The Crisis and National Labour Law Reforms: A Mapping Exercise

Clauwaert, Stefan; Schömann, Isabelle

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2208400

Cited by 109 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…While due notice has to be given to its variability according to place and time, some traits make 3. For an inventory of recent legal changes in European countries, see Clauwaert and Schömann (2012). 4.…”

Section: Informalization As a Multi-sited Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

Informalizing the Economy: The Return of the Social Question at a Global Level

Breman¹,

Linden²

2014

Development and Change

209

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The classical conceptualization of the working class, of workers' collective action and, especially, of trade unionism, was implicitly or explicitly based on the Standard Employment Relationship that, for a few decades, has been dominant in North America, Europe, Japan and Australasia. The 'classical' model of collective bargaining, which has shaped the world's traditional labour movements, was based on this conceptualization. However, it is now increasingly undermined by the rapid spread of 'informal' or 'precarious' labour in the global North. It is our contention that the 'classical' view of the working class and workers' collective action is fundamentally biased and takes as a norm or standard what was in fact an historical exception. The real norm or standard in global capitalism is insecurity, informality or precariousness, and the Standard Employment Relationship is an historical phenomenon which had a deep impact in a limited part of the world for a relatively short period of time. If, as we argue, the 'Rest' is not now becoming like the 'West', but the other way round, then the 'traditional' forms of collective action that have developed in the North Atlantic region during the last two centuries are gradually losing much of their impact. New forms of collective action are emerging, though these are often still at an embryonic stage. It is, therefore, high time to rethink the concept of the working class and the ways in which it can further its interests. THE RISE AND FALL OF LABOUR RIGHTS AND SOCIAL SECURITY IN THE GLOBAL NORTHFrom the start of the twentieth century, the plight of the working class in western Europe and other advanced capitalist countries began to improve, offering a solution to the poverty and bad living and working conditions brought about by the industrial revolution. As Karl Polanyi has shown in his seminal book The Great Transformation (1944), this change was unavoidable, since the dynamic of an unfettered commoditized economy is self-destructive. A prominent feature of the emerging system was regular Development and Change 45(5): 920-940.

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Section: Informalization As a Multi-sited Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

Informalizing the Economy: The Return of the Social Question at a Global Level

Breman¹,

Linden²

2014

Development and Change

209

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“…The ETUI points to the`lack of democratic foundations underlying the reforms and their negative impact on fundamental social rights and workers' protection.' 62 The general result is that the reforms, including measures affecting social dialogue and collective bargaining,`undermine the protective role of both individual and collective labour law, thus putting workers in a more precarious and unprotected situation both in general and in the workplace.' 63 With regard to industrial relations and collective bargaining systems, the main trend has been to decentralize, 64 shifting from national and sector levels to company level and there is evidence of allowing lower-level bargaining outcomes to deviate from and undermine the protection provided by legislation or higher-level collective agreements.…”

Section: The Impact On Workers and Their Representativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post‐crisis Corporate Governance and Labour Relations in the EU (and Beyond)

Villiers

2014

Journal of Law and Society

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This article attempts to explain how corporate governance and macroeconomic policies have impacted on the role of workers and their representatives in the corporate environment and to consider how this has affected their capacity to protect themselves in the context of the financial crisis. It also considers the strategies they might adopt to strengthen their position in the future. It argues for the need to reposition labour law in the legal hierarchy as a first condition but also, and more importantly, that for democratic reasons, trade unions need to work collectively with other civil society and protest movements to hold corporations, national governments, and European institutions to account and, internally, to develop the class consciousness of old and new members. This gloomy picture presented by Le Queux and Peetz indicates bleak prospects for labour relations in the post-crisis corporate governance trajectory. My objective in this article is to explain how corporate governance and 73

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“…Changes in labour law occurred in four main areas: working time (especially overtime); atypical contracts (e.g. new contract types for young workers); collective and individual dismissals; and (decentralization of) collective bargaining and industrial relations (for an overview of national reforms in these areas, see Clauwaert and Schömann, 2012). In several cases, not only have these changes -implemented unilaterally and bypassing democratic controls -weakened the protection of workers, but they could also exacerbate inequality in the future (ibid.…”

Section: The Role Of Social Policy In Widening Divergence In Europementioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction: Crisis, policy responses and widening inequalities in the EU

Leschke¹,

Jepsen²

2012

International Labour Review

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Abstract. Introducing the contributions to this special issue of the International Labour Review, this article reviews the broad phases of the economic crisis in the EU since 2008 and highlights the critical role of social policy in mitigating its initial impact on Europeans. However, the crisis and governments' policy responses have also been widening labour market inequalities between different groups within countries, the authors argue, as illustrated by the disproportionate growth of youth employment and their specific focus on gender inequality. Cross‐national variations in the content and structure of stimulus and austerity countermeasures are also found to be exacerbating divergence between EU countries.

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The Crisis and National Labour Law Reforms: A Mapping Exercise

Cited by 109 publications

References 8 publications

Informalizing the Economy: The Return of the Social Question at a Global Level

Informalizing the Economy: The Return of the Social Question at a Global Level

Post‐crisis Corporate Governance and Labour Relations in the EU (and Beyond)

Introduction: Crisis, policy responses and widening inequalities in the EU

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