Documents Jaspers, Teun 10 results

"Recent cases decided by the European Court of Justice have raised crucial issues regarding the scope for collective action in Europe. In this context, this collection of essays investigates treatment of the right to strike in seven Member States of the European Union: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Each national report examines how legal regulation seeks to address conflicting interests, namely those of employers, workers and the public at large. Each report also outlines the potential impact of EU jurisprudence in that country.
Striking the balance between domestic entitlements to take industrial action and the protection of EU fundamental freedoms is far from straightforward. The problem of balance is considered further in three supplementary essays. The first of these assesses the position of those engaged in or affected by collective action under conflict of law principles stated in Rome II. The second essay provides a comparative analysis of the constitutional status (or otherwise) of collective action. The volume ends with an essay which subjects to scrutiny the assumptions made by the European Court of Justice in the Viking and Laval judgments, which would seem to be questionable, in light of the national reports presented in this book."

"This book provides for a comprehensive overview of the various areas of European labour law: fundamental rights, free movement of workers and posting, equal treatment, a-typical forms of employment, collective bargaining and collective agreements, restructuring of enterprises and health and safety. The chapters are written by eminent experts from a considerable number of EU Member States. Most of them are written by two authors from different Member States.

As a result of this duo-authorship the book does not approach European labour law from a single country perspective, but intends to give insight in the different ways European labour was s received and implemented in the various Member States.

The book does not only describe the current state of affairs, but also critically assesses how the interaction of EU legislature, Court of Justice, Member States and social partners has contributed to the development of EU labour law. As such, it is not only a comprehensive introduction to European labour law, but provides also food for thought as part of advanced study in this area."

"Transnational collective bargaining (TCB) has become a ‘hot' topic of European industrial relations. As well as collective bargaining between workers and employers conducted at the sectoral or national level, negotiations on employee rights and working conditions now also take place at the supranational level, within multinational companies. It is a development that poses major challenges for trade unions, as well as for employers and lawmakers. This book takes stock of the particular challenges faced by trade union representatives, works councils and employer organisations; it reviews the existing literature on this topic and examines contrasting views of the prospects for subsequent development of this new practice; it also offers some practical suggestions for policymakers who find themselves having to deal with this new component of the Europeanisation of industrial relations.
One of the key questions tackled in the book is whether a regulatory framework for TCB is feasible, necessary and/or useful. Perhaps even more importantly: can we, given the proliferation of instances of TCB, actually manage without such a legal system, and what should be the main elements of such a framework? By providing a better understanding and a critical analysis of the emergence and development of transnational collective bargaining, the authors of this book offer valuable help to trade unionists and practitioners in preparing for – and being prepared for – this next stage in the internationalisation of industrial relations."

"This volume offers a lawyer's view on the meaning of fundamental social rights in today's Europe. It is published on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the EWL and reflects the research efforts the members of the European Working Group on Labour Law have made in its 10 years of existence.
The recognition of fundamental social rights offers opportunities for valuing the meaning of the fundamental social rights for workers aiming at actually benefiting from these. The non-discrimination norm, since it has been long and widely recognised in EU law, is the most striking example. It has served as a catalyst for all Member States. Apart from that, the fundamental social rights as generally recognised by international organisations are also challenged in EU law. This is not only because the EU law does not explicitly grant protection to workers since some of these fundamental social rights are not covered by it, but also due to a potential collision between these rights and the fundamental freedoms of the European Community. The recent cases of Viking, Laval and Rüffert appear to deliver conclusive proof of the potential subordination of the fundamental social rights to the fundamental freedoms of the EC.
In this volume, experts in the field of European labour law, deal with the opportunities EU law is offering and how it is fitting into the social policy of the European Union, as well as with potential threats to an effective application of the fundamental social rights. Some of the contributions refer to the cases of Viking, Laval and Rüffert as to their impact on the right to collective action as well as its meaning for the establishment of decent employment conditions, and in particular the right to a decent wage which is one of the ‘oldest' fundamental social rights. Another crucial issue that is touched upon in this volume is the right to work and the right of protection for workers. The objective that is advocated in the EU as a cornerstone of modern social policy is the combination of flexibility and security, in one word: flexicurity, which has been analysed in terms of contributing to or jeopardising the position of the employee. It is the supposed dilemma of the protection of the ‘haves' at the expense of the ‘have nots', ‘insiders versus outsiders'. A third topic is the fundamental right connected to the freedom of association. A problem that has recently raised a lot of discussion and legislative proposals is whether sufficient representativeness of trade unions is required in order to be legitimised for collective bargaining and the conclusion of binding collective agreements. Linked to this is the effective recognition of the right of participation for workers and their representatives at enterprise level: the right to information and consultation, its scope and its effect. "