LUXEMBOURG, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - EU finance ministers reserved the right on Tuesday to kick out executives of failing banks that get state bailouts without their 'golden parachutes' -- fat payoffs at the end of their contracts.

PARIS, Oct 3, 2008 (AFP) - The chief executive of troubled Franco-Belgian bank Dexia said Friday he would forego a 'golden parachute' payoff after resigning following a government bailout.

'Following my decision to relinquish my mandate as administrator, I have also decided that I will not be asking for severance payment,' Axel Miller said in a statement.

BERLIN, Oct 2, 2008 (AFP) - Germany's biggest industrial trade union IG Metall started wage talks with employers Thursday seeking an eight-percent pay hike for 3.6 million workers in the metalworking and electronics industries.

The French government will present a bill in the coming weeks to
tighten the screws on chief executives who walk away from their posts
with 'golden parachute' payoffs, a government spokesman said Wednesday

PARIS, Oct 1, 2008 (AFP) - The French government will present a bill in the coming weeks to tighten the screws on chief executives who walk away from their posts with golden parachute payoffs, a government spokesman said Wednesday.

BRUSSELS, Sept 28, 2008 (AFP) - The US-born financial sector crisis has reignited a long-simmering debate in Europe about executive pay amid growing outrage over the huge bonuses given to bankers as markets tumble.

ABIDJAN, Sept 26, 2008 (AFP) - Ivorian soldiers fired into the air and blockaded roads on Friday in protest at the government's failure to pay their bonuses -- the latest sign of military tensions over a fragile peace accord.

NEW YORK, Sept 25, 2008 (AFP) - An angry US public and Congress pushed Thursday to snip the rip cord on golden parachutes used by fat cat CEOs to escape Wall Street's mayhem.

Democrats in Congress insisted that an emergency multi-billion dollar government bailout for the financial industry include restrictions on executive pay.

NEW YORK, Sept 25, 2008 (AFP) - An angry US public and Congress demanded Thursday to snip the rip cord on golden parachutes used by fat cat CEOs to escape Wall Street's mayhem.

Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress insisted that an emergency multi-billion dollar government bailout for the financial industry include restrictions on executive pay.

NEW YORK, Sept 26, 2008 (AFP) - An angry US public and Congress are pushing to snip the rip cord on golden parachutes used by fat cat CEOs to escape Wall Street's mayhem.

TOULON, France, Sept 25, 2008 (AFP) - France will pass a law limiting the pay of top finance executives and traders unless the industry regulates itself by the end of the year, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday.

NEW YORK, Sept 25, 2008 (AFP) - An angry US public and Congress pushed Thursday to snip the rip cord on golden parachutes used by fat cat CEOs to escape the mayhem on Wall Street.

Democrats in Congress insisted that an emergency multi-billion dollar government rescue package for the financial system include restrictions on executive pay.

FRANKFURT, Sept 23, 2008 (AFP) - Germany's top trade union said on Tuesday it wants an eight percent pay hike for 3.6 million workers in the key metal and electronics industries, the biggest increase it has sought in 16 year.

LONDON, September 11, 2008 (AFP) - The global credit crunch has brought the recent rapid increase in executive pay in Britain to a halt, but the gap between top- and lower-earning executives has grown, a survey showed Thursday.

BERLIN, August 29, 2008 (AFP) - German hairdressers in eastern Saxony get as little as 3.06 euros (4.5 dollars) an hour, while those in southern Bavaria are paid up to 6.34 euros, figures released on Friday from a study of the national pay scale showed.

BRUSSELS, August 28, 2008 (AFP) - The chief executive of Belgian operator Belgacom accepted a deep pay cut on Thursday, yielding to government pressure under the threat of not having his contract renewed.

BRUSSELS, August 27, 2008 (AFP) - Belgacom chief executive Didier Bellens came under pressure on Wednesday to take a pay cut as a minister threatened that the government might otherwise not renew his contract.

FRANKFURT, August 27, 2008 (AFP) - Key wage talks in the German metallurgy sector are shaping up as a delicate exercise, with the IG Metall trade union to demand raises of up to eight percent, according to an interview published on Wednesday.

BERLIN, August 7, 2008 (AFP) - Flights from several German airports were disrupted on Thursday by a strike by pilots with Lufthansa subsidiary Cityline, the union Cockpit announced.

The 36-hour strike started at midnight (2200 GMT Wednesday) at all airports served by Cityline: Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Berlin-Tegel in the west, Munich in the south and Hamburg in the north.

FRANKFURT, August 4, 2008 (AFP) - The conservative German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) wants to cap salaries of top business leaders, joining the Social Democratic Party (SPD) with which it governs the country, a daily said Monday.

FRANKFURT, August 1, 2008 (AFP) - Germany's biggest airline Lufthansa struck a pay deal with ground personnel that will end a costly strike in the middle of the peak summer holiday season, the company said.

HARARE, August 1, 2008 (AFP) - Zimbabwe's central bank chief has urged a six-month price and salary freeze in a bid to rein in runaway inflation, with the country in the midst of an economic meltdown, state media reported Friday.

FRANKFURT, August 1, 2008 (AFP) - German national airline Lufthansa and the Verdi service-sector union reached a deal on a pay rise Friday that will end a five-day strike by maintenance and catering staff, the company said.

The agreement will see 5.1-percent salary increase for ground personnel backdated to July 1 and another 2.3-percent hike from July 2009.

FRANKFURT, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - German national carrier Lufthansa planned to cancel 128 flights Thursday on the fourth day of a strike by maintenance and catering staff demanding a sizeable pay hike, a spokeswoman said.

BERLIN, July 29, 2008 (AFP) - Passengers felt the impact Tuesday as German flag carrier Lufthansa cancelled 70 flights on the second day of an open-ended strike, while Berlin warned of the potential economic blow of the walkout.

BERLIN, July 29, 2008 (AFP) - Lufthansa, the biggest German airline, said Tuesday it had cancelled 70 flights on the second day of an open-ended strike by the Verdi trade union for higher wages.

BERLIN, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - Workers at Germany's biggest airline, Lufthansa, on Monday began an indefinite strike at the height of the holiday season to press for higher pay, in the latest walkout to hit Europe's biggest economy.

BERLIN, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - Workers at Germany's biggest airline, Lufthansa, walked off the job Monday to press for higher pay in the latest strikes to hit Europe's biggest economy.

Ground personnel and flight crews walked out at midnight (2200 GMT Sunday) after members of the Verdi service sector union voted overwhelmingly last week for a strike.

FRANKFURT, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - Adidas, the second-biggest sportswear company in the world, feels that Chinese salaries are now too high and it will transfer some production to more competitive countries, its chief executive said in an interview on Monday.

FRANKFURT, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - Workers at German airline Lufthansa walked out on strike Monday to press for higher pay, but service did not appear to be serious affected in the action's early hours.

'There have been no cancellations and no delays,' an employee at Frankfurt's airport told AFP.

BERLIN, July 27, 2008 (AFP) - Lufthansa, the biggest German airline, faces a tumultuous strike during its busiest season after members of the German trade union Verdi voted to press demands for pay raises.

FRANKFURT, July 21, 2008 (AFP) - Former directors of the subprime-hit German bank IKB earned around one million euros (1.6 million dollars) during the bank's 2007-2008 fiscal year, a company report said Monday.

Former board chairman Stefan Ortseifen earned 227,000 euros, the report said.

FRANKFURT, July 10, 2008 (AFP) - Wage talks between the German trade union Verdi and Lufthansa have failed, an airline spokeswoman said Thursday, putting it at threat of a strike as summer holidays kick into gear.

Verdi was not immediately available for comment.

LAGOS, July 5, 2008 (AFP) - Hundreds of Nigerian soldiers who served as UN peacekeepers in Liberia went on the rampage in protest against the military authorities' refusal to pay their allowance, a local report said Saturday.

LAGOS, July 5, 2008 (AFP) - Hundreds of Nigerian soldiers who served as UN peacekeepers in Liberia went on the rampage in protest against the military authorities' refusal to pay their allowance, a local report said Saturday.

NEW YORK, July 1, 2008 (AFP) - An appeals court Tuesday gave former New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) chief Richard Grasso a total victory Tuesday, dismissing all claims seeking reimbursement of a contested 100-million-dollar severance payout.