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Lecture 8 notes Comparative Labour Law
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Comparative Labour LawLecture 8
Part 1 - Europe
Collective Labour Law (Employment Law) is about
● Trade unions and employers’ associations
● Collective bargaining
● Strikes
● Industrial democracy in the enterprise
some lawyers may call it the social constitutions
sociologist use the system of industrial relations
in no EU countries, parliament, government, or t.u. can assume they can make
labour laws themselves → influential role of employer relations and trade unions
Trade Unions and Employers’ associations
● Emerged everywhere in Europe since the Middle Ages under various names:
○ guilds, associations of journeymen, etc.
■ became so powerful that they fell into disgrace
■ 1800; they were banned and even prohibited under criminal law
● Repression of intermediate powers in socio-economic life was often the basic attitude
of the law
○ lasted until middle of 19th century
○ advance in industrialisation forced workers to close ranks and
defend interests; first trade unions 1820 → immediately hit by
coalition ban around 1800 → after few decades government grasped
that if workers could close ranks they could help contribute to
improvement of working conditions
● Toleration became the basic attitude since about 1860
○ Abolition of the coalition bans (NL:1872)
○ began era of tolerance that lasted till WWI
○ c.a. emerged
○ union membership was hazardous affairs; many employers lost jobs or
weren’t engage bc of trade union membership
○ strikes were broken in numerous ways
■ civil law
● strikers were dismissed bc of breach of contract
● trade unions held liable for damage
■ criminal law
● through use of police and military
Unions were not satisfied with their protection and campaigned for recognition
● Recognition became the basis attitude since about 1918
○ Mentioned in Constitutions and Treaties
● Integration has been in the air since 1945
○ NL: SER/S vdA; EU: Social dialogue
, Recognition
● Since the First World War most European countries recognised the Right to form and
join trade unions in their laws and constitution either explicitly or as part of the
general Right of association.
● After the Second World War the right to trade union association was recognised as a
fundamental right in the UN Covenant ESCRights, the ECHR, the ESC, the EU
Charter of Fundamental Rights.
○ criminal offenses related to t.u. were abolished
○ however; new wave of repression bc of facist dictatorships in italy, portugal,
germany and spain
■ outlawed free and independent organisations
■ outlawed strikes
Then began the actual current shape of economic governance:
Integration
- Trade unions and social partners are not just recognized; they are also involved in
the governance of the states
- new impotence was given to the c.a.
- states also recognized right to strike as a fundamental right
- cooporation started between t.u. and governments → t.u. gave advice on
labour laws etc.
● Integration
○ Can be defined as the measure of involvement of the social partners in the
social-economic governance of the state/intern.
● Organisation
○ This is the actual phase of industrial relations in the EU, but not in all MS in
the same degree.
■ Much integration in NL (poldermodel), BE, AT, DK
● interrelation between social partners and government
■ Low degree of integration in DE, UK, FR, IT
● much weaker involvement of social partners in social economic
governance
■ eastern europe; tripartite relations are often still in a rudimentary stage
● High Degree of integration in ILO (Tripartism in Constitution) and EU (European
Social Dialogue/Art. 154 - 155 TFEU).
● Low degree of integration in Council of Europe
shift of economies from industries to services → major impact on IR → workers in
service industries are more difficult to organise
The pattern of organisation of trade unions
● Everywhere in Europe numerous trade unions have emerged (first of all in Great
Britain) in all sectors and occupations. They are involved in the basics of industrial
relations:
○ Recruiting members
○ Collective bargaining
○ Organising strikes
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