News

France: Amazon loses appeal as court reaffirms central importance of social dialogue in risk prevention policies
On 24 April the appeals court in Versailles confirmed the ruling, passed 10 days earlier, which ordered Amazon France to limit work at its warehouses to operations related to essential product...
27 April 2020
EU: European Agency for Safety and Health at Work publishes guidelines for returns to work
Several European governments are currently planning a gradual lifting of the lockdown measures that were put in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. In its roadmap towards lifting the...
24 April 2020
Germany: IG Metall publishes practical guide with measures to prevent spread of Covid-19 in the workplace
As major automobile manufacturers in Germany gear up to boost production, the country’s metalworkers’ union has published a practical and detailed 30-page guide on how to ensure protection at...
24 April 2020
United Kingdom: more than one quarter of UK workers furloughed, says ONS
On 23 April, the UK government unveiled an analysis on the furloughing (temporary laying off) of workers amid the lockdown measures that have been put in place across the country. Entitled the...
24 April 2020
International: companies and trade unions join forces to act in support of manufacturers in textile industry struggling due to Covid-19 crisis
Clothing brands and retailers including Adidas, C&A, H&M Group, International Apparel Federation, Inditex, M&S, Primark, PVH Corporation, Ralph Lauren, Tchibo, VF Corporation, Under...
24 April 2020
Belgium: social partners agree on recommendations for exiting lockdown conditions
On 22 April, the social partners that met as part of the Group of Ten (one of Belgium’s social consultation forums) agreed on the framework that will govern the relaunch of business in...
23 April 2020
United States: Amazon facing a civil society coalition movement
The opposition being mounted against Amazon, the online retail giant, has taken the name of the ancient Greek goddess Athena (wisdom & warfare). Comprising a very active and engaged coalition...
23 April 2020
France: companies will be able to ‘determine’ the workers for whom they will implement short-time work arrangements
Originating from a demand by certain sectors, and in particular the services sector, and as a result of a new ordinance adopted by the Council of Ministers on 22 April as part of the nation’s...
22 April 2020
Italy: social partners in Brescia, one of the Covid-19 epicenters, sign an agreement to ensure industry worker safety
In Lombardy’s industrial heartland lies the city of Brescia, which along with its surroundings and Bergamo, became one of Italy’s hardest hit Covid-19 areas. Formulated under the auspices of the...
22 April 2020
United States: an ineffectual OSHA agency
The US OSHA federal agency (Occupational Health and Safety Administration) that is responsible for working conditions in companies, has not issued any specific rules for ‘essential’ workers during...
22 April 2020
Italy: fashion industry gears up to re-open
On 15 April a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the social partners that enables the re-opening of the fashion industry, a fundamental ‘Made in Italy’ pillar, while guaranteeing workers’...
21 April 2020
Spain: agreement between electricity companies and the government to cushion the impact of coal-fired plant closures
On 17 April, the electricity companies Endesa, Iberdrola and Naturgy together with the Ministries of Labour and Ecological Transition, as well as the trade unions CCOO and UGT secured an agreement...
21 April 2020
Germany: debate intensifies over raising the level of short-time work compensation covered by unemployment insurance
In contrast with the 2008/2009 crisis, short-time working is not just affecting industry, but the entire German economy, and especially the low-wage sectors. Against this backdrop, and with some 4...
21 April 2020
Japan: in spite of the health crisis telework arrangements are slow to take off
In the wake of the sudden rise in Covid-19 cases, and PM Shinzo Abe’s announcement on 07 April that Japan was entering a state of emergency, twice as many businesses as before have been putting...
21 April 2020
Spain: PSA plant in Vigo to resume production at low capacity and set up a new partial unemployment scheme to run until year end
The Vigo plant of French automobile group PSA is preparing to resume activity from 27 April , following a six-week lockdown in Spain after the state of alert decree issued on 15 March. However...
20 April 2020
Belgium: social partners in construction sector pen agreement to re-open sites with social distancing measures applied
On Thursday 16 April, after a month of negotiations, the social partners in Belgium’s construction industry agreed to resume work on sites while respecting as far as possible the rules of social...
20 April 2020
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
United Kingdom: government “names and shames” companies that fail to pay the minimum wage
The news. On September 3, the UK government published a list of employers penalised for failing to comply with the National Minimum Wage. Nearly 660 companies were named, including fast-food chain...
4 September 2026
6
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