News

Belgium: reform of factory inspectorates and fight against social fraud
The government adopted, on May 24, a strategic plan to fight against social fraud, which aims at optimizing the operation of these services. It also announced its intention to fight against the...
Volkswagen: management is ready to pay a lot to accelerate job cuts
At the beginning of May, Volkswagen announced its intention to cut 20000 jobs, mainly in its German factories. But the collective agreement currently into force excludes any lay-off until 2011...
Spain: trade union CCOO denounce the under-recognition of professional cancers
The trade union CCOO presented, on May 31, a report on the relation between cancer and employment, according to which 160 000 cases of diagnosed cancers are of professional origin. The trade union...
EU Council of Ministers : no agreement on the “working hours” directive
The EU Ministers in charge of social Affairs, gathered on June 1 in Luxembourg, did not manage to agree on the draft revision of the "working hours" directive. It is the second time, after the...
Lithuania: low salaries, insufficient medical care and social instability hold back emigrants
Lithuanians living abroad say working conditions and social guarantees have to improve, in order for them to come back home. (Ref. 06551)
Spain: agreement on a plan to support the textile and clothing industries
The government, trade unions and employers' organization of textile concluded, last 26 May, an agreement on a plan to support the textile and clothing industries, which will be granted 870 million...
Germany: lower than unexpected unemployment, but tense situation on the apprenticeship market
During a press conference on 31 May 2006 in Berlin, Michael Glos, German Minister for Economy, was pleased with the retreat of unemployment in May, announced the same morning by the national...
Italy: the labour market remains very traditional
The Italian labour market, described in the annual report of the statistical institute Istat, made public on May 24, remains far from the Lisbon objectives. "The Italian employment model is still...
Daihatsu could locate a new factory in the Czech Republic or in Slovakia
The Japanese car producer wants to build small cars in Eastern Europe. (Ref. 06547)
Netherlands: a large campaign for the hiring of disabled people
A vast publicity campaign was launched on May 29 by the ministry for Social Affairs and Employment, in favor of disabled or partially invalid people (more than 35 %). (Ref. 06544)
Spain: network of illegal labor is dismantled in the construction industry
A network of illegal labour trafficking has just been dismantled on the Spanish coast. Hundreds of immigrants worked without papers on the construction site of the tourist complex Marina d'Or, in...
France : the employee that usually executes his work in another Member State cannot submit a case to the Labour Court of his own place of residence
The regulation 44/2001 of December 22nd 2000 concerning the judicial competence, the regognition and exectution of orders for civil and commercial matter grants the employee with an advantage in...
A scenario of crisis’ end for the working hours directive
The Austrian presidency of the EU hopes to break the deadlock in the directive bill about working hours that revises a directive of 1993, during the Council of the Social Services Ministers that...
The Twenty-five agree on the draft “services” directive
On 29 May, the Finance Ministers of the EU 25 finally reached an agreement on the "services" directive. According to the Council, the text presented by the Austrian presidency respects the...
Publication of the joint position on the recasting of the equal treatment directives
The joint position for the adoption of the directive relative "to the implementation of the equal treatment principle and that of equal opportunities between men and women at work (recasting)...
Spain: the broad outline of the coming pensions reform
The Spanish government should conclude this week the negotiations with employers and the trade unions on the reform of the retirement pensions system. The agreement should be signed before next 9...
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
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
4
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
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