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Not all labour law and industrial relations scholars agree on the efficacy of the comparative approach - that the analysis of measures adopted in other countries can play a constructive role in national and local policy-making. However, the case deserves to be heard, and no better such presentation has appeared than this remarkable book, the carefully considered work of over 40 well-known authorities in the field from a wide variety of countries including Australia, France, India, Israel, Peru, Poland, and South Africa. The volume contains papers delivered at a conference sponsored by the Marco Biagi Foundation at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in March 2008.
Employee relations in national contexts are significantly influenced not only by material forces but also by cultural and linguistic factors that are often highly nationally specific. In this innovative book, culture and language are analysed in terms of how they affect employee relations internationally, demonstrating the importance of recognising and understanding these elements in the face of increasing globalisation.
The complexity of employment arrangements in various countries tends to make it difficult to understand them. Nevertheless, it is important to 'take stock' periodically, particularly from an internationally comparative perspective. This remarkable book is a giant step in that direction. It is especially valuable in the context of increasing globalisation. For each of nine key jurisdictions - the European Union, Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Japan - experts present detailed information and analysis on key issues, shedding valuable light on trends in such specific areas of employment relations as the following: * atypical work and flexible work arrangements; * dispute settlement procedures such as negotiation, conciliation, mediation, arbitration and other forms of governmental or judicial intervention; * job security, anti-discrimination and gender equality; * recognition of unions and employers' associations and forms of employee representation; * how collective bargaining is regulated, whom the collective agreements cover and what they contain; * parental leave and childcare policy; * the capacity of individual agreements to override or not override collective agreements; * minimum wage levels; * overtime and shift work; and * paid leave entitlements. As a general framework, Part 1 offers an insightful summary of the underpinnings of current analysis of globalization, including discussion of the varieties of capitalism thesis, the divergence/convergence debate (with its models of bipolarization, clustering and hybridization), and elements of historical and political-economic path dependency in various cultures. The information gathered here furthers understanding of the increasing 'disconnect' between the prevailing institutional framework for employment relations and the sweeping changes that are taking place in the world of work. With this book's analysis, practitioners and policymakers will be able to overcome their dated assumptions and more effectively accommodate each others' interests in the face of the complex mix of continuity and change that they are confronting. The team of authors are experts in these countries. They are active in policy or legal analysis, business and/or scholarship.
The formerly communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have witnessed a profound transformation of their labour laws since the 1990s and, especially, after their accession to the European Union. Today, in comparison to the other Member States, they continue to have weak trade unions and employers’ associations and an underdeveloped system of collective bargaining. Moreover, the recent economic and financial crisis highlighted the need to invest further efforts in bringing the CEE industrial relations closer to the ‘old’ Member States, in order to facilitate a more meaningful enforcement of the EU-wide economic and social policies. This is the first book to scrutinise this important matter in depth. Focusing on four current CEE labour law regimes – in Slovenia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Poland – that also have different collective bargaining trends and can be said to exemplify some of the main legal and institutional frameworks for collective bargaining that the CEE countries have developed, the author addresses the following major issues: – the transition from a centralised to an open market economy and the degree of continuing residual characteristics; – the extent to which labour laws since the 1990s have enabled an adequate institutionalisation of industrial relations to allow free and voluntary collective bargaining at the national, sectoral, and company levels; and – the effectiveness of the standard-setting role of trade unions and employers’ associations insofar as they have persisted or come into play. The analysis always keeps in focus the development of labour laws in relation to a number of such interlinked elements as market transformation, type of privatisation of state ownership, and attitudes towards welfare. It draws on both the relevant literature and on twenty-five interviews with legal and policy experts from social partners’ organisations and staff within the ministries for social affairs in the selected countries. In support of the study’s general finding that the laws in CEE countries could provide more stimulus for sectoral and cross-sectoral collective bargaining, the author offers deeply informed recommendations and insights into legal shortcomings and pinpoints how the existing legal frameworks can be enhanced. Any professional or academic in the field of industrial relations, and particularly those concerned with complex transitions such as those occurring in the CEE countries and elsewhere in the world, will find this book of great value.
This second, updated and extended edition of the Handbook of Research on Comparative Human Resource Management draws on the work of many of the world’s leading researchers in the field to present the state of the art to scholars, students and practitioners. The Handbook provides a detailed focus on the theoretical underpinnings of Comparative HRM, on comparative studies of specific areas of HRM practice and on the unique features of HRM in all the main regions of the world.
ÔThis is an enlightening text on the subject of employment and work relations that will be useful for students in economics, specifically those studying labor relations.Õ Ð Lucy Heckman, American Reference Books Annual 2012 The broad field of employment relations is diverse and complex and is under constant development and reinvention. This Research Handbook discusses fundamental theories and approaches to work and employment relations, and their connection to broader political and societal changes occurring throughout the world. It provides comprehensive coverage of work and employment relations theory and practice. This up-to-date research compendium has drawn together a range of international authors from diverse disciplinary backgrounds. There are chapters from labour historians, theoreticians, more mainstream industrial relations scholars, sociologists, organizational psychologists, geographers, policy advisors, economists and lawyers. At the heart of each chapter is the notion that the world of work and employment relations has changed substantially since the halcyon days of IR, throughout the Dunlop Era of the 1950s. However, many areas of enquiry remain, and more questions have developed with society and technology. This Handbook reflects this view. As the field of study and practice continues to evolve throughout the twenty-first century, what lessons have we learnt from the past and what can we expect in the future? Academics and postgraduate students researching industrial relations, human resource management, employment relations, industrial sociology and sociology of work will find this important resource invaluable.
In an unresolved ongoing debate, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is often included among the institutional actors responsible for the declining condition of labour law in Europe. Has its case law been more protective of employers’ interests than of workers’ rights? This innovative book greatly enhances the discussion by bringing to light the judicial lawmaking logic, other than those pertaining to the balancing of social and business values, that drive the CJEU’s reasoning in its interpretation of the labour law provisions enshrined in the European Union (EU) law, with particular attention to the directive on transfer of undertakings. Addressing fundamental issues – such as uneven bargaining power, labour as a commodity, coexistence of workers’ rights and the market economy – in the context of judicial lawmaking, the author clearly defines the tensions at work: What normative models underlie the approaches of EU institutional policymakers with respect to labour law? Does the CJEU have its own vision of the socioeconomic model to which the Union should adhere? How does the CJEU’s interpretative approach stand in relation to the transformation processes that regulators impose on labour law? Is the CJEU particularly attentive to the preferences expressed by national governments, especially those from the most politically influential states, or rather reflect the political pressure of the European Commission? What is the role of trans-judicial dynamics in shaping the CJEU’s reasoning in labour law cases? The study is extraordinarily thorough, drawing on a wide range of policy documents, scholarly and doctrinal research, and the entire body of the CJEU’s case law on transfer of undertakings. The legal arguments that the CJEU has developed over the years are mapped and classified according to their affinity with the labour law functions that underlie them. With its comprehensive assessment of the normative implications of EU policymaking in the labour and social domains, its thorough exploration of the CJEU’s judicial lawmaking dynamics, and its extensive empirical legal analysis of the CJEU’s case law on transfer of undertakings, the book has no peers in revealing the forces that guide the CJEU’s decisions in the realm of labour law. Of particular value to scholars and researchers interested in EU social policies and constitutional law, the book will also prove of immeasurable value to labour law practitioners aiming to use the case law of the CJEU, as well as to in-house counsel, industrial relation specialists, and trade unionists.
The term ‘work-life balance’ refers to the relationship between paid work in all of its various forms and personal life, which includes family but is not limited to it. In addition, gender permeates every aspect of this relationship. This volume brings together a wide range of perspectives from a number of different disciplines, presenting research ndings and their implications for policy at all levels (national, sectoral, enterprise, workplace). Collectively, the contributors seek to close the gap between research and policy with the intent of building a better work-life balance regime for workers across a variety of personal circumstances, needs, and preferences. Among the issues and topics covered are the following: – differences and similarities between men and women and particularly between mothers and fathers in their work choices; – ‘third shift’ work (work at home at night or during weekends); – effect of the extent to which employers perceive management of this process to be a ‘burden’; – employers’ exploitation of the psychological interconnection between masculinity and breadwinning; – organisational culture that is more available for supervisors than for rank and le workers; – weak enforcement mechanisms and token penalties for non-compliance by employers; – trade unions as the best hope for precarious workers to improve work-life balance; – crowd-work (on-demand performance of tasks by persons selected remotely through online platforms from a large pool of potential and generic workers); – an example of how to use work-life balance insights to evaluate the law; – collective self-scheduling; – employers’ duty to accommodate; and – nancial hardship as a serious threat to work-life balance. As it has been shown clearly that work-life con ict is associated with negative health outcomes, exacerbates gender inequalities, and many other concerns, this unusually rich collection of essays will resonate particularly with concerned lawyers and legal academics who ask what work-life balance literature has to offer and how law should respond.
In-work poverty is a reality for too many persons in the European Union (EU). Although everyone is in agreement that poverty must be reduced, rarely is there a specific focus on the plight of those who, despite working, are poor. This important book is the first to unreservedly meet the challenge of defining, measuring, and comparing the legal regimes to combat in-work poverty in Europe, fully attending to the strengths and shortcomings of indicators and allowing the assessment of comparative best practices among the Member States. The distinguished contributors each describe and analyse this complex and multidimensional phenomenon, with its manifold and intertwined causes, in relation to such factors as the following: employment-related factors (wage, type of contract, atypical employment); worker’s socio-demographic characteristics (level of education, gender, age, country of birth); size and composition of household; household work intensity; and institutional factors (childcare, flexible work arrangements, employment protection, housing, technological change). In a major innovation, the book’s methodology approaches the ‘working poor’ by distinctly defining four groups of vulnerable and under-represented persons (VUPs) with detailed statistical information on in-work poverty in each group. Following an in-depth introduction focusing on the definition and ramifications of the concept of in-work poverty – including a discussion of legal scholarship and relevant EU instruments – the situations in seven EU Member States (Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden) are compared, revealing important variations. For each of the VUP groups, these chapters explain their composition at the national level and assess the impact of regulation on the incidence of in-work poverty. The last chapter highlights differences and similarities in an attempt to find patterns and identify common regulatory problems and best practices. The book’s comparative perspective greatly assists in understanding in-work poverty determinants, appraising varieties of relevant national policies, and stimulating the development of effective legal measures. With its close analysis of the limitations of existing measurement indicators, the book sheds light on the role of regulation in the prevalence and persistence of the phenomenon and equips policymakers at the EU and national levels with targeted tools to tackle this severe social problem.
Social models are always contested and ambiguous. This is particularly evident in the field of human resources management, where decisions that ultimately affect the patterns of social relations are made every day. This collection of in-depth essays focuses on some central human resources elements – gender, youth, ageing, educational background, training, workers’ rights – providing an up-to-date summary and analysis of how employers are dealing – and should be dealing – with workforce characteristics under current globalized forces. The emphasis is on Europe, but valuable insights come also from Chile, Canada, and the United States. Sixteen experts discuss such important issues as the following: the shift from intervention in favour of workers’ rights towards corporate neo-liberal policies; importance of transnational framework agreements in countries where a trade union; tradition is lacking; evidence that provision of childcare promotes female labour market participation; short-time working, labour hoarding, and labour underutilization; enhancing training policies for employable skills; enforcement of corporate social responsibility; alarmingly high rates of precarious employment; worldwide decline of full-time permanent positions; pension system reform; over-exposure of young people to non-standard employment; discouraged workers; regional imbalances in employment policy; and weaknesses of education programmes in connection with the world of work. Industrial relations and human resources professionals as well as employment lawyers worldwide will welcome this incisive analysis, and academics everywhere are sure to benefit from its evidence, insights, and proposals. The book presents a selection of papers from the international conference in commemoration of Marco Biagi entitled Europe 2020: Comparative Perspectives and Transnational Action, held at the Marco Biagi Foundation in Modena, Italy. 17–19 March 2011.