1996 concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services, Official Journal L 18 of 21 January 1997, pp. 1-6. Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on services in the international market, Official Journal L 376 of 27 December 2006, pp. 36-68. Judgement of the European Court of Justice Laval un Partneri Ltd v. Svenska Byggnadsarbetareforbundet, Case C-341/05 [2007] ECR I-000. Judgement of the European Court of Justice International Transport Workers' Federation v. Viking Line ABP, Case C-438/05 [2007] ECR I-000. Table of cases from the European Court of Justice. Index
The relationship between the national and international has been central in the debate on the impact of globalisation on national patterns of employment relations. While some industrial relations researchers in recent years have put forward evidence not of convergence, but rather of continuing national diversity in employment relations, others see a complex power-sharing interplay emerging for which Europe is the laboratory. This ground-breaking book asks: Do EU or European industrial relations exist? What characterises EU industrial relations and their development? What are the differences between EU industrial relations and national industrial relations? Twelve outstanding authorities from seven countries discuss the theme from a variety of perspectives. Originally presented at an international and interdisciplinary research workshop held at the Faculty of Law at Lund University in November 2007, the essays probe a range of highly topical and important legal and industrial relations issues and developments, including the implications of the epochal and much-debated Laval and Viking cases from the European Court of Justice. The focus is on the EU dimension of industrial relations, common to the Member States, and not on comparative European industrial relations. The authors raise and discuss such crucial issues as the following: the power relationship and interactions between the social partners within the framework of the social dialogue; growing problems of posting of workers, low wage competition, and ‘social dumping’; approaches to creating an EU legal framework for transnational collective agreements; the right to take industrial action in order to achieve collective agreements; the fundamental asymmetry between the scope of action of players in companies and territories affected by restructurings; information, consultation and worker participation; potential benefits of increased tripartite co-operation between the social partners and governments; compatibility of the Swedish or Nordic system with the four freedoms and its eligibility as a European model; and issues of private international law arising from collective actions with transnational implications. An appendix includes relevant EC legislation and the ECJ opinions in Laval and Viking. EU Industrial Relations vs National Industrial Relations explores an emerging and still inchoate realm of law that is heavily fraught with implications for the near future of social relations, not only in Europe but worldwide. Labour lawyers and policymakers will greatly appreciate its precise stocktaking, its insightful analysis, and its well-informed recommendations on how to proceed in the realm of practical law.
What role will the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights play in the future for labour law in the European Union Member States? How could it affect industrial relations in these states? These are crucial questions to which a group of eminent European labour law professors and researchers seek to offer some answers in their new book European Labour Law and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. To recall the story behind the Charter: in December 2000, this text was not enshrined as an integral part of the new EU Nice treaty, but was merely "proclaimed", to the disappointment of many, so that its legal status remained ambiguous. The draft future Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe is clearer, insofar as it incorporates the Charter as its Part II, thereby giving it a binding character - but nobody knows whether, or when, this Treaty-Constitution will actually see the light of day and, if it does, in what shape. Yet now, as the discussions about a future EU constitution are regaining momentum, the European Court of Justice has also had its word on the role of the Charter. It has declared that "the principal aim of the Charter is to reaffirm rights" which are legally binding due to their provenance from other sources recognised by EU law (Case 540/03, European Parliament v. Council, decided 27 June 2006). The thus strengthened Charter includes core labour law and industrial relations provisions, covering matters such as freedom of association, collective bargaining and collective action, information and consultation within the undertaking, fair and just working conditions and protection in the event of unjustified dismissal. The book European Labour Law and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is a detailed commentary on the provisions of the Charter which guarantee these and other fundamental rights that are binding upon the EU institutions and the Member States. The commentary throws light on the potential of the EU Charter to shape the future labour law of Europe, an understanding of which is important for labour lawyers and industrial relations professionals, as well as for academics and policy makers in the Member States and in the EU institutions.
This volume, comprising three parts and ten chapters, all of them peer-reviewed essays, arises from the work of the Swedish Network for European Legal Studies. Its focus is on labour and social security law. The chapters, written by distinguished legal researchers associated with Swedish universities, provide insight into a range of topical and important developments, seeking new and interesting perspectives. Sweden has been a member of the European Union since 1995, and EU law and European law perspectives have been well integrated into Swedish labour law and social security law research. Within the European Social Model and the European Welfare State, Sweden (and to some degree the other Nordic countries as well) can be said to represent a specific system, as regards both labour law and industrial relations and social security law. In terms of influential comparative typologies or models (naturally 'flawed' by a certain element of vagueness and simplification, but also very helpful in analytical and pedagogical respects), Sweden has been described as a representative of, inter alia, a Nordic legal family, a Nordic labour law model, a social-collectivist industrial relations system, a consensual industrial relations system, a social-democratic welfare state regime, a Scandinavian social security law system (a 'sub-group' of the Beveridge system), and a coordinated market economy. But since 1995 EU law and European law perspectives have been extensively integrated into existing Swedish labour and social security law, and the chapters in this book go a long way in illustrating the far-reaching and multifaceted ways in which Swedish law has been 'Europeanised'.
European Labour Law explores how individual European national legal systems, in symbiosis with the European Union, produce a transnational labour law system that is distinct and genuinely European in character. Professor Brian Bercusson describes the evolution of this system, its national, transnational and global contexts and its institutional and substantive structures. The collective industrial-relations dimension of employment is examined, and the labour law of the EU as manifested in, for example, European works councils is analysed. Important subjects which have traditionally received little attention in some European labour law systems are covered, for example, the fragmentation of the workforce into atypical forms of employment. Attention is also given to the enforcement of European labour law through administrative or judicial mechanisms and the European social dialogue at intersectoral and sectoral levels. This new edition has been extensively updated, as the EU's influence on this area of social policy continues to grow.
Since the 1980s, the process of European economic integration, within a wider context of globalization, has accelerated employment change and placed a new premium on ‘flexible’ forms of work organization. The institutions of employment relations, specifically those concerning collective bargaining between employers and trade unions, have had to adapt accordingly. The Transformation of Employment Relations focuses not just on recent change, but charts the strategic choices that have influenced employment relations and examines these key developments in a comparative perspective. A historical and cross-national analysis of the most important and controversial ‘issues’ explores the motivation of the actors, the implementation of change, and its evolution in a diverse European context. The book highlights the policies and the role played by different institutional and social actors (employers, management, trade unions, professional associations and governments) and assesses the extent to which these policies and roles have had significant effects on outcomes. This comparative analysis of the transformation of work and employment regulation, within the context of a quarter-century timeframe, has not been undertaken in any other book. But this is no comparative handbook in which changes are largely described on a country-by-country basis, but instead, The Transformation of Employment Relations is rather focused thematically. As Europe copes with a serious economic crisis, understanding of the dynamics of work transformation has never been more important.
Transnational collective bargaining (TCB) has become a ‘hot’ topic of European industrial relations. As well as collective bargaining between workers and employers conducted at the sectoral or national level, negotiations on employee rights and working conditions now also take place at the supranational level, within multinational companies. It is a development that poses major challenges for trade unions, as well as for employers and lawmakers. This book takes stock of the particular challenges faced by trade union representatives, works councils and employer organisations; it reviews the existing literature on this topic and examines contrasting views of the prospects for subsequent development of this new practice; it also offers some practical suggestions for policymakers who find themselves having to deal with this new component of the Europeanisation of industrial relations. One of the key questions tackled in the book is whether a regulatory framework for TCB is feasible, necessary and/or useful. Perhaps even more importantly: can we, given the proliferation of instances of TCB, actually manage without such a legal system, and what should be the main elements of such a framework? By providing a better understanding and a critical analysis of the emergence and development of transnational collective bargaining, the authors of this book offer valuable help to trade unionists and practitioners in preparing for – and being prepared for – this next stage in the internationalisation of industrial relations.
Collective bargaining involves a process of negotiation between one or more unions and an employer or employers' organisation(s). The outcome is a collective agreement that defines terms of employment - typically wages, working hours and in-work benefits. The agreement affords labour protection: minimum wages, regular earnings; limits on working hours and predictable work schedules; safe working environments; parental leave and sick leave; and a fair share in the benefits of increased productivity. The International Labour Organization (ILO) Collective Agreements Recommendation 1951 (No. 91) considers, where appropriate and having regard to national practice, that measures should be taken to extend the application of all or some provisions of a collective agreement to all employers and workers included wthin the domain of the agreement. The extension of a collective agreement generalises the terms and conditions of employment, agreed between organised firms and workers, represented through their association(s) and union(s), to the non-organised firms within a sector, occupation or territory. The collection of chapters in this volume are about the extension of collective agreements as an act of public policy.
Reader intended to stimulate thinking about the future direction of national and regional labour policies, with a view to good governance in terms of participation, transparency, credibility and accountability. Includes case studies from a number of Caribbean countries as well as ILO contributions by S.J. Goolsarran on labour administration and social dialogue, and an extract from "Labour inspection: a guide to the profession", by W. von Richthofen.
