Core And Contingent Work In The European Union

Labour and social security law studies have addressed the topic of the decline of the standard employment relationship mainly from the point of view of the growing number of atypical relationships. Only a limited number of studies have examined the issue from the perspective of the differentiation between core and contingent work. Such an examination is necessary as the increase in contingent work leads to complicated legal questions which vary between European states depending on the type of contingent arrangements that have become most prevalent. This book analyses, using a comparative approach, these different types of contingency from a national and EU perspective touching on the work relationship from a labour as well as a social security point of view. The aim of the book is to identify and analyse those questions adopting an innovative approach and to put forward proposals for safeguarding social cohesion within undertakings and European society.

Market volatility and uncertainty have put welfare and social security policies back centre stage and point up the need for closer links with employment policy. The inability of existing income support systems to respond to the increasing fragmentation of people's working careers, the needs of people in difficulty, and the spread of various forms of poverty calls for well-coordinated and efficient responses. This volume highlights the best practices in the various regions of the world in the contexts of international and EU labour law, industrial relations, and social security. Authoritative reports by leading scholars of labour law and social security – originally presented at the twenty-second World Congress of the International Society for Labour and Social Security Law (ISLSSL) held in Turin in September 2018 – cover the following research themes in depth: – informal workers; – migrant workers; – global trade and labour; – organization, productivity, and well-being at work; – transnational collective agreements; – new forms of social security; and – the role of the State and industrial relations. In its insistence that, despite the radical changes in the world of work and business brought about by globalization and digital technologies, the decisions of institutions and public and private actors can lead to a more coherent system of international economic and social governance, this timely volume shows the way forward. Practitioners, policymakers, and scholars in the relevant fields will bene_ t immeasurably from its expert analyses and recommendations.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License. It is free to read, download and share on Elgaronline.com. Contingent Workers’ Voice in Southern Europe investigates the manifold challenges posed by the continued expansion of the platform economy, the rise of non-standard forms of employment, and the diversification of work identities.

It cannot be denied that in recent decades, for many if not most people, work has become unstable and insecure, with serious risk and few benefits for workers. As this reality spills over into political and social life, it is crucial to interrogate the transformations affecting employment relations, shape research agendas, and influence the policies of national and international institutions. This single volume brings together thirty-nine scholars (both academics and experienced industrial relations actors) in the fields of employment relations and labour law in a forthright discussion of new approaches, theories, and methods aimed at ameliorating the world of work. Focusing on why and how work is changing, how collective actors deal with it, and the future of work from different disciplinary angles and at an international level, the contributors describe and analyse such issues and topics as the following: new forms of social protection and representation; differences in the power relations of workers and political dynamics; balancing protection of workers’ dignity and promotion of productivity; intersection of information technology and workplace regulation; how the gig economy undermines legal protections; role of professional and trade associations; workplace conflict management; lay judges in labour courts; undeclared work in the informal sector of the labour market; work incapacity and disability; (in)coherence of the work-related case law of the European Court of Justice; and business restructurings. Derived from a major conference held in Leuven in September 2018, the book offers an in-depth understanding of the changing world of work, its main transformations, and the challenges posed to classical employment relations theories and methods as well as to labour law. With its wide range of insights, analysis, and reflection, this unique contribution to the study of industrial relations offers an authoritative reference guide to scholars, policymakers, trade unions and business associations, human resources professionals, and practitioners who need to deal with the future of work challenges.

In-work poverty is a reality for too many persons in the European Union (EU). Although everyone is in agreement that poverty must be reduced, rarely is there a specific focus on the plight of those who, despite working, are poor. This important book is the first to unreservedly meet the challenge of defining, measuring, and comparing the legal regimes to combat in-work poverty in Europe, fully attending to the strengths and shortcomings of indicators and allowing the assessment of comparative best practices among the Member States. The distinguished contributors each describe and analyse this complex and multidimensional phenomenon, with its manifold and intertwined causes, in relation to such factors as the following: employment-related factors (wage, type of contract, atypical employment); worker’s socio-demographic characteristics (level of education, gender, age, country of birth); size and composition of household; household work intensity; and institutional factors (childcare, flexible work arrangements, employment protection, housing, technological change). In a major innovation, the book’s methodology approaches the ‘working poor’ by distinctly defining four groups of vulnerable and under-represented persons (VUPs) with detailed statistical information on in-work poverty in each group. Following an in-depth introduction focusing on the definition and ramifications of the concept of in-work poverty – including a discussion of legal scholarship and relevant EU instruments – the situations in seven EU Member States (Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden) are compared, revealing important variations. For each of the VUP groups, these chapters explain their composition at the national level and assess the impact of regulation on the incidence of in-work poverty. The last chapter highlights differences and similarities in an attempt to find patterns and identify common regulatory problems and best practices. The book’s comparative perspective greatly assists in understanding in-work poverty determinants, appraising varieties of relevant national policies, and stimulating the development of effective legal measures. With its close analysis of the limitations of existing measurement indicators, the book sheds light on the role of regulation in the prevalence and persistence of the phenomenon and equips policymakers at the EU and national levels with targeted tools to tackle this severe social problem.

Globalization has led to growing labour fragmentation and widening of gaps in social protection. Although the enterprise is increasingly expected to be socially responsible, in actuality extreme worker inequalities and social dumping have become ubiquitous worldwide. This volume – the first to focus attention on the ‘theory of the firm’ as it reveals itself in today’s world from a multidisciplinary perspective – underscores the necessity to rebuild a new scientifically controlled paradigm that acknowledges and regulates the dimension of power in the functioning of the organization. In their contributed essays, nineteen renowned scholars in labour law and industrial relations rethink the firm, its conception, its value, and its regulation, analysing such aspects as the following: – labour-management relations issues that arise when companies go global but workers remain local; – the firm as a social construction; – the continuing necessity for collective bargaining; – concealment of the employment relationship under the guise of self-employment; – concealment of the real employer behind figureheads and shell companies; – social welfare effects of outsourcing; – the company’s interaction with the network of suppliers and with local education processes; – determining who actually carries responsibility towards workers; – overcoming companies’ drive to enter the global market in response to national regulation; – realizing the notion of ‘duty of care’; – mechanisms of participation of workers in the management of the enterprise; and – the persistent limitations that women face in the workplace, even when worker participation is advocated. With attention to innovative developments in Germany, Italy, Japan, and other countries, analyses include case studies of specific companies as well as case law, in particular the European Court of Justice’s jurisprudence in matters of collective dismissals, seconded workers, and public contracts. In their head-on tackling of the fragmentation and blurring of social responsibility in enterprise organization, these important essays propose a view of the enterprise as a factor in a new ‘constitutionalisation’ of labour that shifts employment protection from single legal entities to the network’s economic activity, thus realigning the legal boundaries of the enterprise with its economic reality. As a compelling investigation of how a satisfactory implementation of labour standards in the fragmented enterprise can be guaranteed, this book will be studied by entrepreneurs, managers, consultants, corporate lawyers, judges, human rights experts, and trade unionists, and will be welcomed by academics and researchers in industrial relations and labour law.

EU commitment to human rights policies has grown following the Lisbon Treaty. Taking stock of those developments, this book describes the framework, actors, policies, and strategies of human rights across the EU and how their impact is felt. Contributed to by scholars from across the EU, this provides an in-depth and holistic view of the issues.

This book addresses the impact of Covid-19 on employment relations and provides a reconstruction and a critical assessment of the measures enacted worldwide to tackle the economic and social crisis triggered by the global health emergency. The pandemic has been a booster of critical issues that for years have been silently shaping society and the labor market and so it can represent an opportunity to relaunch a critical analysis on the future of work. Beginning from this assumption, this book collects contributions from different disciplines, including law, economics and organization theory. It covers topics such as the measures enacted to protect workers’ health and cushion the labour, the new inequalities that emerged during the pandemic and the strategies to construct a sustainable and human-centred development in the post pandemic scenario. It is highly relevant to scholars and students of organisation studies, resilience, the labour market and labour law.