About this book: Regulating Strikes in Essential Services offers a comparative perspective on one of the most sensitive areas of industrial relations: strike in essential services. Designing a fair, effective and acceptable regime that will reconcile public interest and the public's need for an uninterrupted flow of essential services on the one hand, while maintaining the freedom of collective bargaining on the other, is an ever more difficult public policy challenge. This book, the first detailed analysis of existing legal and practical approaches across a spectrum of key national jurisdictions, provides a structured and insightful overview of the law and practice of regulating strikes in essential services. As such it could be of great value for public policy debate and the enhancement of national law in the field. What's in this book: The editors have assembled experts from fourteen countries who describe and analyse their respective country's experience with strikes in essential services and the legislative and judicial as well as informal approaches towards regulating and intervening in such strikes. Departing from legal theory with systematic comparative 'law in action' research, the contributors offer innumerable valuable insights into a broad array of issues and topics as the following: mechanisms aiming at compensating employees for encroaching on their collective bargaining rights; public accountability and responsible management of public finance; role of international conventions; effects of globalization and advances in technology; privatization, outsourcing and the decline of unions and workers' solidarity; growing popular intolerance towards strikes in essential services; effect of human rights-related court decisions; convergence and divergence among contemporary legal regimes in defining and approaching strikes in essential services; dispute process design and dispute resolution processes (mediation, conciliation and arbitration); and substantive and procedural restrictions on the right to organize, bargain collectively and strike. The country reports are preceded by a detailed analysis of the inherent normative policy dilemma and a conceptual framework for designing and evaluating models of regulation. The concluding chapter presents a comparative overview of the insights gained. How this will help you: With its in-depth discussion of the regulatory dilemma of protecting the fundamental right to strike for all employees while ensuring the uninterrupted flow of services, deemed as essential for the public, this book forms a refined and nuanced basis for further academic research. Its contextually relevant options for strategic choice and public policy debate makes this book an incomparable handbook for labour lawyers, legislators, policymakers, judicial bodies and researchers in the field of collective labour relations and fundamental human rights of workers on the national as well as international level.

The present volume is an outcome of the proceedings of the World Congress of the International Society for Labour and Social Security Law which took place in Santiago, Chile, in September 2012. The country reports submitted at that time have been modified and updated, and more country reports have been added. Each chapter covers the following specific topics: legal definitions; the legal basis of the right to strike; the right to call a strike; the right to participate in a strike; lawful strikes according to their purpose; procedural requirements; peace obligations; other limitations to strikes; the public sector and 'essential services'; specific emanations of strikes and other forms of industrial action; legal consequences of lawful strikes; legal consequences of unlawful strikes; dispute resolution; support of strikers; parity of parties and neutrality of the state; and strikes in practice.

Designing a fair, effective and acceptable regime that will reconcile public interest and the public’s need for an uninterrupted flow of essential services on the one hand, while maintaining the freedom of collective bargaining on the other, is an ever more difficult public policy challenge. This book, the first detailed comparative analysis of existing legal and practical approaches across a spectrum of key national jurisdictions, provides a structured and insightful overview of the law and practice of regulating strikes in essential services. As such it can be of great value for public policy debate and the enhancement of national law in the field. The editors have assembled experts from fourteen countries who describe and analyse their respective country’s experience with strikes in essential services and the legislative and judicial as well as informal approaches towards regulating and intervening in such strikes. Departing from legal theory with systematic comparative ‘law in action’ research, the contributors offer innumerable valuable insights into a broad array of issues and topics as the following: – mechanisms aiming at compensating employees for encroaching on their collective bargaining rights; – public accountability and responsible management of public finance; – role of international conventions; – effects of globalization and advances in technology; – privatization, outsourcing and the decline of unions and workers’ solidarity; – growing popular intolerance towards strikes in essential services; – effect of human rights-related court decisions; – convergence and divergence among contemporary legal regimes in defining and approaching strikes in essential services; – dispute process design and dispute resolution processes (mediation, conciliation and arbitration); and – substantive and procedural restrictions on the right to organize, bargain collectively and strike. The country reports are preceded by a detailed analysis of the inherent normative policy dilemma and a conceptual framework for designing and evaluating models of regulation. The concluding chapter presents a comparative overview of the insights gained. With its comparative perspective on one of the most sensitive areas of industrial relations and labour law, and its contextually relevant options for strategic choice and public policy debate, this incomparable volume will be welcomed by labour lawyers, legislators, policy makers, judicial bodies and researchers in the field of collective labour relations and fundamental human rights of workers on the national as well as international level.

Topics covered include "the complex subject of designing a fair and sensible regime for collective bargaining and essential services."

"The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) extends the multilateral trading system to services. Little is said In the GATS about subsidies, beyond stipulating that subsidies are subject to the existing provisions, including the most-favoured-nation and national-treatment principles, and that Members shall enter into negotiations with a view to developing the disciplines necessary to avoid the trade distorting effects of subsidies." "This timely book provides a comprehensive analysis of services subsidies under the GATS. It begins with a description of services and trade in services, and of the salient characteristics that make regulation of services subsidies more complex than those associated with agricultural and industrial goods. It then analyzes the economic arguments underpinning the need for regulation, as well as the need for governments to retain sufficient latitude to implement non-trade-related policy measures. A description of the information available on services subsidies is followed by a classification of services subsidies according to their distortive effects, and by a detailed analysis of those elements that may form a definition of services subsidies for the purpose of a future regulatory framework." "A key section is devoted to the analysis of those existing provisions of the GATS that may exert a certain measure of discipline on services subsidies, and to the question of the desirability and technical feasibility of countervailing measures. Rules on services subsidies contained in regional trade agreements and the need for special and differential treatment for services subsidies by developing countries are also discussed. Finally, and prior to the conclusion, two sectoral studies deal with the question of subsidies aimed at attracting foreign direct investment and subsidies to the audiovisual sector." "This work represents the first extensive and comprehensive analysis of the issue of services subsidies in the context of the GATS, and includes numerous references to relevant European Union State Aid legislation and jurisprudence." --Book Jacket.

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.