News

Great Britain: increasing unpaid overtime
According to the trade union confederation TUC, the number of employees working unpaid overtime has strongly increased in 2007. Unions are worried and want to launch a national campaign against...
EU: EWCs calling to the Commission’s attention about the content of the future amended directive on EWCs
Welcoming a possible modifications of the directive on European works' councils (see our article No. 071000,) several EWCs (Alcatel-Lucent, Chemtura, Italcementi and Securitas) sent Vladimir...
Spain: Nissan announced 450 job cuts in Barcelona
The management announced unions, on January 3, 450 jobs and 60 temp job cuts starting from April. Whereas during the past 5 years, Nissan was realizing record production in Spain, the manufacturer...
Hungary: judgment on the lawfulness of a strike under a valid collective agreement
According to the decision of the Metropolitan Court of Budapest, laid down last December 21, 2007, a strike lanched by the Independent Union of Rail Man (VDSZSZ) to request a compensation for...
Germany: employers dread tough tariffs for 2008
A few days before wage negotiations in the public sector start, which will be the beginning of a series of other negotiations, employers' organizations warned : too important tariff agreements...
Great Britain: agenda for labour law reforms
Several texts concerning labour law are coming into effect this year. They notably plan to toughen sanctions for non-respect of minimum wage, mostly for temp work agencies, employers' legal...
Belgium: several national collective agreements adopted
The national Labour Council approved, on December 20, 2007, a series of national collective agreements (CCT) and of judgments to enforce several parts of the interprofessional agreement for the...
Luxembourg: new collective agreement for the banking sector
After long and tough negotiations, the Association of Luxembourg's Banks and Bankers (ABBL) and the largest union in the sector, Aleba, signed, on December 28, a new collective agreement for the...
Spain: government and social partners signed a corporate social responsibility agreement
According to the agreement signed by the social dialogue follow-up commission, the government must create a CSR national committee, in which the most representative employers' and union...
7 January 2008
Spain: illegal workers have the right to strike
The Constitutional court gave illegal immigrants working in Spain the right to strike. It declared that the provision of the law on foreigners, which only grants the right to assemble and to...
EU: the Commission launches a consultation on the draft Guidelines on State aid for railway undertakings
The European Commission launched, on December 21, a consultation on draft guidelines to supervise State aid for railway undertakings. This document, now submitted to Member States and to the...
EU: social programme for the EU’s Slovenian presidency
The Slovenian presidency, which started on January 1 and is going to last for six months, presented its work programme. This first semester will mainly be dedicated to the beginning of a new cycle...
Germany: BMW announces several thousand job cuts from 2008
After Volkswagen (20.000 job cuts) and Mercedes-Benz (9.700,) it is now BMW's turn to announce several thousand job cuts. The company justifies the measure by the need to react to the dollar's...
France: more trades with labour shortages open to foreign workers
An interdepartmental circular letter sent on December 20, 2007 extends the list of trades with labour shortages opened to citizens from new EU Member States, bringing the number of these trades up...
Telefonica Group: “code of conduct” on workers’ rights
The telecommunication group Telefonica, the trade union federation Uni Global and the Spanish unions UGT and CC.OO signed, on December 17, a "code of conduct" on workers' rights, renewing the...
Spain: equality plan for Banesto
After the Santander bank (see our article No. 070841), the Banesto bank is now signing a gender equality plan to enforce the law on effective gender equality. It also aims at putting equal...
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
2026 TRENDS – CSR: A strategic asset for European companies?
mind HR is looking ahead at the trends set to shape 2026. Sustainability policy remains in flux after a year of CSR rollbacks across Europe. Companies are calling for greater predictability and...
26 February 2026
3
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
4
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
5
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
6
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