Civic Republican Political Theory and Labour Law

Abstract

Several justifications are cited in the academic literature in favour of common law and statutory intervention in the field of labour law. However, these justifications have been criticised for ignoring the realities of the contemporary labour market and for even bothering to undertake such an exercise as attempting to identify a theoretical explanation for the discipline in the first place. One must therefore ask to what extent traditional justifications for the legal regulation of the employment relationship have become frayed at the edges as a result of changes in underlying political, social, economic. and industrial conditions over the past half century. This chapter seeks to contribute to this debate by demonstrating how an account of justice based on ‘non-domination’ grounded in contemporary civic republican political theory can prove helpful in shedding new light on the rationales for labour law intervention in the twenty-first century.

The puzzle of competitive fairness

“…Some have emphasized the potential for domination in particular relationships, including especially employment. (Cabrelli and Zahn, 2018; Anderson, 2017. Cf.…”

Freedom at, through and from work: Rethinking labour rights

“…In his theory, a person escapes domination and is therefore free only to the extent that that person occupies a protected position and is empowered to resist control by others. The non-domination approach to labour law (see Bogg 2017;Cabrelli andZahn 2017 and applies this framework to evaluate whether labour rights can minimize the degree of domination exerted by an employer. Following Lovett's three variables, this subsection evaluates whether fundamental labour rights can expand freedom at, through and from work by minimizing such domination.…”

“…First, the degree of dependency of workers, and therefore the domination to which they are subject, is a function of the costs to them of exiting the work relationship (Lovett 2010, 53). A person who knows that ending the work relationship means becoming unemployed or not being able to find a better source of income faces domination (see also Pettit 2008, 5;Taylor 2017, 50-52;Cabrelli andZahn 2017 and2018, 112;Bogg 2017, 396). Freedom from domination therefore depends on the jobs that are available in the market and on alternative ways of receiving an income.…”

“…Methodologically, in its second section, this article defines three dimensions of freedom in relation to work: freedom at work, freedom through work and freedom from work. The third section explores the traditional purpose of fundamental rights, while the fourth evaluates their ability to expand the aforementioned freedoms by applying freedom-based approaches to labour law, namely the non-exploitation approach (Mantouvalou 2018;Wolff 2018), the republican non-domination approach (Bogg 2017;Cabrelli andZahn 2017 andLovett 2010;Pettit 1997Pettit , 2008Pettit , 2012Taylor 2017) and the capability approach (Deakin 2019;Del Punta 2019;Langille 2019).…”