The vast single labour market of the European Union continues to manifest an ever-increasing interdependence of economies, companies, trade unions and employees, calling once again for an update of Roger Blanpain's magisterial European Labour Law. This Fourteenth Edition remains the preeminent practice guide in its field, covering the full spectrum - legislation, collective agreements, and more than 400 cases - of both individual and collective labour law and practice from the fundamental freedoms to the significance of the Reform Treaty of Lisbon. Among the abundant new material in the Fourteenth Edition the reader will find incisive commentary and analysis of such issues and trends.

Although China is not new to labour law - it was among the founders of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 1919 - labour conditions in China today are the subject of concern to observers both inside China and in the international community. In response, China has devoted much attention recently to reforming its labour law system, a process driven by a political reorientation towards labour protection in the context of economic globalization. However, labour disputes and labour unrest continue to proliferate. Using as its starting point an international research seminar held at Helsinki University in January 2013, this volume gathers a remarkable array of academic perspectives on China and its legal system by scholars from China, the United States, and Europe into a stimulating and unique combination of commentary and analysis of the challenges relating to implementation of fundamental labour rights as spelled out in the landmark 1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work in the Chinese setting. Importantly, the analysis fully takes into account action in relation to the promotion of labour rights by not only the Chinese government but local governmental authorities, trade unions, enterprises, and other actors. Each author focuses on a different aspect of how these fundamental labour rights operate in the Chinese legal environment and the kinds of obstacles met in their protection. Among the issues that arise are the following: gaps between ILO conventions and Chinese national laws occurring in the transformation of international obligations into domestic laws; how parties to a labour dispute cases may invoke ILO conventions before courts or administrative authorities; market obstacles caused by linking trade with observance of labour standards; the trade union rights framework in China; bottom-up pressures from workers' collective action; conflicts between Chinese state-owned enterprises and their employees; complications in informal employment labour relations; the growing divide between statute law and legal practice; implementation of the anti-discrimination law; discrimination due to China's household registration system; and corporate social responsibility. Many of the challenges relating to implementation of fundamental labour rights discussed in this volume can be considered common to many countries. The book offers new research questions and a wider scope of analysis, and also provides new tools for discussion regarding the promotion of fundamental labour rights. In that sense, this volume relates not only to research on labour issues in China but also to global research concerned with an increasingly pressing challenge of our time. For these reasons, it will be of tremendous value to academics in labour law, trade law and comparative law, and greatly useful to practitioners in these fields.

The works council, as a participatory means of regulating the employer - employee relation, is long established in Western European countries, but has failed to take significant root in other parts of the world where it has been tried. This is particularly the case where transition from socialist state control to a particularly free-wheeling form of capitalism and massive privatization has wreaked havoc on the employer - employee relation. This book is the first in-depth exploration of the legal, political, and cultural forces that complicate this transposition. Focusing on Eastern and Central Europe, where the works council system has been most extensively applied and where the evident reasons for its lack of purchase are most telling, the contributors examine the relevant experience, both negative and positive, in twelve countries, with a particular focus on non-union representation of workers. Many important issues pertinent to workers' representation in general in a globalized world are covered, including the following: cooperation and confrontation between trade unions and works councils; insufficient division of competences between the two representative bodies; legal norms concerning both trade union and works councils independence from employers' interference;;;;;need for serious and dissuasive sanctions against creation of employer-controlled ('yellow') unions; need for extension to non-union workers of protection from anti-union discrimination; real vs. formal implementation of EU norms in Eastern European Member States; unnecessarily complicated regulation of institutions of representation;; lack of protection against dismissal of non-union representatives; responsibility for breach of employers' obligation to consult and inform; and employers' lack of legitimacy in the eyes of workers.;;;;; There is general agreement among these authors that, as long as human beings spend a serious part of their lives at the workplace, they must be allowed not merely to express opinions about the job but have a real influence on it. Fully aware of the sensitivity of these issues in market economies, the authors' careful research and call for public discussion open the path to real changes in the existing system, clearly in Eastern Europe but to be much desired elsewhere also. For labour law scholars, practitioners, and policymakers who know that such changes are needed, this book offers directions that, though debatable, are sure to be welcomed.

It is well known that migration law often imposes restrictions which severely in uence entitlement and access to social security bene ts for migrant workers. However, in the wake of new social problems created by economic globalization, new patterns of migration, and political pressures - and in an effort to make sure that countries treat each other's subjects equally and that rights to bene ts are maintained - an increasing number of countries today have entered into bilateral and multilateral social security agreements with a basis in human rights. A network of such agreements is now starting to extend over the entire globe.

In the context of globalization, Turkey plays a unique role. Poised both geographically and culturally between Europe and the Middle East, with a formidable political history in both realms and a thriving modern economy, its domestic affairs inevitably take on a significance that transcends its borders. Among these its employment relations regime, as it sets about conforming to the neoliberal standards of globalization, prove to be of compelling interest for labour law professionals everywhere. This collection of thirteen essays by notable Turkish legal academics in the field presents practitioners and researchers with in-depth analysis and commentary on such aspects as the following: ways to raise the floor on working conditions; impact of multinational corporations' research and development activities on skills and labour costs; education inequalities, skills development, and the role of technology; environment and sustainability issues; Turkey's proposed severance pay fund as a flexicurity measure; the nature of subcontracted labour particularly as revealed in Turkey's shipbuilding industry; ;labour unionism and collective bargaining; female employment and gender-based discrimination; and mobbing and workplace bullying. The overall analysis does justice to the book's stated aim of exploring the integration of Turkey's system of labour and employment relations through transnational connections which have reached levels that can no longer be restricted to national boundaries. Expertly considering these new dimensions and challenges caused by the process of globalization, it addresses the research needs of academics in labour economics and employment relations as well as the interests of human resource management specialists, employer associations and labour unions.

Amid the trend towards decentralized industrial relations, various new and modified systems of employee representation are taking hold in many countries worldwide. In this highly informative examination of this field of international labour law - originally presented as a series of papers for the 11th JILPT Comparative Labor Law Seminar held in Tokyo in February 2012 - twelve distinguished scholars from Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States describe their countries' current perspectives on this issue, along with their own analysis and commentary. Among the specific questions addressed for each jurisdiction are the following: What is the legal framework for an employee representation system? How is the representative body formed and what are its declared powers? Are there legal mechanisms preventing intervention by the employer? Are non-standard employees involved? What methods of deliberation and decision-making are used? How are the activities of representatives protected? Who bears the costs? What is the relationship with collective bargaining? With labour unions? Each contributor also describes typical ways in which the employee representative system works, offering concrete examples such as dismissal, wage determination, and equal treatment. Some deal with situations in which employee representation is in fact nonexistent or malfunctioning in real workplaces. There is also pervasive attention paid to the fundamental matter of what 'representation' is for, and the probable future direction of employee representation. Given the need to secure representation for non-union and non-standard employees at the workplace, these reports on the conditions and new developments in this important field provide ample basis on which to build a better system of employee representation in this era of diversified workforces in the globalized market.

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; * 'atypical' work; * temporary agency work; * discrimination on the basis of age; * corporate social responsibility; * European labour law after the Lisbon Treaty; * the historical formation of the labour contract; * labour law after the current economic situation; and * damages and industrial action. The authors provide detailed analyses and descriptions of trends in these and other matters central to the law of labour and industrial relations, even as they discover (or rediscover) underlying principles that bear witness to the vitality of their field in a rapidly 'globalizing' world. Practitioners, academics, regulators, and policymakers will all find rich material here.

Now that the economic orthodoxy of 'light-touch' regulation has been widely discredited by recent events in the financial markets, and shareholder-oriented management has come under intense scrutiny, it is time to seriously consider the merits of stakeholder-oriented economies. In this far-reaching symposium on this aspect of comparative labour relations, 35 scholars examine case studies and evolving scenarios in a wide variety of countries, from leading economic powers such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany to post-socialist states such as Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria to the formidable global economic presences of Brazil, Russia, and India. With contributions from leading experts from all around the world in the fields of labour law, industrial relations, labour economics, labour statistics, human resources management, organization theory and other related subjects, the papers focus on the impact of the global economic crisis and its implications for the future of employment. Specific contexts covered include: o adversarial versus strategic collective bargaining; o transnational collective bargaining; o long-term employees as the most valuable corporate stakeholders; o workers' voice and participation in the restructuring of undertakings; o privatization of state-owned companies; o executive pay; o investment in vocational training in times of economic crisis; o the impact of the EU's Cross-Border Merger Directive; o inherent dangers in the EMU one-size-fits-all monetary policy; and o cases of large-scale corporate fraud. Of particular interest is the treatment of important developments in Singapore and Nigeria, as well as lessons to be learned from pitfalls encountered in South Africa and other countries. With its theoretical arguments and empirical data, this volume is certainly a major contribution to the debate over whether shareholder or stakeholder approaches to management yield the best results in terms of employment outcomes. As the world economic crisis continues to take its toll on employment, pension funds, public services, and living standards, the book is sure to find a wide audience among policymakers and lawyers worldwide concerned with the future of employment relations and their effect on both productivity and social stability. This volume includes a selection of papers from the Eighth International Conference in commemoration of Marco Biagi held at the Marco Biagi Foundation in Modena, Italy in March 2010.

In recent decades enterprises worldwide have reaped the advantages of hiring employees on a contractual fixed-term basis, thus derogating from their traditional participation in the social protection of workers and insulating themselves from legal liability for unjust dismissal. A broad spectrum of effectiveness has emerged in this development, as different countries have adopted varying measures to regulate the conditions under which fixedterm employment contracts are written, applied, and interpreted. This important book - which reprints papers submitted to the 10th Comparative Labour Law Seminar of the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training held in Tokyo on 8 and 9 March 2010 - details the regulatory approaches to fixed-term contracts in major industrial jurisdictions in Asia and Europe, providing an opportunity to explore normative directions for labour law and policy in the age of a diversified workforce. Nine knowledgeable and experienced contributors describe and analyse the legal status of fixed-term employment contracts (including relevant case law) in Australia, Britain, China, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Sweden, and Taiwan. Among the central issues examined are the following: - how four EU Member States apply the 1999 Directive on fixed-term work; - working conditions under fixed-term contracts; - legal consequences of violation of regulations on fixed-term employment contracts; - exceptions for certain groups of workers; - permissibility of derogation by collective agreements; - circumstances under which law on dismissal may be applied to an employer's refusal to renew a fixed-term contract; - equal treatment between workers on fixed-term contracts and those on open-ended contracts; - problems fixed-term workers may face in the country's social security system; and - regulation of reasons for concluding fixed-term contracts. Each author takes into account evaluations from scholars, policymakers, and stakeholders to his or her country's regulatory approach to fixed-term employment contracts, revealing an array of responses ranging from a view that such contracts enhance employment opportunities in society to advocating suppression of their use as inherently abusive and discriminatory. The combined effect of these nine essays is to greatly increase our awareness of the nature of fixed-term employment contracts, from their fundamental value as social policy instruments to their inextricable connection with the law of dismissal. The book sets the stage for deeper and more firmly grounded work that promises to elucidate the underlying pattern of a new employer-employee relationship emerging on a worldwide scale.

The complexity of employment arrangements in various countries tends to make it difficult to understand them. Nevertheless, it is important to 'take stock' periodically, particularly from an internationally comparative perspective. This remarkable book is a giant step in that direction. It is especially valuable in the context of increasing globalisation. For each of nine key jurisdictions - the European Union, Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan -experts present detailed information and analysis on key issues, shedding valuable light on trends in such specific areas of employment relations as the following: * atypical work and flexible work arrangements; * dispute settlement procedures such as negotiation, conciliation, mediation, arbitration and other forms of governmental or judicial intervention; * job security, anti-discrimination, and gender equality; * recognition of unions and employers' associations and forms of employee representation; * how collective bargaining is regulated, who the collective agreements cover and what they contain; * parental leave and childcare policy; * the capacity of individual agreements to override or not override collective agreements; * minimum wage levels; * overtime and shift work; and * paid leave entitlements. As a general framework, an introductory chapter offers a highly insightful summary of the underpinnings of current analysis of globalization, including discussion of the varieties of capitalism thesis, the divergence/convergence debate (with its models of bipolarization, clustering, and hybridization), and elements of historical and political-economic path dependency in various cultures. The information gathered here provides a powerful new understanding of the increasing 'disconnect' between the prevailing institutional framework for employment relations and the sweeping changes that are taking place in the world of work. With this book's analysis, practitioners and policymakers will be able to overcome their dated assumptions and more effectively accommodate each others' interests in the face of the complex mix of continuity and change that they are confronting. The team of authors are authoritative experts in these countries. They are active in policy or legal analysis, business and/or scholarship.

Unemployment levels are on the rise nearly everywhere, and the rate is particularly high among young people. If this trend is not reversed, the potential long-term economic and social damage is incalculable. For this reason a particular urgency attended an international conference on the subject held in March 2009 at the Marco Biagi Foundation in Modena, Italy, in the course of which specialists in labour law, human resources management, labour economics, sociology, education, and statistics met to present and compare research. This issue of the Bulletin of Comparative Labour Relations includes a selection of the papers presented at that conference. Although the selected essays present findings on specific issues in particular countries, the general applicability at the global level is evident. Assessing measures taken to deal with youth unemployment in thirteen countries (Italy, Spain, Russia, Sweden, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Israel, Nigeria, the United States, China, and Singapore), twenty-five leading authorities describe and analyse such aspects of the problem as the following: − vocational education and training; − quality of employment as well as quantity; − links between educational institutions and local, national and international enterprises; − consultation and co-operation between employers' associations and trade unions; − job security vs. employment security; − funding for postgraduate programmes, internships, and on-the-job vocational training; − career development for future managers; − safeguards for workers in a framework of flexibility; − labour market pressure from unskilled immigrant workers; − 'earn-as-you-learn' schemes; − work in the informal economy; and − the rationale behind the phasing out of passive labour market measures for school leavers such as unemployment benefit. Admirably fulfilling the need for a critical analysis of today's increasing rate of youth unemployment with a comparative and interdisciplinary approach - and highlighting in particular the growing mismatch between the expectations of graduates and what the labour market is actually able to deliver - the research papers in this volume provide invaluable indicators for labour lawyers, educators, and policymakers seeking to address this issue in their specific regional and national contexts.

Involvement of employees in the social dialogue has always been an ongoing and vigorous concern of the European Union. Over the years since the European Works Councils (EWCs) were established in 1994, expectations regarding their role have grown, particularly in anticipating and managing change as corporate activities have become increasingly internationalized. Finally, after fifteen years of ongoing debate, Directive 2009/28/EC, establishing a new legal framework for EWCs, took effect in June 2009, with Member States obligated to implement the new rules at national level by June 2011. The 2009 Directive is intended to ensure that employees' transnational information and consultation rights are effective, to increase the number of European Works Councils established, to strengthen the legal certainty of negotiated outcomes involving EWCs, and to ensure that the directives on information and consultation of employees are better linked.

This essential guide is the first publication to annotate and analyze the new Directive. It describes the many changes from the previous Council Directive 94/45/EC, and expertly traces the legislative history through all the intervening preparatory documents. It examines the most important provisions in depth, shedding clear light on such issues as the following:

-the new definitions of 'information' and 'consultation';

-the nature of the stronger links between national and transnational levels of employee information and consultation;

-employers' obligation to pass on information to local representatives of employees;

-training of EWC members;

-the composition of the Special Negotiating Body (SNB);

-the presence of experts, including trade union representatives, in negotiation meetings;

-employee representatives' right to collectively represent the employees;

-the role of EWCs and workers' representatives in the EU's merger control procedures;

-fall-back rules that improve EWCs' consultation in case of restructuring; and

-provisions ensuring that EWCs are informed and consulted without calling into question the company's capacity to adapt.

The author's insightful perspectives - e.g., on how the courts are likely to interpret such phrases as "rights arising from the directive" in specific contexts - add greatly to the practical value of the analysis.

Annexes include virtually all relevant primary documents, encompassing pronouncements of the Commission, the Parliament, the social partners, and the European Economic and Social Committee.

Beyond a doubt, this timely bulletin is essential reading for representatives of multinational enterprises operating in the EU, labour law and industrial relations scholars, representatives of trade unions and employers' associations, human resources professionals, lawyers negotiating EWC agreements, and concerned policymakers and government officials.

The enormous technological, financial, and structural changes of recent decades have revolutionized the international shipping industry, bringing about lower freight rates, shorter time in port and fast turnarounds, reduction in crew size, employment of cheap labour from developing countries, avoidance of national regulations and taxes, and diminished living and working standards on board. Exploitation of seafarers has always existed, but now it has become more common and frequent. Shipowners can cut costs in various ways, but the most profitable and easiest to achieve are those at the expense of labour costs, in particular costs for maintaining proper living conditions on board the ship. This bulletin examines in detail the structure of the shipping industry, focusing on problems concerning the working and living conditions of seafarers on board merchant ships serving the global sea transport system. Exploring all levels of maritime policymaking on a global and European level, the author analyses seafarers A| rights in the light of international enforcement mechanisms and particularly in the light of the recent ILO Maritime Labour Convention. He also considers relevant case law, as well as advisory opinions and policy statements from various pertinent agencies, especially in the EU context. Among the issues raised and discussed in depth in relation to their effect on seafarers A| labour standards are the following: A { ship manning companies; A { illicit crewing agencies; A { flags of convenience; A { hours of work and rest; A { wages; A { occupational health and safety; A { accommodation, food, water, and catering; A { recreational facilities; A { filing of grievance; and A { port controls. The author shows that, expansion and progress of the maritime industry notwithstanding, there is a great need for effective enforcement mechanisms in this area. This is the first detailed analysis to connect the working and living conditions of seafarers with international, supranational, and national maritime legislation. A giant step towards establishing a global monitoring system to enforce international maritime conventions regarding seafarers A| labour standards, it is sure to make an important contribution to both international labour and employment law and the law of the sea.

In Europe, work has long been a symbol of full citizenship and today work is a fundamental goal of European social policy. However, although every person has the 'right' to work, it is becoming clearer all the time that unemployment is not due merely to a lack of encouragement to exercise this right, but (at least in part) to some deeper defects in the implementation of effective employment policies. As a contribution to defining the nature of these problems, this important collection of essays targets the phenomena of multilevel governance, both vertical (European, national, regional, local) and horizontal (administrative institutions, trade unions, business representatives, NGOs), showing, with detailed analysis and data, how coordination or conflict between the various levels advances, or fails to advance, the goals of employment policy. Regarding the EU, five EU Member States are examined- plus, for comparative analysis, the parallel Canadian federal model - with the authors addressing such concrete issues as: - the impact of globalisation and Europeanisation on employment policies; - distribution of tasks in the Open Method of Coordination (OMC); - involvement of private and economic agents; - the increasing significance of international political agents; - flexicurity as an employment strategy; - the difficulty of integrating the excluded; - coordination with education and fiscal policies; - social inclusion from the point of view of international human rights; and - gender 'mainstreaming' as an essential element of the EU guarantee of gender equality. The essays originated in a research meeting held at the Instituto Internacional de Sociologia Juridica at Onati (Spain) in June of 2007. Some of the contributors, all employment law experts, discuss problematic aspects of the European Employment Strategy (EES) and its influence on the decentralization of employment policies and related elements of social protection. Other authors concentrate on 'built-in' multilevel problems resulting from existing constitutional and administrative structures, while a third group focuses on substantive approaches to employment policies within individual member states. The Bulletin contains updated versions of all papers. In this book the degree of administrative, legal, political, and cultural intricacy involved in a serious engagement with multilevel governance of employment on the European model is put on full view. As a deeply informed analysis of how the idea of multilevel governance has played out within the political and administrative reality of Member States, the book will prove of enormous value to labour and employment law professionals anywhere, as the problems identified here have a global reach.