Corporate Restructuring And The Role Of Labour Law

This bulletin presents a comparative analysis of the degree of worker protection available today in nine countries in the event of corporate restructuring. The countries are France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Each of the papers, presented by a noted industrial relations scholar from the country in question, proceeds from a summary of the national legal framework governing corporate restructuring, through the succession of employment contracts, to an analysis of such major components of the problem as justification of economic dismissals and changes in terms and conditions of employment. Specific topics covered in each analysis include the following: special legislation covering transfer of undertakings treatment of insolvent corporations economic dismissals before and after corporate restructuring transfer of workers in lieu of dismissal the role of labour unions and works councils The authors pay particular attention to the effectiveness of employee protection legislation such as the EC Transfer of Undertaking Directive (and its implementation by Member States) and Japan's Labour Contract Succession Law and, in the case of the United States, the virtual absence of such legislation. These papers were originally presented at the Sixth Tokyo Seminar (March 2002) of the Japan Institute of Labour. Their penetrating individual analysis and revealing comparative perspective is sure to help policymakers, lawyers, academics, and other specialists in industrial relations find a way forward in this important area that recognizes the best interests of both employers and employees.

Thirty-three distinguished authorities in the field of labour and industrial relations law gather here to enhance and complement the work of the late Marco Biagi, a man who, at the time of his violent and untimely death, had shown himself to be the most insightful and committed international scholar in this complex and controversial and, as it proved, even dangerous field. The topics covered range over many of Professor Biagi's special interests, including the following: the formulation of a new basis for labour law that could resolve new issues; employee protection in corporate restructuring; the trend toward individual 'enterprise bargaining'; a new European employment policy and what it might entail; the growing phenomenon of 'flexibilisation'; the effects of an aging workforce; the crucial nexus of free trade, labour, and human rights; the promise of EU enlargement; and protection of part-time workers. There is a lot of insight, innovation, and just clear thinking in this wide-ranging and far-reaching book. It will be of exceptional value to scholars, lawyers, and others concerned with the extensive and unpredictable changes under way in today's world of work.

Contains answers by experts to a series of questions based on a fictional case study of an international business which wants to buy or sell a company, or change its operations, in a given country. The questions are chiefly about the business's relations with its employees.

The word?fissured? aptly describes the effect on the workplace of the enormous retreat from direct employment on the part of large enterprises that began several decades ago and shows no sign of slowing down. Market-leading companies, even though they continue to wield considerable influence on the fate of actual workers, may thus be relieved of legal responsibility as employers. How extensive is this phenomenon? Do recourses exist in labour law? What ongoing trends can be discerned? This book tackles these questions and more, with thoroughly researched reports from ten of the world?s leading market-driven economies? Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Spain, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Change is a permanent feature of market economies. What is new in today's world is the pace, breadth and depth of economic change and the industrial restructuring that this entails. Over the past two decades, industrialized countries have witnessed a level of industrial restructuring which, in its scope and tempo, has probably been without historic precedent.[...] A central question has become whether labour standards impede necessary changes in economic units, industrial structures, and employment groth, as the well-established current of neoliberal thinking would maintain or whether, on the contrary, labour standards and the institutions through which they are delivered constitute viable channels for industrial innovation, economic dynamism, and sustainable development, as another school of academics, policymakers and practitioners would hold. The present volume directly addresses this debate and contains a number of contributions which lay out the arguments for and against labour standards in relation to economic performance [...] provides analyses of industrial restructuring at the firm, industry, regional, national and international levels, and includes detailed case studies of experiences in Germany, Sweden, France, Italy, the United States, Canada and Australia [...] develops conceptual perspectives on labour standards, provides comparative overviews of their impact, and trace the evolution of labour standard-setting at the level of the European Community and in the international economy.

Creditor Rights and the Public Interest supports the greater representation of non-traditional creditors in the process of insolvency restructuring in Canada, concentrating particularly on restructuring under the federal Companies' Creditors' Arrangement Act (CCAA). Arguing in favour of the representation of such non-traditional creditors as workers, consumers, trade suppliers, and local governments, Janis Sarra describes the existing process of addressing their interests, analyzes four case studies that focus on non-creditor groups, and compares the Canadian approach to that of several other countries, such as Germany, France, and the United States. Sarra draws on a comprehensive body of academic literature that covers a broad range of issues--insolvency theory, corporate governance theory, legislative history, and bankruptcy and insolvency practice. She further surveys the relevant legislation and supplements her analysis with insights drawn from extensive primary research of court records and personal interviews with lawyers, judges, and government officials. Creditor Rights and the Public Interest ultimately illustrates the way in which the concept of the public interest can be utilized to foreground the concerns of non-traditional stakeholders. Sarra provides a coherent account of the justification for recognizing these creditors by situating insolvency law in a legal regime that realizes a duty to maximize all of the interests and investments at stake in the corporation. In an academic field where scholarship is currently scarce, Sarra's text will be a welcome contribution.