Towards a Flexible Labour Market Labour Legislation and Regulation since the 1990s

by Davies, Paul; Freedland, Mark

• ISBN13: 9780199217885
• ISBN10: 0199217882
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-05-10
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Taking as its starting point the authors' earlier work on Labour Legislation and Public Policy, this book provides a detailed account and critical analysis of British labor legislation and labor market regulation since the early 1990s. Referring back to the earlier history, and filling in the gaps in the early and mid-1990s, the work concentrates mainly on the legislation and policy measures in the employment sphere of the New Labour governments which have been in power since 1997, placing those developments in the context of the relevant aspects of European Community law. The work argues for an understanding of this body of legislation and regulatory activity as being directed towards the realization of a flexible labor market, and shows how this objective has been pursued in three intersecting areas, those of regulating personal or individual employment relations, regulating collective representation, and promoting work. It explores the methods of regulation which have been used, developing a taxonomy of regulation and a notion of 'light regulation' to characterize some recent legislative interventions. It considers how far the administration of Prime Minister Tony Blair has fulfilled its promises or claims of 'fairness at work,' 'welfare to work,' and 'success at work,' and is of interest to academics studying British and European labor or employment law, employee relations or human resource management, labor market economics, and contemporary politics.

Author Biography

Paul Davies is Cassel Professor of Commercial Law in the London School of Economics Mark Freedland is Professor of Employment Law in the University of Oxford

Table of Contents

Table of Cases	p. xiii
Table of Legislation	p. xv
Abbreviations	p. xxiii
Introduction	p. 1
From collective laissez-faire to labour market regulation	p. 1
The labour policy of New Labour	p. 5
The scope of the book	p. 12
Personal Work Relations and Managerial Adaptability	p. 15
The law and management of personal work relations-context and policy	p. 15
Regulation of personal work relations under the Major administration 1990-97	p. 24
Basic labour standards and general worker protection	p. 27
Recognition of human and equality rights in personal work relations	p. 32
Modifying legislation to non-standard employment	p. 34
The positive construction of managerial adaptability and public service reform	p. 35
The first phase of the Blair administration, 1997-2001	p. 42
Basic labour standards and general worker protection	p. 46
Recognition of human and equality rights in personal work relations	p. 53
Modifying legislation to non-standard employment	p. 55
The positive construction of managerial adaptability and public service reform	p. 58
The second phase of the Blair administration, from 2001 onwards	p. 60
Basic labour standards and general worker protection	p. 63
'Family-friendly' measures	p. 63
Tribunal reform and dispute resolution	p. 64
Flexible working	p. 67
Working time	p. 70
Pensions	p. 71
Gangmasters: and criminal liability for health and safety	p. 78
Recognition of human and equality rights in personal work relations	p. 81
Modifying legislation to non-standard employment	p. 87
The positive construction of managerial adaptabilit and public service reform	p. 91
TUPE, Wilson and Palmer, and the Employment Relations Act 2004	p. 91
Public service reform	p. 94
Teachers and firefighters	p. 97
The 'Agenda for Change' in the NHS	p. 98
The 'two-tier workforce', the 'Warwick Accord', and the TUPE Regulations	p. 101
Collective Labour Law	p. 105
The policy context in 1997	p. 105
Industrial conflict law: continuity with some change	p. 110
Continuity	p. 110
Change: the position of individual workers	p. 112
Change: industrial action ballots	p. 114
Freedom of association and the recognition of trade unions	p. 114
Freedom of association	p. 114
Trade union recognition	p. 118
Underlying principle	p. 119
Detailed design	p. 121
The impact of the procedure and further reform	p. 126
Mandatory consultation of employee representatives	p. 130
Background	p. 130
Union policy: mandatory consultation as a route to collective bargaining	p. 132
EU policy on employee involvement	p. 134
Background	p. 134
Participation and the European Company	p. 135
Works councils and similar bodies in continental Europe	p. 137
From subject-specific consultation to European Works Councils	p. 139
National consultation arrangements	p. 144
Assessment	p. 145
Mandatory consultation and British labour law	p. 146
Subject-specific consultation	p. 146
Transposition of the EWC and SE Directives	p. 148
The framework Directive and the ICE Regulations	p. 150
Assessment	p. 156
Conclusions: partnership?	p. 159
Promoting Work	p. 163
'Welfare to Work'	p. 163
Labour market conditionality	p. 170
Availability for work	p. 170
Actively seeking work	p. 171
Jobseeker's agreements	p. 172
New Deals	p. 173
Jobseekers	p. 173
The disabled and long-term sick	p. 175
Lone parents	p. 178
Older workers	p. 180
Conclusion	p. 181
Making work pay	p. 182
The National Minimum Wage (NMW)	p. 182
The NMW and Wages Councils	p. 182
Setting the NMW	p. 185
Impact and enforcement	p. 187
Conclusion	p. 188
Tax credits	p. 190
Incentives to work and the relief of poverty	p. 190
Development of policy to 2002	p. 192
Development of policy, 2002 and after	p. 194
Operation in practice	p. 196
Conclusion	p. 197
Reducing barriers to work	p. 198
Disability discrimination	p. 199
Age discrimination	p. 203
'Family friendly' policies	p. 209
Training	p. 211
Migrant workers	p. 216
International setting and conclusions	p. 223
Conclusion-A New Way Found?	p. 229
The contingent path to labour market regulation	p. 229
'Welfare to Work'	p. 233
The role of the social partners	p. 236
Individual employment relations, managerial flexibility, and labour market regulation	p. 240
A critical task for employment law	p. 247
Index	p. 251
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.