News

Germany: “Hartz IV” Act helped improve the labor market situation
Reduction of structural unemployment. Answering to the Federal Employment Agency (BA), the IAB is notably in charge of regularly analyzing the impact of the “Hartz IV” act (SGB II) enforced on...
Finland: employers withdraw from secret negotiations on employment and wages and accuse unions of threatening social peace
Secret negotiations encouraged by the government. To encourage employers to come to the negotiating table, the government offered reducing businesses’ taxes in the event of an agreement. Finance...
Portugal: December 24 retailing strike cancelled
Informal agreement. The negotiating meeting between representatives of the APED (Portuguese Association of Retail Companies) wasn’t held. It was replaced by an informal meeting which led to...
Germany: Bosch wants to share short-time working costs with employees
Planet Labor, December 22, 2009, No. 091164 – www.planetlabor.com
Sweden: employers and union launch a joint prevention campaign against drugs and alcohol in construction
A problem which affects all parties. The issue of abusive alcohol use was revived on March 4, 2009 by Maria Larsson, Minister for Elderly Care and Public Health. A report proposed revising the...
Great Britain: Unite union postpones British Airways strike to January
Illegal strike. While Unite announced a 12-day strike starting on December 22, 2009 (affecting one million employees), the Supreme Court announced, in a ruling initiated by British Airways, that...
Italy: pharmaceuticals/chemicals social partners sign unitary agreement for the renewal of their national collective agreement
After only two months of negotiations, “without a single hour of strike” and in spite of three different platforms (see our dispatch No. 090875), Filcem-Cgil, Femca-Cisl and Uilcem-Uil for unions...
Netherlands: FNV changes its mind about retirement at 67
Agnes Jongerius, FNV general secretary, gave in to the rules of the democratic game and wants to respect the Parliament’s will. She’s also learning the lessons from a halftone mobilization in...
Denmark: fewer businesses sued for violating the law on working environment
While, in 2005, the labor inspectorate (Arbejdstilsyn) imposed administrative sanctions to 94 businesses for breaking the working environment act (Arbejdsmiljøloven), it only sanctioned four in...
Germany: Volkswagen will only award bonuses to managers if customers and employees are satisfied
A “revolutionary” system. Volkswagen, which likes to honor its nickname of “Germany’s social lab,” is innovating again with a “revolutionary program,” as its personnel director, Horst Neumann...
EU: the directive codifying rules on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos was published in the official journal
Mere codification. With the evolution of scientific knowledge, the directive on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos was amended several times since it was...
Netherlands: the CNV, the second largest union, is trying to distance itself from the FNV even more
In addition to the 1% increase (for the FNV’s claims, see our dispatch No. 091057), the CNV also wants employers to increase training and social innovation efforts, by sparing 1% of their total...
International: unions mobilized in Copenhagen want the answer to climate change to take account of workers
From December 14 to December 16, the LO union is welcoming, in its headquarters in Copenhagen, over 300 representatives from the entire world for the ‘World of Work Pavilion – Unions have...
EU: the new form of registration of truck drivers’ activities that aren’t justified by tachograph records was published in the OJ
New form. The European Commission published, in its decision 2007/230/EC, a new standard assessment form, which turned out to not be enough to cover all cases where the driver couldn’t record...
Italy: Censis report reviews one year of crisis
Even though the crisis slowed down the “second metamorphosis” suggested in last year’s report (see our dispatch No. 081009), three transformation processes are nevertheless underway: the...
France: Supreme Court puts limits on whistleblowing
Disputed content. Two provisions stirred up controversy:
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: Yves Rocher convicted of breach of duty of vigilance for infringement of freedom of association
The specialised chamber of the Paris Judicial Court convicted Yves Rocher on 12 March for breaching its duty of vigilance. The group was sued by Turkish employees dismissed in 2018 by a subsidiary...
12 March 2026
2
Spain: business support package to tackle the economic impact of the Middle East conflict
The Spanish government approved a series of measures on 20 March to support companies facing rising energy prices. In return, these businesses are prohibited from making redundancies for economic...
23 March 2026
3
EU: Council adopts position on simplifying AI rules
The Council of the EU approved its position on 13 March regarding the “omnibus regulation” proposal, published last November by the Commission to simplify the AI Act. Confirming the...
20 March 2026
4
Germany: a corporate group supports local political engagement via its “Democracy Charter”
Large corporations in the Hesse region, surrounding Frankfurt, are defending local democracy by enabling employees to volunteer in local public life through an initiative dubbed the "Democracy...
11 March 2026
5
United States: Coca-Cola subsidiary sued by the administration over women-only event
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced on 18 February that it is launching federal proceedings against Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast for “sex-based...
6 March 2026