Social Issues
-
France: This isn't just about pensions
19 October 20102011 Frankfurter Rundschau Frankfurt -
Portugal: Pension reform can wait
19 October 2010PresseuropJornal de Negócios -
France: Strike spreads, Marseilles blocked
13 October 2010PresseuropLibération -
Romania: IMF imposes 60-hour week
12 October 2010PresseuropAdevărul -
Germany: Anger as police gas "patriots"
1 October 2010PresseuropFinancial Times Deutschland, Financial Times Deutschland -
Press review: Can anything stop the cuts?
30 September 201032 Presseurop -
Austerity: Europe revolts against cuts
29 September 20101761 La Tribune Paris -
Germany: Siemens - jobs for life?
23 September 2010PresseuropFrankfurter Rundschau -
Czech Republic: Civil servants march in Prague
22 September 2010PresseuropLidové noviny -
Unemployment: Why can't the EU create jobs?
22 September 201067 The Independent London -
Romania: Unions aim to 'bankrupt state'
20 September 2010PresseuropRomânia libera -
Unemployment: Joblessness soars across the union
16 September 2010PresseuropThe Independent -
Poland: A “hot” autumn, Polish unions warn
15 September 2010PresseuropRzeczpospolita -
Czech Republic: Czech working-hours longest in Europe
7 September 20101PresseuropLidové noviny -
Germany: Government hobbles need for immigrants
25 August 2010PresseuropDie Tageszeitung -
Czech Republic: Crackdown on foreign workers
19 August 2010PresseuropHospodářské Noviny -
Industry: Will Italian workers turn Polish?
30 July 20101091 Gazeta Wyborcza Warsaw -
Pensions: Will Brussels make us work till 70?
8 July 2010902 Presseurop -
Austerity: Towards an autumn of discontent
2 July 201026 De Volkskrant Amsterdam -
Italy: Fiat workers negotiate new model
23 June 2010PresseuropL’Unità -
Spain: Zapatero to rejig labour market
3 June 2010PresseuropPúblico -
FRANCE: French debate legal retirement age
26 May 20101PresseuropLibération -
Baltic States and the crisis (3): Lithuania, no country for old men
22 April 201055 The New York Times New York -
Baltic states and the crisis (2): Latvia, from boom to bust
19 April 2010661 The Independent London -
Work: Jobs of the 21st century
29 March 201057 Respekt Prague -
Italy: Papa’s boys, daddy’s girls
16 March 201083 La Repubblica Rome -
Crisis: Farewell to fixed incomes
12 March 20102 Il Sole-24 Ore Milan -
Romania: Work, but at what price?
12 March 2010PresseuropGandul -
Greece: This is the dawning of the age of austerity
4 March 2010PresseuropTo Ethnos -
Switzerland: Conservatives in illegal immigrant love-in
4 March 2010PresseuropTages-Anzeiger -
Immigration: The day the immigrants went away
1 March 2010673 Presseurop -
Economic crisis: Angry Europe takes to the street
24 February 2010242 The Independent London -
Germany: Dignity becomes a constitutional right
10 February 2010PresseuropSüddeutsche Zeitung -
Gender equality: Women on top
4 February 2010895 International Herald Tribune Paris -
Spain: Madrid to push retirement age to 67
1 February 20101PresseuropEl País -
Romania: Less equal than others
25 January 2010PresseuropDilema Veche -
Netherlands: Rotterdam believes in total employment
12 January 2010PresseuropDe Volkskrant -
Germany: Thou shalt not shop on the holy Sabbath
2 December 2009PresseuropFrankfurter Rundschau -
Economic crisis: Spaniards cheerfully ignore poverty
28 October 2009PresseuropABC -
Spain: Boom days for black economy
6 October 2009PresseuropPúblico -
Retirement : Bad news for future Dutch OAP's
1 October 2009PresseuropDe Volkskrant -
Employment: The work-life imbalance
29 September 2009221 Le Monde Paris -
Denmark: Judges rules on male-female salary lag
25 September 2009PresseuropPolitiken -
Employment: Pull a holiday sickie, your boss pays
15 September 2009PresseuropThe Daily Telegraph -
Justice: Romania's stressed out judges to strike
31 August 2009PresseuropCotidianul -
Czech Republic: New slaves of the building trade
6 August 2009PresseuropLidové noviny -
United Kingdom: A good day for bankers
4 August 2009PresseuropThe Independent -
PROSTITUTION: Czechs turn off the red light
21 July 200921 Mladá Fronta DNES Prague -
Greece: Priest-waiter, a career with a future
20 July 2009PresseuropTa Nea -
REDUNDANCIES: France's explosive industrial disputes
17 July 2009PresseuropLibération
What with service stations out of petrol, protesters setting cars on fire, schools closed, the mass demonstrations against the pension reform are plunging France into chaos. But it’s not just about pensions: the people are up in arms about what many consider an unjust system. 
The wave of protests against pay and public spending cuts shows anger over who should pay for the crisis will not go away. But are governments likely to buckle so easily to workers demands? Europe's press is far from sure. 
With the European Commission about to force members to rein in their budgets, a wave of protest against the cuts has erupted across Europe with a general strike in Spain and large demonstrations in Brussels, Greece, Italy, Ireland and Portugal. 
European countries excel in productivity but can't seem to stimulate employment. This is due to delocalisations and overtly strict labour laws, explains the Independent. 
When Fiat offered to relocate its Polish factory to southern Italy, it asked the workers to agree to work more. They accepted but face a major culture shock. A month later, Gazeta Wyborzca visited the Italian plant and seems puzzled by this instance of European social competition. 
In a green paper on pensions, the European Commission argues that EU citizens will have to come to terms with an inevitable need to increase retirement age. The European press is not convinced. 
Many Europeans who have no desire to foot the bill for the banking crisis are taking to the streets to demonstrate. But we will have to wait until the end of the summer to see if growing discontent will have a real impact on governments in EU member states.
Severely affected by the economic crisis, no other country, apart from Ireland, has effected more severe public spending cuts than Lithuania. While austerity has yet to elicit the same level of protest as seen in Greece or in Spain, it has had a tremendous personal and social cost. 
With the highest unemployment rate in the EU, the capitalist boom years for Latvia have gone, and many of its citizens are hankering for the grey certitudes of life under communism, reports The Independent. 
A permanent job, a rock-solid employment contract and fixed hours are gradually becoming relics of the past. It’s bound to be a rougher ride from here on in. That will open wide the realm of possibilities – but also a whole Pandora’s box of uncertainties, heralds the Czech weekly Respekt. 
According to a recent OECD study, Italy ranks right after the UK as the wealthy nation in which a father’s income and educational attainments most heavily determine his sons’ success. And this dearth of social mobility is a drag on economic growth, notes the OECD. 
Battered by the economic crisis and drowning in deficits, several EU states have opted to cut public sector pay rather than devalue their currency. The choice is unpopular but not unprecedented, reports Il Sole 24 Ore. 
On the initiative of several advocacy groups in France, Italy, Spain and Greece, immigrant workers are being encouraged to avoid buying anything on 1st March. The protest, which has been baptized "A day without us," aims to promote awareness of the important role played by foreigners in our societies, at a time when controversy on the issue of immigration policy has come to the fore in several countries. 
Amidst layoffs and gloomy predictions that Europe’s recovery from recession has stalled, the continent is faced with an unprecedented wave of industrial action. From Dublin to Athens protestors are resisting budget cuts and wage-reductions drives. 
Eight years after the Norwegian government passed a law requring that 40% of all company board members be women, Nicola Clark of the International Herald Tribune looks at the drive for corporate gender equality in other European countries, where governements are considering similar laws. 
24 employees of France Télécom have committed suicide over the last 18 months. The deaths have been linked to the lack of job security, isolation within the company and increasing demands for employee flexibility. In French daily Le Monde two sociologists examine the story in the wider context of a society, where the meaning of work is undergoing significant change. 
Brothels on the Czech border are disappearing. Their customers, mostly Germans and Austrians also hard hit by the recession, are not coming round any more, writes MF DNES. But there is another reason for the slump: EU enlargement, with sex workers of Romanian or Bulgarian origin now able to travel freely throughout Europe.