News Flash

Dutch trade union federation to be wound up

The Dutch FNV trade union federation is to be disbanded and a new organisation called De Nieuwe Vakbeweging (New Union Movement) is to be launched next year. This decision by the FNV’s 19 member unions follows internal dissent over its

Talks end as deadline nears

Negotiations between the Swiss Contractors Association and trade unions over a new national labour agreement have broken down – with the current deal due to expire on January 1st 2012. Unions have called for a new agreement, with increased protection

Employer sanctioned for misuse of geolocation device

The Labour Chamber of the French Supreme Court has recently upheld a decision against an employer that unlawfully used a geolocation device to track the company car of one of its salesmen. Although the company notified the salesman that such

Penalty for invalid temporary job contract

The Italian Constitutional Court has reaffirmed the Collegato Lavaro law (2010) in relation to the indemnity that an employer must pay when an individual is employed under a temporary employment agreement that has no legal validity. An employer is required

Amendments to labour leasing laws

The second phase of amendments to the German labour leasing laws will become effective on December 1st 2011. The most important changes include a tightening of the requirement for possessing a licence for conducting a labour lease between companies, or

Discriminatory dress code

The Spanish Supreme Court has ruled on a case in which, under a collective bargaining agreement, women nurses in a part of a hospital were obliged to wear a specific dress code which was different to the rest of the

One in five part-time workers underemployed

New figures from the EU statistical office (Eurostat), show that in 2010 there were 41.3 million people in part-time employment across the EU, three quarters of which were women. 21% of those employed part-time were underemployed (because they wish to

Loans to attend mandatory integration courses

New immigrants to the Netherlands from outside the European Economic Area must now meet the costs of attending mandatory integration courses.

Until now the cost has been wholly or partly met by local councils. However, in future, these will be