A critical assessment of European social policy that suggests ways to improve coverage of fundamental labour standards in Europe.

A critical assessment of European social policy that suggests ways to improve coverage of fundamental labour standards in Europe.

This discerning book provides a wide-ranging comparative analysis of the legal and social policy challenges posed by the spread of different forms of precarious work in Europe, with various social models in force and a growing ‘gig economy’ workforce. It not only considers the theoretical foundations of the concept of precarious work, but also offers invaluable insight into the potential methods of addressing this phenomenon through labour regulation and case law at EU and national level.

This book by the ETUI Transnational Trade Union Rights Expert Network analyses enforcement as a key element making EU labour law effective or ineffective. Enforcement is the key ingredient that makes rights effective and ensures compliance. It can make or break a legal system. Despite this, enforcement of EU labour law has received little scholarly attention in recent decades and has rarely been examined in a comprehensive way. This book aims to fill this gap. Intended for academics and practitioners alike, the book adopts a threefold approach to examine this issue. First of all, it explores the idea of effective enforcement and sets out the wider context in which EU labour law enforcement takes place. Secondly, it analyses how enforcement operates in particular areas, including non-discrimination, health and safety, information and consultation rights, and the rights of migrating workers. Thirdly, it critically assesses the role of specific actors (in particular collective actors like trade unions, as well as whistle-blowers and the European Labour Authority) and settings (public procurement, economic and monetary policy) regulated by EU law. Drawing on the insights produced by these analyses, the book concludes by proposing a comprehensive Draft for a Model Directive on 'Effective Enforcement of EU Labour Law' as an inspiration for policy development and scholarly debate in this area.

The renowned international labour law scholars contributing to this incomparable volume use the term ‘game changers’ to refer to evolutions, concepts, ideas and challenges that are having, or have had, major impacts on how we must understand and approach labour law in today’s global economy. The volume derives from an international conference organized by the Institute for Labour Law at the University of Leuven, Belgium in November 2017. This initiative is pursued in the spirit and with the methods of the late Emeritus Professor Roger Blanpain (1932–2016), a great reformer who continuously searched for key challenges in the world of work and looked as far as possible into the future, engaging in critical reflection and rethinking the design of labour law. While seeking to identify the main game changers, the authors explore new pathways and answers which may help to understand and shape the future of work. This is the 100th of Kluwer’s Bulletin of Comparative Labour Relations, a series Professor Blanpain launched nearly fifty years ago. The contributors address, and reflect on, such vital issues and topics as the following: – the ‘gig’ economy; – core labour law values; – freedom of association; – non-standard employment; – the rise of the service sector; – employment and self-employment; – the European Pillar of Social Rights; – app-based work; – algorithms as controls in the workplace; – collective bargaining rights and the right to strike; – the role of temporary employment agencies; and – termination of the employment relationship. There are also chapters devoted to specific issues in France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Estonia, China and the United States. Roger Blanpain consistently reminded us that labour relations are power relations. Although this book shows that the power balance is tipped towards employers in today’s world, what is nevertheless very clear is that labour law can play a crucial role in re-enlivening equitable outcomes, fairness, decent work and social justice in our contemporary and future societies, and that academia can help to understand, guide and shape that future. For this reason, this book will be invaluable to professionals in labour relations, whether in the academic, policy or legal communities.

At the core of all societies and economies are human beings deploying their energies and talents in productive activities - that is, at work. The law governing human productive activity is a large part of what determines outcomes in terms of social justice, material wellbeing, and the sustainability of both. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that work is heavily regulated. This Handbook examines the 'law of work', a term that includes legislation setting employment standards, collective labour law, workplace discrimination law, the law regulating the contract of employment, and international labour law. It covers the regulation of relations between employer and employee, as well as labour unions, but also discussions on the contested boundaries and efforts to expand the scope of some laws regulating work beyond the traditional boundaries. Written by a team of experts in the field of labour law, the Handbook offers a comprehensive review and analysis, both theoretical and critical. It includes 60 chapters, divided into four parts. Part A establishes the fundamentals, including the historical development of the law of work, why it is needed, the conceptual building blocks, and the unsettled boundaries. Part B considers the core concerns of the law of work, including the contract of employment doctrines, main protections in employment legislation, the regulation of collective relations, discrimination, and human rights. Part C looks at the international and transnational dimension of the law of work. The final Part examines overarching themes, including discussion of recent developments such as gig work, online work, artificial intelligence at work, sustainable development, amongst others.

This collection brings together perspectives from industrial relations, political economy, political theory, labour history, sociology, gender studies and regulatory theory to build a more inclusive theory of labour law. That is, a theory of labour law that is more inclusive of non-traditional workers (including those in atypical work, or from non-traditional backgrounds); more inclusive of a variety of collective approaches to work regulation that foster solidarity between workers; and more inclusive of interdisciplinary and complex explanations of labour law and its regulatory spaces. The individual chapters speak to this theme of inclusivity in different ways and offer different suggestions for how it might be achieved. They break down the barriers between legal research and other fields, to promote fruitful and integrative conversations across disciplines. In the spirit of inclusivity and intergenerational dialogue, the book blends contributions from early career and emerging scholars with those from leading scholars in the field, featuring critical commentary from senior labour law figures alongside theoretically and empirically informed work.