News

Netherlands: tripartite talks to shorten the work week to avoid mass layoffs
Union and employers' organizations as well as the government are having talks behind closed doors to face the risk of mass layoffs because of the economic crisis. Reducing working time for all (36...
Spain: unions protest against job cuts and want public powers to step in
The opposition to the layoff plan presented by Nissan for its site in Barcelona has become unions' symbol. They protest against staffing cuts ("EREs" - expedientes de reducción de empleo) which...
Germany: the train drivers’ union GDL satisfied about the temporary writing off of the partial privatization of the Deutsche Bahn
Bonus if the privatization succeeds. With the threat of recession in Germany as a background and the new debate on managers’ remuneration (see our dispatch No. 080811), the announcement in...
EDF: European trade unions at the EWC want a wage increase
In a joint press release, nine trade unions with representatives within the EWC of the French energy group EDF (158.640 employees, over 105.000 of which in France) launched a petition in favor of...
Freudenberg: the German group is revising its global framework agreement
The International Federation of Chemical, Energy Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) announced that it bargained to improve the international framework agreement it signed with the German...
Denmark: firing a man who leaves to take a fertility test is illegal
An employee received over 200.000 crowns in damages after being dismissed because he left for fertility treatment. The Western Regional Court ruled that this dismissal violated the law on equal...
Italy: the CGIL union has a plan to get out of the crisis
“To get out of the crisis, we are going to need new rules, all the rules we failed to set over the past fifteen years. But we mostly need new values and a new liability ethic” declared Gugliemo...
Germany: DGB unions agree on the reform of their central organization
After several months of bargaining between the eight member unions of the German confederation of trade unions - DGB - an agreement was reached to reform the organization. The reform will spread...
Czech Republic: new obligations on employers resulting from the reform of sickness insurance
The health insurance reform will be complete on January 1, 2009. Pavel Jakab, lawyer at the Peterka & Partners law firm in Prague, is commenting for Planet Labor the impact of this reform on...
Germany: the IG Metall threatens employers to strike as of November 17
In spite of the ongoing debate over the methods of the union, which is asking for an 8% increase during a crisis, the IG Metall is holding on and presenting employers with an ultimatum. If no...
EU: the European Federation of Building and Wood Workers wants a directive providing for liability of general contractors
During a hearing at the European Parliament on November 5, 2008, the Chairman of the Standing Committee Building of the European Federation of Building and Wood Workers (EFBWW), John Kerstens...
European social agenda from November 13 to December 31, 2008
We offer an agenda of the main events concerning social Europe and institutional meetings. You can send your scheduled events to the following address: [email protected] (Ref. 080882)
Hungary: the crisis in the car industry will really be tangible in 2009
Hungary, which has been one of the flagship countries in car manufacturing since the 1990s, is devastated by the global financial crisis. In concrete terms, since October, there have been over a...
Germany: Arcandor employees will see their annual wages decrease of 7-12%
After two weeks of negotiation, the German group Arcandor AG, its works council and the services' union Ver.di agreed, on October 31, 2008, on the details of a cost of personnel reduction plan...
Spain: the government is planning to improve vocational training
Mercedes Cabrera, Minister for Education, and Celestino Corbacho, Employment Minister, announced a reform of vocational training for early 2009. The country's bad results in this domain forced the...
EU: the European Parliament’s Employment Commission unravels the compromise laboriously developed by the 27 Social Ministers
MEPs from the European Parliament's Commission on Employment and Social Affairs adopted, today, November 5, the report by Spanish MEP Alejandro Cercas on the draft revision of the working time...
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