Surveys
Pay up by 6.6% across Europe
Source: IRS Employment Review
Date: 09/10/2009
The average annual wage increase for European workers fell from 7% in 2007 to 6.6% in 2008, according to a report from the European Industrial Relations Observatory.
International: National minimum wage update 2008
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 15/01/2009
National minimum wages in the EU in July 2008 ranged from €112 per month in Bulgaria to €1,610 in Luxembourg, according to the latest figures from Eurostat.
Poland: Occupational illnesses increase in mining sector
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 01/10/2008
According to a report published by the Central Mining Institute in August 2008, the number of cases of occupational illnesses (notably lung disease) in the mining sector is increasing sharply; a problem that it attributes largely to failure to use protective equipment.
Poland: Pay in the spotlight
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 07/03/2008
With the economy booming, unemployment falling and skill shortages mounting, pay is a central issue in Poland in 2008. After wages rose by an average of 8.6% in 2007, the upward trend is set to continue in 2008, and a wave of pay disputes is building in the public sector, as workers try to catch up with the private sector at a time when public finances are being tightly reined in. Recently published statistics also shed light on underlying pay inequalities.
Poland: Government increases minimum wage by 20%
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 10/10/2007
In September 2007, the government announced that the statutory national minimum wage will be increased by 20.3% from January 2008 - the highest annual increase since the minimum wage was introduced.
International: Minimum wage update 2007
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 09/08/2007
In 2007, national minimum wages in the EU range from €1,570 per month in Luxembourg to €92 in Bulgaria, according to the latest figures from Eurostat.
International: Call centre employment and HR practices examined
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 12/07/2007
Research published in May 2007 analyses employment and HR management in call centres in 17 countries worldwide. It finds that the widespread view of call centres as “electronic sweatshops” with low pay, poor quality of work and little collective representation of workers is not true in all countries and types of call centre.
Average £90,678 a year for HR directors
Source: IRS Employment Review
Date: 18/05/2007
Salaries for HR directors continue to lag behind those for finance and marketing directors in most countries, according to the 2007 Global Pay Summary published by Mercer Human Resources Consulting.
Poland: Number of jobseekers linked to benefit entitlement
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 01/03/2007
Recent studies by national employment offices indicate that many people registered as unemployed are not genuinely looking for work - they estimate that between 20% and 30%, or roughly 500,000 people, are not genuine jobseekers but are signing on to receive certain benefits.
European Union: Flexicurity in the spotlight
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/12/2006
With "flexicurity" - a balance between flexibility and security on the labour market - high on the EU agenda at present, the European Commission has recently published research examining the extent to which flexicurity currently exists in the member states.
European Company Statute state of play
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/11/2006
The European Company Statute and its employee involvement Directive came into force in October 2004. Two years on, we review progress in national implementation and in the establishment of European Companies.
European Union: Collective bargaining trends in Europe
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/08/2006
The European Trade Union Confederation recently published the results of its mid-year survey of collective bargaining trends in Europe. Its main findings are that the pay moderation that has characterised the EU15 member states is set to continue and that annual working time is increasing in some countries.
International: OECD Employment Outlook 2006
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/08/2006
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development recently published its annual Employment Outlook. This year's report urges countries to ensure that all economic policies support measures to boost employment and incomes.
UK HR second in global pay league
Source: Personnel Today
Date: 04/04/2006
HR directors in the UK are the profession's second highest earners worldwide, but still lag behind their peers in finance and marketing.
European Commission issues first report on worker mobility
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/03/2006
The European Commission has produced a report on how transitional labour market restrictions placed on eight of the 10 new EU member states have worked in practice during their first phase, from 1 May 2004 until 30 April 2006.
European Company Statute state of play
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/12/2005
The European Company Statute and its employee involvement Directive came into force in October 2004. More than a year later, few European Companies have been established, while a number of EU member states have not yet implemented the Directive.
International: OECD Employment Outlook 2005
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/10/2005
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently published its annual Employment Outlook. This year's report urges countries to introduce more dynamic employment policies as a response to globalisation.
International: The minimum wage debate
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/09/2005
The majority of EU member states have a statutory minimum wage, while in many other countries collective bargaining at sectoral level sets binding minimum rates of pay. In this feature, we examine the debate surrounding the introduction, implementation and uprating of the statutory minimum wage in European countries.
European minimum wage survey
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/08/2005
The majority of EU member states have a statutory minimum wage, while in many other countries, collective bargaining at sectoral level sets binding minimum rates of pay.
Poland: Discrimination in job adverts
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/12/2004
A recent survey of job advertisements shows that employers and employment agencies are not adhering to the ban on discrimination in job advertising.
Case studies
International: ArcelorMittal signs Europe-wide restructuring deal
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 10/12/2009
ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel producer, signed a European agreement with trade unions in November 2009 on managing and anticipating change. The accord provides for no plant closures or compulsory redundancies during the current economic downturn, and puts in place long-term training and skills policies, along with commitments to dialogue with employee representatives and unions.
International: UniCredit signs transnational equality agreement
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 17/09/2009
UniCredit, an Italy-based banking multinational, announced in August 2009 that it had signed a joint declaration on equal opportunities and non-discrimination with its European Works Council, setting out principles and commitments to apply across all its operations.
International: Post-merger EWC agreed at GDF Suez
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 18/06/2009
An agreement signed in May 2009 to create a European Works Council (EWC) at GDF Suez, the newly merged energy multinational, has been hailed as a "benchmark" by trade unions, not least because it reflects some of the changes recently made to the EWCs Directive.
