, without any...
16 September 2026
6
Germany: major day of union action in the automotive industry ahead of collective bargaining
A few weeks before the start of collective bargaining in the German metalworking sector, the IG Metall trade union mobilised nearly 175,000 workers across more than 200 industrial sites on 21...
22 September 2026