Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

International news

by Personnel Today 15 Jun 2004
by Personnel Today 15 Jun 2004

This week’s international news

California spends $10bn on low-pay subsidies

California’s tax-payers are spending US$10.1bn (£5.5bn) a year subsidising
the state’s growing low-wage economy, according to a study from Berkeley’s
Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California. It
claims that of the families receiving social assistance in California, 53 per
cent of funds went to working families to cover health and childcare costs,
rather than to unemployed and retired people. About $5.7bn (£3.1bn) of the
money went to families with workers earning less than $8 an hour (£4.36), while
those with workers earning between $8 and $10 (£5.44) an hour used $1.9bn
(£1bn) of the subsidies. Retail workers received $2bn (£1bn) in aid, more than
twice the amount in any other sector. The study said that by raising the minimum
wage to $8 per hour from the current $6.75 (£3.68), the state could save $2.7bn
(£1.5bn) in benefit payouts. It added: "Some assistance programmes may be
serving as de facto subsidies for low-wage employers, pushing down wages and
providing disincentives."

Confidential information ‘can be passed to unions’

Employee-elected company board members can pass confidential information
learned from meetings to trade union chiefs and expert advisers, as long as
they can demonstrate the disclosure helps them carry out their job, a European
Court of Justice (ECJ) advocate general has advised. Miguel Poiares Maduro
added union secretary-generals could discuss this information with colleagues,
but had to ensure it was "necessary for [them] to be able to perform his
duties". Maduro was advising on a Danish case involving the general
secretary of financial worker union Finansforbundet, and a RealDanmark employee
board member, whose company was being merged with Dansk Bank. The employee
informed the union boss about the deal, who told colleagues. One bought and
sold shares in RealDanmark and was subsequently convicted of insider trading.
The secretary general and board member were later prosecuted for illegally
transferring confidential information.

Wal-Mart chiefs risk bonuses over diversity targets

Senior executives at US retail group Wal-Mart will lose up to 15 per cent of
their bonuses if the company fails to meet employment diversity targets. CEO
Lee Scott told shareholders at the annual company meeting that bonuses,
including his own, would be cut by up to 7.5 per cent this year and 15 per cent
next year if the company doesn’t hit goals on the number of women and
minorities it employs. The company employs 1.3 million staff, making it the
biggest single private employer in the US. Wal-Mart, which owns supermarket
chain Asda, has been beset by legal challenges and could soon be hit with a
class action suit alleging the company denies promotion and equal pay to female
staff. The company has created a compliance office in the US that now has 140
people working to ensure the company follows the rules and its own procedures.

‘Europass’ CV system launched to cover all of EU

A comprehensive European Union (EU) CV system, helping EU workers and
students gain recognition for their qualifications across the Continent, has
been approved in principle by the EU Council of Ministers and the European
Parliament. The ‘Europass’ – a passport-style document – will contain personal
details presented in a common format (in a major European language). It will
include:

– A commonly formatted European CV, containing a harmonised presentation of
qualifications and competencies, including extra-curricular activities,
academic qualifications and work experience

– A European Diploma Supplement describing the nature, level, context,
content and status of a graduate’s studies

– A ‘MobiliPass’ recording any training or studying on a recognised EU
course, stating which institution was involved

– A European Language Portfolio recording language learning and abilities,
plus cultural experience

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

– A Certificate Supplement, attached to a vocational certificate, explaining
what skills have been gained.

Each EU country will set up a Europass National Agency (ENA) to manage the
system, which should be launched next year.

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
UKIP to obstruct European employment laws
next post
New panel aims to boost UK productivity

You may also like

Five misconceptions about hiring refugees

20 Jun 2025

Forward features list 2025 – submitting content to...

23 Nov 2024

Features list 2021 – submitting content to Personnel...

1 Sep 2020

Large firms have no plans to bring all...

26 Aug 2020

A typical work-from-home lunch: crisps

24 Aug 2020

Occupational health on the coronavirus frontline – ‘I...

21 Aug 2020

Occupational Health & Wellbeing research round-up: August 2020

7 Aug 2020

Acas: Redundancy related enquiries surge 160%

5 Aug 2020

Coronavirus: lockdown ‘phase two’ may bring added headaches...

17 Jul 2020

Unemployment to top 4 million as workers come...

15 Jul 2020

  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+