12 October 2021
On 02 October, Crédit Agricole’s Italian subsidiary and the Fabi, First-Cisl, Fisac-Cgil, UILCA and Unisin trade unions signed an agreement on generational renewal...
11 October 2021
As part of a so-called “collective agreement for the future”, the management of sports car manufacturer Porsche and the IG Metall trade union have reached an agreement that will see the weekly working hours of the 4,300 people employed at the former’s Leipzig factory cut from 38 to 35 hours from 2025,...
8 October 2021
On 29 September MGEN (Mutuelle Générale de l’Education Nationale), France’s leading mutual health insurance company and healthcare services provider with almost 10,000 employees, announced it had concluded an agreement on gender-based professional...
7 October 2021
The post-pandemic recovery has prompted Mario Draghi’s government, Italian businesses and trade unions to commence discussions over a variety of matters. The most urgent of all is workplace health and safety, since Italy has recorded a record number of individuals falling victim to work-related accidents (680 deaths since January 2021). On Monday 27 September, Italian premier Draghi met with the unions on this subject, and the government may very soon introduce harsher penalties, to be applied more quickly,...
5 October 2021
On 22 September Stellantis, together with the Ministry of Labor, and the Fiom-Cgil, Fim-Cisl, Uilm, Fismic, UGLM and Associazione Quadri trade unions signed the ‘contratto di espansione’ (expansion agreement) which paves the way for 390 voluntary early retirements across its administrative, research, and financial services businesses. In return, 130 young people with professional profiles corresponding to the company’s industrial plan will be hired on permanent employment contracts. To be eligible, the early...
4 October 2021
The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) has disbanded, a move that comes shortly after the Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union (HKPTU), which was the largest trade union in Hong Kong, suffered the same fate. The HKCTU’s disbandment was decided on 17 September and was made official on 3 October, at a final extraordinary general meeting. It follows pressure from Beijing on civil society and trade unions and is further evidence of the process of dismantling that has been underway since the...
29 September 2021
CATEM (Confederación Autónoma de Trabajadores y Empleados de México) has defeated the powerful CTM (Confederación de los Trabajadores de México) in order to represent the employees at the Nissan plant in Aguacalientes and renegotiate the three key collective contracts. The vote, which was the plant’s first ever secret ballot, marks another step on the road towards restructuring...
22 September 2021
On 09 September the pharmaceutical sector employers’ federation, Les Entreprises du Médicament (LEEM), and five representative trade unions (FO, CFE-CGC, CFDT, CFTC, and UNSA) signed an agreement establishing a telework framework for the sector, which employs some 124,000. The text, which is intended to provide a framework for companies to negotiate their own terms and conditions, insists on telework being used under extraordinary circumstances and as a support for pregnant employees, family carers, those...
17 September 2021
German rail operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) and the GDL train drivers’ union have announced the signing of a new collective agreement, marking the end of a dispute that gave rise to repeated strike action. Signed on Thursday 16 September, the lengthy 32-month agreement provides for a 3.3% pay rise in two stages, as well as the payment of two so-called “coronavirus bonuses”. The two parties also reached a compromise as regards the application of the collective agreement unity law (Tarifeinheitsgesetz), which...
16 September 2021
On 15 September, and under the aegis of Italy’s Labour Minister, Amazon Logistica Srl together with the Filt-Cgil, Fit-Cisl and Uiltrasporti unions have signed what the labour bodies have termed a unique agreement at a world level. The protocol provides for the multinational distribution company to recognize and respect the logistics and parcel shipments sector collective agreement (c.f. article No. 12544). Initiatives will be taken to develop labour relations at the national level, including periodic...
14 September 2021
Management at Telefónica together with the CCOO and UGT trade unions have agreed on terms for employees to start gradually returning to the office as of 27 September. The agreement provides that employees will be able to continue working remotely 60% of the time, i.e. 3 days per week, during a transition period that concludes on 31 December 2021. At the same time, the Spanish telecommunications operator will also, and again until the end of the year, trial a shorter four-day working week, where employees on these...
13 September 2021
On 09 September management at the Benetton clothing company signed an agreement with the Filctem-Cgil, Femca-Cisl and Uiltec trade unions that focuses on agile work and the right to disconnect, the transmission of skills as regards generational renewal, and a better work-life balance. The result of constant social dialogue and valid until 31 December 2023, the agreement concerns more than 1,200 employees at the group’s Italian head offices (excluding the sales network). The trade unions have welcomed this...
6 September 2021
In a study published on 30 August, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) reveals how many extra days of holiday workers in 13 European countries enjoy on average thanks to collective bargaining. Although ETUC finds that workers in Germany and Croatia whose conditions are the subject of collective bargaining get 10 days holiday on top of the legal minimum, the organisation warns that the number of workers benefitting from collective bargaining is on the decline. The European Union’s directive on wages,...