13 January 2020
The leadership of the Communications Workers of America, a large trade union that has a strong presence in the telecommunications industry, has decided to expand into the sectors of tech and video games, with the launch of a nationwide unionisation campaign.
8 January 2020
For several years works council specialist consultants have been active in both European Commission funded sector-level social dialogue, as well as in French EWCs. More recently however, these consultancy experts have also been working with non-French EWCs, oftentimes with the backing of local trade union bodies, and they have periodically succeeded in creating sustainable working industrial relations. Although concentrated in number, and albeit if these consultancy companies do vary in actual size, these firms’...
7 January 2020
A study conducted by a German university claims that e-commerce platform Zalando has been placing its workers under pressure and/or surveillance using the performance management tool Zonar, a software used for so-called ‘360° feedback’ on employees. Zalando categorically denies the allegations made in the report. Nonetheless, the regional data protection officer in the state of Berlin announced an inquiry into the software, the use of which has been prohibited until further notice. The case raises several...
20 December 2019
The team at Planet Labor would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your loyal readership and to wish you a joyful and peaceful end-of-year. We look forward to re-opening the site on 06 January 2020.
20 December 2019
On 19 December, after a year of negotiations, social partners in Italy’s banking sector agreed a provisional deal to renew the national collective agreement (CCN), which applies to more than 280,000 workers and expired in December 2018. The strong points of the deal include a €190 pay rise, which is close to the trade union demand of a €200 increase, the right to disconnect, improved protection of employees from commercial pressures, the creation of a joint committee on new technology and several measures to...
20 December 2019
Spain’s banking sector trade unions and employers’ bodies have concluded an agreement on employees’ right to disconnect (log out) during rest periods. The agreement is part of the negotiation over implementation in the sector of the March 2019 decree law (c.f. article No. 11038) that requires all employers to keep a record of employees’ working time so as to be able to identify unpaid overtime hours.
20 December 2019
On 29 November, the EFAT (European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions) and HOTREC (Hotels, Restaurants & Cafés in Europe) federations signed a joint declaration calling for ‘fair conditions and fair competition in the hospitality and tourism sectors.’ The federations are targeting the platform economies within these sectors and are calling for the exercise of greater controls and restrictions on the relevant actors. The federations would like the EU to go even further in terms of...
18 December 2019
On 25 November, Deutsche Post DHL (DP DHL) the UNI Global (services sector) and the ITF (transport sector) international trade union federations renewed, for a further period of two years, the OECD Protocol as advocated by the German National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinationals that dates back to June 2016. The German National Contact Point has previous experience...
18 December 2019
Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond, the National Federation of Christian Trade Unions (CNV) is the country’s second largest trade union body with a support base of over 350,000 members and it has opened a debate on the potential for reducing weekly working hours down to 30. In a statement from 14 December (here in Dutch) the union recalls, “We have seen weekly working hours reduced from 40 to 38 and then again to 36. We should progress to the next stage so workers can strike a better work-life balance.” The...
18 December 2019
In the space of just a few weeks tech giant Google has fired five of its staff, and not, according to the former employees in question, because of any breaches of internal regulations or any workplace rules, but instead because they were too liberal in expressing their opinions, and in particular as regards company collaboration with the US immigration authorities. The former employees have now taken their cases to the National Labor Relations Board (Federal Agency responsible for enforcing U.S. labor law in...
