This book illuminates the process and substance of transnational regulation of labour in a global economy. Transnational labour regulation, a central feature of the European social model, engages the 27 Member States of the European Union, and is of potential importance to the rest of the world. The book analyses the attempts at transnational regulation of temporary agency work through the social dialogue between trade unions and employers' organisations at European level and the subsequent - and so far fruitless - EU legislative process. These two processes of transnational labour regulation, and their interaction, until now have been largely invisible. The book also highlights distinctive features of Member States' national regulation as they interacted with the debates on EU transnational labour regulation. It further explores the overlap between regulation of temporary agency work and the EU's regulation of transnational trade in services, the subject of the Directive on services in the internal market. Finally, it draws lessons from the experience of regulation of temporary agency work at national and European levels for transnational labour regulation in general.

The editors’ substantive introduction and the specially commissioned chapters in the Handbook explore the emergence of transnational labour law as a field, along with its contested contours. The expansion of traditional legal methods, such as treaties, is juxtaposed with the proliferation of contemporary alternatives such as indicators, framework agreements and consumer-led initiatives. Key international and regional institutions are studied for their coverage of such classic topics as freedom of association, equality, and sectoral labour standard-setting, as well as for the space they provide for dialogue. The volume underscores transnational labour law’s capacity to build bridges, including on migration, climate change and development.

The book offers a comprehensive perspective on the highly topical issue of protecting and promoting labour standards in international economic law and the globalized economy. For the purpose of an in-depth analysis of both the specific and the fundamental aspects in this regard, it combines views from specialized academics of the legal and political sciences as well as experienced practitioners. The contributions to this book do not only reveal recurring obstacles but also point at best practices and potential for synergies, providing important guidance for future research and practice in international economic and labour law and policy.

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) 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 sixth 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.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the new methods of transnational labour regulation that are emerging in response to globalisation.

This extensively updated second edition explores how individual European labour law systems combine to produce a distinctly European transnational system.

Resistance against free trade agreements based on an expanded trade agenda, including issues related to intellectual property rights, trade in services and trade-related investment measures, has increased since the demonstrations at the WTO ministerial conference in Seattle in 1999. While the WTO Doha negotiations have broken down, the EU and USA are increasingly engaged in bilateral free trade agreements, building on this expanded trade agenda. Free trade strategies have increasingly become a problem for the international labour movement. While trade unions in the North, especially in manufacturing, have supported free trade agreements to secure export markets for their companies, trade unions in the Global South oppose these agreements, since they often imply deindustrialisation. The purpose of this volume is to understand better these dynamics underlying free trade policy-making. Academics, trade union researchers and social movement activists analyse these issues in detail in order to explore possibilities for transnational labour solidarity. This book was published as a special issue of Globalizations.

This book provides a set of proposals for how best to guarantee effective enforcement of labour rights worldwide. The linkage between labour standards and global trade has been recurrent for some 200 years. At a time when the world is struggling to find a way out of crisis and is striving for economic growth, more than ever there is a need for up-to-date research on how to protect and promote labour rights in the global economy. This book explores the history of the field and also provides an overview of emerging trends and opportunities. It discusses the most recent problems including: the effectiveness and the role of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in the second century of its existence, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its potential relevance in the protection of labour rights, the effectiveness of the US and the EU Generalised System of Preferences, the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) instruments on labour rights, and labour provisions in the international trade agreements concluded by the US and the EU. The book argues, inter alia, that trade agreements seem to be a useful tool to help pave the way out of the crisis and that the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) can be perceived as a model agreement and a symbol of a shift in perspective from long global supply chains to a focus on regional ones, local production, jobs and a rise in wages. The book will be essential reading for academics and students in the fields of human rights law, international labour law, industrial relations law, international sustainable development law, international economic law and international trade law. It will also be of interest to practitioners, non-government organisations (NGOs) and policy makers.

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.

ŠRogowski�s challenging book offers readers a rigorous but accessible introduction to the theory of reflexive law, important and original insights into current issues in industrial relations and labour law and a fascinating preview of how a broad-based