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International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations
Number of Followers: 32

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ISSN (Print) 0952-617X
Published by Kluwer Law International

[21 journals]

List of Abbreviations
- Abstract:
  Volume 36 Online ISSN 0952-617X
  PubDate: Sat, 05 Dec 2020 00:01:05 GMT
  Issue No: Vol. 36 (2020)
Article Index
- Abstract:
  Volume 36 Online ISSN 0952-617X
  PubDate: Sat, 05 Dec 2020 00:01:05 GMT
  Issue No: Vol. 36 (2020)
Multi-level Disputes Relating to Freedom of Association and the Right to
Strike: Transnational Systems, Actors and Resources
- Abstract: This article examines disputes regarding the connection between freedom of association and the right to strike, occurring at multiple levels, within international, regional and national legal orders. It focuses on the period from 2007 to 2019, when a challenge was made to norms longestablished at the International Labour Organization (ILO) that was subsequently continued in European and national court proceedings. These events raised the potential for normative fragmentation and conflict between legal systems. This article interrogates the roles played by two key actors in these processes: the International Organization of Employers (IOE) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). Drawing on sociological insights into collective action offered by Offe and Wiesenthal, transposed to the transnational level, an analysis is offered of the power dynamics that motivated IOE attempts to alter the content and influence of ILO norms, alongside the scope for ITUC resistance, given its resources.
  Volume 36 Online ISSN 0952-617X
  PubDate: Sat, 05 Dec 2020 00:01:05 GMT
  Issue No: Vol. 36 (2020)
Freedom of Association: Courts and Legislatures Introduction to the
Special Issue
- Abstract: Volume 36 Online ISSN 0952-617X
  PubDate: Sat, 05 Dec 2020 00:01:05 GMT
  Issue No: Vol. 36 (2020)
Constituting a Right to Association: A Postcolonial Exploration
- Abstract: In this article, I emphasize the social realm, rather than legislative action or judicial enumeration, as the preferred site for understanding the constitution of the legal right to association. I argue that the substance of a right – what we understand when we claim a right – emerges through contextual socio-historical processes before it penetrates the imagination of either the legislature or the judiciary. This emphasis on the social realm in understanding the contour of a right is particularly important for postcolonial societies such as India, where a Western universalist rights language is constitutionally adopted to unify a country that comprises heterogeneous socio-cultural milieux. Partha Chatterjee articulates this disjuncture by offering a distinction between the formal (constitutional) civil society and the informal political society. Drawing on Chatterjee’s distinction and interpreting historical ideas and their continued relevance on the nature of industrial relations, I show how the judiciary failed to take note of, and the legislature only belatedly reacted to, the validity of worker cooperatives as a legal right to association even when it received broad social recognition.
  Volume 36 Online ISSN 0952-617X
  PubDate: Sat, 05 Dec 2020 00:01:05 GMT
  Issue No: Vol. 36 (2020)
On Labour Representativeness: The Hidden Components of the Human Right to
Freely Associate in Trade Unions
- Abstract: The freedom of association in trade unions is accorded a special status in the international covenants on human rights, in ILO Conventions and in national constitutions. Moreover, trade unions are usually the sole subjects of special privileges for negotiating collective agreements, consultation and permissible industrial action. Human rights and constitutional litigation usually focus on removing obstacles from individuals’ choice to associate and on the scope of the positive right to freely associate. However, there are other fundamental aspects of the right that are more covert, which are designated as its ‘hidden components’. These include the rules regarding representative status, which crudely prescribe the relationship between trade unions and their membership. Despite the prevalence of requirements for representativeness in all national industrial relations systems, the variations are immense. This article probes into the nature of representativeness, displaying its significant effect on the ability of workers to negotiate, on the capacity of trade unions to achieve collective agreements, and on the distributive effects of such agreements. The article concludes that the constitutional dimension of representativeness must be considered, demonstrating rare instances of robust constitutional challenges and directing attention to the seemingly more mundane forms of response, legal or extra-legal, that actually shape the course of their incremental legal development.
  Volume 36 Online ISSN 0952-617X
  PubDate: Sat, 05 Dec 2020 00:01:05 GMT
  Issue No: Vol. 36 (2020)
The State Giveth and Taketh Away: Public Sector Labour Law, the Legitimacy
of the Legislative Override Power and Constitutional Freedom of
Association in Canada
- Abstract: This article investigates the role of courts and legislatures in the design and enforcement of labour laws in the context of public sector employment. It does so by focusing on government employers’ legislative ability to temporarily override public sector labour rights, or to displace outcomes achieved under their processes. This issue is analysed through a case study of Canada, a country which offers constitutional protections for freedom of association, but which is also constructing a highly deferential approach to the constitutional review of override statutes. As a result of this deference, governments have been afforded significant leeway in the use and design of override legislation, which serves to undermine the legitimacy of the underlying public sector labour law regime. The result is to shake the confidence of public sector employees in the promise of workplace power redistribution and workplace voice and to undermine the legitimacy of public sector labour law. Because override legislation can so fundamentally undermine public sector labour rights, the courts should avoid excessive deference and instead undertake an active constitutional review of their use, where constitutional protections are available.
  Volume 36 Online ISSN 0952-617X
  PubDate: Sat, 05 Dec 2020 00:01:05 GMT
  Issue No: Vol. 36 (2020)
‘Masters and Servers’: Collective Labour Rights and Private Government
in the Contemporary World of Work
- Abstract: This article explores the issues of subordination and authority in the contemporary world of work as they are exacerbated by new forms of work-surveillance that track emotions and mental states of workers by means of artificial intelligence, predictive algorithms and big data. It discusses subordination in contemporary work arrangements, highlighting how new technologies and business practices expand hierarchy and forms of private government beyond the scope of the employment relationship. It explores some of the technologies and practices that magnify and expand managerial powers to unprecedented levels, by tracking and strictly monitoring workers’ emotional and mental states. It also highlights how collective labour rights represent the best counterbalance to restrain these practices and curb modern forms of private government in the workplace. It concludes by discussing how the distinction between the traditional functions of collective rights, the ‘civil liberty’ and the ‘industrial’ function is increasingly blurred, arguing that an expansion of the personal scope of collective rights is crucial in this regard.
  Volume 36 Online ISSN 0952-617X
  PubDate: Sat, 05 Dec 2020 00:01:05 GMT
  Issue No: Vol. 36 (2020)