Labour Law Between Change And Tradition

On the occasion of the official ‘retirement’ of the eminent labour law scholar Antoine Jacobs, a number of his colleagues – themselves well-respected in the field of labour law and industrial relations – have assembled this volume of essays to manifest the breadth and variety of this great professor’s work. The authors pay particular attention to the tension, always present in Jacobs’s critical research, of traditional values with an acute awareness of emerging realities. He approached labour law, not merely as a series of static issues concerning workers and employers, but as an evolving discipline that persistently challenged its socio-political context. Among the wide range of issues considered in this collection – all of them prominent in Jacobs’s work – are the following: the right to work; the right to strike versus the freedom to strike; the role of the European Union in national labour law; transnational collective bargaining; social security issues; labour law and the social teaching of churches; bankruptcy; and more.

While legislation protecting employees exists in most advanced countries, the notion of who actually is an employee has become unstable. Moreover, the decentralization of traditional collective bargaining is clearly under way everywhere, and the all-important balance between workers' security and employers' flexibility continues to change radically, either retreating toward individual statutory rights or seeking new forms of employee representation. Labour Law in Motion reprints sixteen reports originally submitted to the seventh Comparative Labor Law Seminar (Tokyo Seminar) sponsored by the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training in March 2004. Eleven expert authors describe the situation in their respective countries with regard to issues such as the following:criteria used to determine whether a person is an employee;what categories of non-employee exist, and what measure of statutory protection is afforded to such persons;variations in the concept of employee among labour law, tax law, and social security law;regulation of terms and conditions of employment; the forms and legal nature of employee representation;current trends in deregulation or `re-regulation' of labour laws;mechanisms permitting deviation from legal norms; and,the manner and extent of labour law intervention in the labour market. All eleven authors emphasize recent and ongoing changes in their countries' labour laws and evaluate the factors that have contributed to such changes. Each author concludes that reform of traditional labour laws is indeed necessary. However, the book as a whole clearly demonstrates that the content of such reform differs from country to country, particularly in the extent to which labour law entrusts the regulation of working conditions to the market. Offering as it does a clear and concise summary of the recent and current experience of labour relations in eight major industrialized countries, Labour Law in Motion is an essential resource for professionals and officials engaged in any aspect of labour law or regulation in any country.

Economic pressure, as well as transnational and domestic corporate policies, has placed labor law under severe stress. National responses are so deeply embedded in institutions reflecting local traditions that meaningful comparison is daunting. This bo

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The current economic and financial crisis erupted several years ago. Its effects impacted deeply upon society, in which legal rules and social patterns have developed to enable the establishment of civilisation, justice and peace. Over time it has become more and more obvious that policy, financial and economic actors have adopted austerity measures as a main tool to solve the ensuing problems, and that these measures have hit social policy standards sometimes dramatically. Recent analyses have dealt with several aspects of this issue. This book focuses on one important element: the impact on collective labour law. It seeks to add to the debate by presenting mainly legal arguments derived from different sources and backgrounds, examining the EU and 'Troika' measures, the economic and political background and the sometimes dramatic consequences of austerity measures on democracy, collective bargaining and the right to strike. Against the framework of EU law, the relevant ILO Conventions, (Revised) European Social Charter and European Convention on Human Rights provisions, the non-compliance of these measures is analysed and demonstrated. The book is also dedicated to procedural questions, and in particular, how legal approaches may be used to challenge austerity measures.

In an unresolved ongoing debate, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is often included among the institutional actors responsible for the declining condition of labour law in Europe. Has its case law been more protective of employers’ interests than of workers’ rights? This innovative book greatly enhances the discussion by bringing to light the judicial lawmaking logic, other than those pertaining to the balancing of social and business values, that drive the CJEU’s reasoning in its interpretation of the labour law provisions enshrined in the European Union (EU) law, with particular attention to the directive on transfer of undertakings. Addressing fundamental issues – such as uneven bargaining power, labour as a commodity, coexistence of workers’ rights and the market economy – in the context of judicial lawmaking, the author clearly defines the tensions at work: What normative models underlie the approaches of EU institutional policymakers with respect to labour law? Does the CJEU have its own vision of the socioeconomic model to which the Union should adhere? How does the CJEU’s interpretative approach stand in relation to the transformation processes that regulators impose on labour law? Is the CJEU particularly attentive to the preferences expressed by national governments, especially those from the most politically influential states, or rather reflect the political pressure of the European Commission? What is the role of trans-judicial dynamics in shaping the CJEU’s reasoning in labour law cases? The study is extraordinarily thorough, drawing on a wide range of policy documents, scholarly and doctrinal research, and the entire body of the CJEU’s case law on transfer of undertakings. The legal arguments that the CJEU has developed over the years are mapped and classified according to their affinity with the labour law functions that underlie them. With its comprehensive assessment of the normative implications of EU policymaking in the labour and social domains, its thorough exploration of the CJEU’s judicial lawmaking dynamics, and its extensive empirical legal analysis of the CJEU’s case law on transfer of undertakings, the book has no peers in revealing the forces that guide the CJEU’s decisions in the realm of labour law. Of particular value to scholars and researchers interested in EU social policies and constitutional law, the book will also prove of immeasurable value to labour law practitioners aiming to use the case law of the CJEU, as well as to in-house counsel, industrial relation specialists, and trade unionists.

No one will deny that labour standards comprise a necessary framework for balanced economic and social development. Yet on a global level such balanced development has not occurred, despite the existence of a rigorous body of international labour law that has been active and growing for almost one hundred years. The implementation of this law devolves upon states; yet many states have failed to honour it. If we are to take serious steps toward a remedy for this situation, there is no better place to start than a thorough, well-researched survey and analysis of existing international labour law - its sources, its content, its historical development, and an informed consideration of the barriers to its full effectiveness. This book is exactly such a resource. It provides in-depth interpretation of the crucial International Labour Organisation (ILO) instruments - Constitution, conventions, declarations, resolutions, and recommendations - as well as such other sources of law as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and various model and actual corporate codes of conduct. Among the substantive areas of labour law covered in this book are the following: • the relationship between international labour law and economic competition • standards on industrial relations • collective bargaining and dispute settlement procedures • protection of trade unions • prohibitions on enforced and child labour • promotion of equal opportunity and treatment • time and rest provisions • wage determination and protection • occupational health and safety provisions • special issues on non-standard forms of employment • foreign and migrant workers • social security provisions • privacy protection The presentation demonstrates that these rules and standards offer invaluable benchmarks to governments, judiciaries, employers, and trade unions. The book's combination of detailed commentary and an overarching social policy will make it especially valuable to legislators, human resources managers, employers ́ organizations, trade unions, jurists, and academics concerned with the role of work in our globalized social system. This fifth edition of the book by Jean-Michel Servais analyses the potential of those standards in a globalized world, and the necessary evolution. It examines the actual implementation of those rules in the national context, comparing different experiences. It integrates the latest instruments. It examines the most recent public debates on labour regulation (dealing with health and security at work, personal data, minimum wages, social security, strikes, etc.), updates the bibliography and opens some perspectives for the future work of the global institutions.

The protection of jobs and labour law standards achieved by employees in the past has been under pressure from neoliberalization forces for many years. The focused perspectives evident in this original collection of essays go a long way toward clearly de? ning where labour law and social security law must set their sights in order to preserve fair and productive employer-employee relations in the new world of work. Distinguished researchers study the changing realities confronting the labour market, in public policy as well as in industrial relations. Issues and topics include the following: – integration of immigrants into industrial relations; – the social situation of migrant workers; – new phenomena brought by the digital age; – temporary agency work; – harmonizing family and working lives; – sport and labour law; – the role of European Works Councils; and – social and labour reforms. Throughout this book, the contributors emphasize the changing role of the state and reform agendas. Although the central focus is on Europe, there is an abundance of comparative detail, allowing for global application. As a matchless, up-to-date overview and analysis of how new and emerging forms of employment and industrial relations impact employee security, this book will be warmly welcomed by practitioners, academics, and policymakers concerned with ensuring the persistence of fair and viable standards in labour and social security law.