"Labour lawyers are familiar with the notion that employers' property rights operate as a significant constraint on the lawful activities of workers. Less attention is paid to workers' property rights. This article begins by examining connections between labour and property, initially recognised by political theorists in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, considering how their policy prescriptions can be translated into a contemporary context. In the twenty-first century, workers' entitlements to peaceful enjoyment of their possessions have been claimed in reliance on Article 1 of Protocol No 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Case law regarding the ‘legitimate expectations' of workers has the potential to affect UK industrial relations, by limiting the changes that can be made to workers' agreed contractual terms, redundancy payments and pensions, even if that potential has yet to be fully realised. It is uncertain whether this emergent jurisprudence will protect the interests of new entrants to the labour market or even those who have already retired. It may, therefore, be helpful to revert to earlier arguments, based on a view of labour rights as property rights, to make more far-reaching claims for fairer treatment of all workers, whether past, future or present. "

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