8 July 2021
Signed on 16 June between Italian food giant Parmalat (Lactalis group) and the Fai-Cisl, Flai-Cgil and Uila trade unions, the renewed company agreement puts the emphasis on themes linked to skills and generational renewal. Two new joint technical committees have been established (Technological Innovation, Welfare & QWL), underlining the strength of the consultations-based industrial relations system. The new agreement is shorter, running until 31 December 2022, in order to align its future renewal with that of...
7 July 2021
On 28 June, social partners in the metalworking industry in the eastern Länder (Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony) presented a regional agreement, which for the first time provides a general legal negotiations framework to align salary levels in the former German Democratic Republic’s Länder with those in the former Federal Republic of Germany. For the trade unions, this agreement represents an historic achievement for this demand that dates back more than 20 years. For the employers, the terms of how the agreement is...
6 July 2021
After the Milan public prosecutor’s office (c.f. article No.12381), which in February 2021 demanded that 60,519 platform workers (at Foodinho-Glovo, Uber Eats Italy, Just Eat Italy and Deliveroo Italy) be regularized, Italy’s judiciary is taking another step forward to better protect riders. On 30 June, the Bologna court has ruled that meal delivery platforms cannot force bike delivery workers to accept the national collective agreement (NCA) that was signed on 15 September by the employers’...
5 July 2021
With the freeze on redundancies (see articles n° 12558 and 12536) coming to an end on 30 June in Italy’s industry and agriculture sectors, an agreement was signed on 29 June – after 7 hours of talks – by the government, the Cgil, Cisl and Uil trade unions, the employer organisation Confindustria, and various SME associations. The social partners agreed on a joint declaration to strive to avoid a wave of job cuts following the lifting of the measure. According to this text, the social partners...
2 July 2021
Altice Portugal, the country’s largest telecommunications service provider, commenced a restructuring process in 2020, as part of efforts to prepare for 5G technology. The Portuguese subsidiary of the French telecommunications group has implemented a programme of voluntary redundancies and early retirement for workers over the age of 55. About 2,000 workers fell into this age bracket. The company offered a remuneration basis of 80% of individuals’ former salary until their retirement age – between 65 and 67...
1 July 2021
On 21 June, social partners in Italy’s footwear sector secured an agreement to renew the national collective agreement (NCA), which covers nearly 80,000 workers in some 5,800 companies and which will run until 31 December 2023. The previous NCA expired on 31 December 2019. While the agreement, which must now be approved by the employee assemblies, provides for an average wage increase of €70, it above all intends for standards that can combat dumping in subcontracting operations. The footwear industry, a key...
30 June 2021
With its transformation process towards mobility in the future in full swing, the management team at Mercedes-Benz, Sindelfingen, announced on 25 June that it had reached an agreement with its works council to facilitate the recruitment of new software experts. The text allows this cohort to organize their working hours in a flexible way and, if they achieve good results, to rapidly...
28 June 2021
The judgment from the UK Court of Appeal came after the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) demanded that collective wage negotiations be held for around a dozen Deliveroo riders in London, which is a right normally reserved for “workers”. On 24 June the appeals court said that riders for the food delivery application were self-employed and were therefore not entitled to this right. The decision runs contrary to recent court rulings on the so-called gig economy, most notably the UK Supreme...
24 June 2021
On 22 June and in what in principle puts an end to a more than eight-year legal battle, the Federal Labor Court (BAG), in the last instance, ruled that the ‘DHV, Der Berufsgewerkschaft trade union’, which is member of the small German Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (CGB), was not entitled to negotiate collective agreements, because of its lack of representativeness.
22 June 2021
Together, Telefónica management and the CCOO and UGT trade unions have reached an agreement in principle to extend the collective agreement covering the 18,400 employees of the company’s major subsidiaries (Telefónica de España, Móviles, and Soluciones de informática) until 2022. In it they have both agreed new arrangements for voluntary-based flexible work organization with the implementation of a hybrid activity that blends face-to-face and remote working, as well as providing for a pilot program that...
