Recent news

Latest items of recent news relevant to Global as reported in our fortnightly newswire ‘Dernières nouvelles’. 

Global: Skill shortages

One useful set of OECD statistics that they hide, almost out of view, are indications of skill shortage by country …

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Global: Expanding powers

As the powers of the European Union wane and the UN/ILO are further sidelined, the OECD is rising to take up some of the space left behind them …

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Global: Cross-border workers

Although arrangements between France, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland were concluded in March for cross-border workers, the arrangements did not necessarily apply to those whose commuting activities meant that they lived well away from the borders concerned …

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Global: The impact of redundancy

We have reported in this issue the tragic Irish case concerning employer liability for a suicide resulting from a botched redundancy of a senior manager …

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Global: The democratic deficit at work

In many countries – such as Canada, Chile, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Latvia, Mexico, the UK and USA – the proportion of people who are trade union members comes very close to the proportion covered by collective agreements …

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Global: The true cost

We have earlier reported on the secondary consequences of the pandemic on health systems …

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Global: Maritime restrictions

The trades union ITF has produced a useful map showing COVID-19 restrictions at ports around the world …

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Global: Office reforms

As an increasing number of people return to work we are seeing a host of operational changes – with layouts being redesigned (especially in break-out areas) and, where possible, passages, hallways and stairs being made one-way. One of the most visible of the micro-effects is a change in the use of common fridges and shared coffee-making facilities. Any laxity on the use of cups and even teaspoons has also gone. The future is going to be a frighteningly new place we are all going to have to get used to.

Global: Tax trends

Although many countries have been quick to offer employers and individuals tax payment holidays, this relief is going to be short-lived …

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Global: Why do pandemic mortality rates differ?

When the coronavirus was first recognised as a problem back in January, China reported a mortality rate of around 2% …

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Global: Why are official projections so poor?

Most governments and forecasting organisations have, until very recently, been projecting a fairly minimal impact of the pandemic on the economy …

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Global: Commuting claims

We have seen from the German case reported in this Newswire that employers are now coming dangerously close to becoming responsible for commuting costs …

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Global: Lockdown latest

Some reports indicate that as many as 108M people are once again in lockdown in NE China, although there are only a handful of confirmed cases of viral infection and no further deaths …

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Global: Inflation or deflation

The last thing companies want as we come out of the crisis is extreme inflation or deflation …

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Global: Ways of seeing the future

When GDP figures begin to be published for successive quarters this year it will be important to view them not by reference to a previous level, but in relation to what GDP figure would have been if the lockdown has not happened …

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