In the world of work as it exists today, the old standards of fixed hours and location have been substantially weakened. Most employers, in fact, prefer to maintain a flexible system of work arrangements that gives them more control over rate of production, assignment of tasks, and economic circumstances. The global development of these new and extensive conditions of employment variously characterized as nonstandard, alternative, peripheral, contingent, or atypical has reached a point at which its significance for both employers and employees (as well as for society in general) can be...

There was a time when it was clear what risks social security policy was meant to protect: unemployment, sickness, and occupational disability. For many decades, although true equity remained elusive, a focus on these 'external' risks seemed to be enough. It is to the credit of more recent policy that such previously 'hidden' but all-important matters as excluded minorities, inadequate income, and obstacles to personal development are now on the agenda. Yet, with the globalization of the economy, new and unprecedented risks proliferate, most of them being of the 'manufactured' kind that stem...

Two legitimate statements in search of legal doctrine: An employee must have a reasonable expectation of privacy. The efficient operation of the company must be safeguarded. As a lawyer considers each of these assertions, a significant region of incompatibility emerges. In the context of the use of information technology systems in the workplace, a collision of rights is exposed that has engendered a virtual battleground in the theory and practice of labour law. This remarkable and timely book draws together all the strands of law in this controversial area, both de facto and de jure. Its...

In the realm of European employment law, tension exists between the concepts of economic policy and social policy. During recent years, a growing tendency to emphasize the economic at the expense of the social can be discerned. What this trend gives usin the views of the leading figures in the field of European labour law and social policy whose considered analyses are presented in this volumeis a regime of grand declarations about workers rights, but with extremely limited enforcement potential., i>The Changing Face of European Labour Law and Social Policy presents some of the papers given...

Whether or not we ever attain universal social justice, there can be little doubt that the international community has set meaningful standards, and that significant progress has been made over the last century. The leading standard-setter throughout this period has been the International Labour Organisation (ILO), with its nearly 200 conventions on labour law and social security law. Yet it is often asked: how effective are these standards? Do any lLO Member States actually offer (to quote the Philadelphia Declaration of the ILO Conference of 1944) social security measures to provide a basic...

Since Maastricht, there has been a concerted effort at the EU level to forge a fair and mutually responsible legal relationship between labour and management. What is sought is a legal framework for labour relations that will protectand even nourishthe most important employment interests of all Europeans. It is now clear, with more than a decades perspective, that many unforeseen obstacles and pitfallsboth legal and practicalhave slowed the progress of this social dialogue. The European Social Dialogue Revisited focuses on what has gone wrong, what has gone right, and what initiatives...

While it can be said that the use of collective labour agreements has greatly expanded during the last decade witness their growing application in the public sector, and their introduction in many post-communist countries it is hard to deny that their power to protect employees has diminished considerably and continues to weaken. An understanding of the factors that have contributed to this fundamental change in economic and social conditions is of crucial significance if we are to preserve an equitable balance in the employer-employee relationship. A growing body of research and commentary...

From Rights to Management presents a powerful and thoroughly documented new thesis about the transformation of the concept of work during the period 1970-2000. The authors remind us of what we now easily forget: that, not so long ago, the right of an unemployed person to social security benefits and services was not questioned. Over the years, this right has been gradually replaced by a two-way bargain with the state. And in the place of this old 'social citizenship', there has arisen a government-corporate alliance that manages job seekers by contract. The shift from the needs of the...