Labour law - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Labour law is the body of law

Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

s, administrative rulings, and precedents which address the legal rights of, and restrictions on, working people and their organizations. As such, it mediates many aspects of the relationship between trade unions, employers and employees. In Canada, employment laws related to unionized workplaces are differentiated from those relating to particular individuals. In most countries however, no such distinction is made. However, there are two broad categories of labour law. First, collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, employer and union. Second, individual labour law concerns employees' rights at work and through the contract

Contract

A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...

for work. The labour movement

Labour movement

The term labour movement or labor movement is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better treatment from their employers and governments, in particular through the implementation of specific laws governing labour...

has been instrumental in the enacting of laws protecting labour rights in the 19th and 20th centuries. Labour rights have been integral to the social and economic development since the Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...

. are social norms (in some cases also technical standards

Standardization

Standardization is the process of developing and implementing technical standards.The goals of standardization can be to help with independence of single suppliers , compatibility, interoperability, safety, repeatability, or quality....

) for the minimum socially acceptable conditions under which employees or contractors will work. Government agencies (such as the former U.S. Employment Standards Administration

Employment Standards Administration

The Employment Standards Administration , was the largest agency within the U.S. Department of Labor. Its four subagencies enforced and administerered laws governing legally mandated wages and working conditions, including child labor, minimum wages, overtime pay, and family and medical leave;...

) enforce employment standards codified by labour law (legislative, regulatory, or judicial).

Labour law history

Labour law arose due to the demands for workers for better conditions, the right to organize, or, alternatively, the right to work without joining a labour union, and the simultaneous demands of employers to restrict the powers of workers' many organizations and to keep labour costs low. Employers' costs can increase due to workers organizing to win higher wages, or by laws imposing costly requirements, such as health and safety or restrictions on their free choice of whom to hire. Workers' organizations, such as trade unions, can also transcend purely industrial disputes, and gain political power. The state of labour law at any one time is therefore both the product of, and a component of, struggles between different interests in society.

Contract of employment

The basic feature of labour law in almost every country is that the rights and obligations of the worker and the employer between one another are mediated through the contract

Contract

of employment between the two. This has been the case since the collapse of feudalism and is the core reality of modern economic relations. Many terms and conditions of the contract are however implied by legislation or common law, in such a way as to restrict the freedom of people to agree to certain things to protect employees, and facilitate a fluid labour market. In the U.S. for example, majority of state laws allow for employment to be "at will", meaning the employer can terminate an employee from a position for any reason, so long as the reason is not an illegal reason, including a termination in violation of public policy.

One example in many countries is the duty to provide written particulars of employment with the essentialia negotii

Essentialia negotii

Essentialia negotii is a Latin legal term used in contract law. It denotes the minimum contents of a contract in order for it to be held effective and legally binding.-General contracts:...

(Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

for essential terms) to an employee. This aims to allow the employee to know concretely what to expect and is expected; in terms of wages, holiday rights, notice in the event of dismissal, job description and so on. An employer may not legally offer a contract in which the employer pays the worker less than a minimum wage. An employee may not for instance agree to a contract which allows an employer to dismiss them unfairly. There are certain categories that people may simply not agree to because they are deemed categorically unfair. However, this depends entirely on the particular legislation of the country in which the work is.

Minimum wage

There may be law stating the minimum amount that a worker can be paid per hour. Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Paraguay, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Spain, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, the United States and others have laws of this kind. The minimum wage is usually different from the lowest wage determined by the forces of supply and demand

Supply and demand

Supply and demand is an economic model of price determination in a market. It concludes that in a competitive market, the unit price for a particular good will vary until it settles at a point where the quantity demanded by consumers will equal the quantity supplied by producers , resulting in an...

in a free market

Free market

A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...

, and therefore acts as a price floor

Price floor

A price floor is a government- or group-imposed limit on how low a price can be charged for a product. For a price floor to be effective, it must be greater than the equilibrium price.-Effectiveness of price floors:...

. Each country sets its own minimum wage law

Minimum wage law

Minimum wage law is the body of law which prohibits employers from hiring employees or workers for less than a given hourly, daily or monthly minimum wage. More than 90% of all countries have some kind of minimum wage legislation....

s and regulations, and while a majority of industrialized countries has a minimum wage, many developing countries have not.

Minimum wages are regulated and stipulated also in some countries that lack specific laws. In Sweden, for instance, minimum wages are negotiated between the labour market parties (unions and employer organisations) through collective agreements that also cover non-union workers and non-organised employers.

Minimum wage laws were first introduced nationally in the United States in 1938, Brazil in 1940 India in 1948, France in 1950, and in the United Kingdom in 1998. In the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

, 18 out of 25 member states currently have national minimum wages.

Working time

Before the Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

, the workday varied between 11 and 14 hours. With the growth of industrialism and the introduction of machinery, longer hours became far more common, with 14–15 hours being the norm, and 16 not at all uncommon. Use of child labour was commonplace, often in factories. In England and Scotland in 1788, about two-thirds of persons working in the new water-powered textile factories were children. The eight-hour movement

Eight-hour day

The eight-hour day movement or 40-hour week movement, also known as the short-time movement, had its origins in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, where industrial production in large factories transformed working life and imposed long hours and poor working conditions. With working conditions...

's struggle finally led to the first law on the length of a working day, passed in 1833 in England, limiting miners to 12 hours, and children to 8 hours. The 10-hour day was established in 1848, and shorter hours with the same pay were gradually accepted thereafter. The 1802 Factory Act was the first labour law in the UK.

After England, Germany was the first European country to pass labour laws; Chancellor Bismarck

Otto von Bismarck

Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...

's main goal being to undermine the Social Democratic Party of Germany

Social Democratic Party of Germany

The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

(SPD). In 1878, Bismarck instituted a variety of anti-socialist measures, but despite this, socialists continued gaining seats in the Reichstag

Reichstag (German Empire)

The Reichstag was the parliament of the North German Confederation , and of the German Reich ....

. The Chancellor, then, adopted a different approach to tackling socialism

Socialism

Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

. To appease the working class, he enacted a variety of paternalistic social reforms, which became the first type of social security

Social security

Social security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...

. The year 1883 saw the passage of the Health Insurance Act, which entitled workers to health insurance; the worker paid two-thirds, and the employer one-third, of the premiums. Accident insurance was provided in 1884, while old age pensions and disability insurance were established in 1889. Other laws restricted the employment of women and children. These efforts, however, were not entirely successful; the working class largely remained unreconciled with Bismarck's conservative government.

In France, the first labour law was voted in 1841. However, it limited only under-age miners' hours, and it was not until the Third Republic

French Third Republic

The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...

that labour law was effectively enforced, in particular after Waldeck-Rousseau 1884 law legalizing trade unions. With the Matignon Accords

Matignon Accords (1936)

The Matignon Agreements were signed on June 7, 1936, at one o'clock in the morning, between the CGPF employers trade union confederation, the CGT trade union and the French state...

, the Popular Front

Popular Front (France)

The Popular Front was an alliance of left-wing movements, including the French Communist Party , the French Section of the Workers' International and the Radical and Socialist Party, during the interwar period...

(1936–38) enacted the laws mandating 12 days (2 weeks) each year of paid vacations

Annual leave

Annual leave is paid time off work granted by employers to employees to be used for whatever the employee wishes. Depending on the employer's policies, differing number of days may be offered, and the employee may be required to give a certain amount of advance notice, may have to coordinate with...

for workers and the law limiting to 40 hours the workweek (outside of overtime).

Lochner v. New York
Lochner v. New York
Lochner vs. New York, , was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that held a "liberty of contract" was implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case involved a New York law that limited the number of hours that a baker could work each day to ten, and limited the...

, 198 U.S. 45 (1905), a notorious, and now defunct case by the US Supreme Court that regulation of working time (for bakeries) to limit workers to a 10-hour day.

Health and safety

Other labour laws involve safety concerning workers. The earliest English factory

Factory

A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...

law was drafted in 1802 and dealt with the safety and health of child textile

Textile

A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...

workers.

Anti-discrimination

This clause means that discrimination

Discrimination

Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...

against employees is morally unacceptable and illegal, on a variety of grounds, in particular racial discrimination or sexist discrimination

Sexism

Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...

Unfair dismissal

Convention no. 158

Termination of Employment Convention, 1982

Termination of Employment Convention, 1982 is an International Labour Organization Convention.It was established in 1982, with the preamble stating:...

of the International Labour Organization

International Labour Organization

The International Labour Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues pertaining to international labour standards. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Its secretariat — the people who are employed by it throughout the world — is known as the...

states that an employee "can't be fired without any legitimate motive" and "before offering him the possibility to defend himself". Thus, on April 28, 2006, after the unofficial repeal of the French First Employment Contract

First Employment Contract

The contrat première embauche was a new form of employment contract pushed in spring 2006 in France by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin...

(CPE), the Longjumeau

Longjumeau

Longjumeau is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.Inhabitants of Longjumeau are known as Longjumellois.-Transportation:...

(Essonne

Essonne

Essonne is a French department in the region of Île-de-France. It is named after the Essonne River.It was formed on 1 January 1968 when Seine-et-Oise was split into smaller departments.- History :...

) conseil des prud'hommes (labour law court) judged the New Employment Contract (CNE) contrary to international law

International law

Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...

, and therefore "illegitimate" and "without any juridical value". The court considered that the two-years period of "fire at will" (without any legal motive) was "unreasonable", and contrary to convention no. 158, ratified by France.

Child labour

Child labour is the employment

Employment

Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...

of children under an age determined by law or custom. This practice is considered exploitative

Exploitation

This article discusses the term exploitation in the meaning of using something in an unjust or cruel manner.- As unjust benefit :In political economy, economics, and sociology, exploitation involves a persistent social relationship in which certain persons are being mistreated or unfairly used for...

by many countries and international organizations. Child labour was not seen as a problem throughout most of history, only becoming a disputed issue with the beginning of universal schooling

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

and the concepts of labourers'

Labor rights

Labor rights or workers' rights are a group of legal rights and claimed human rights having to do with labor relations between workers and their employers, usually obtained under labor and employment law. In general, these rights' debates have to do with negotiating workers' pay, benefits, and safe...

and children's rights

Children's rights

Children's rights are the human rights of children with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to the young, including their right to association with both biological parents, human identity as well as the basic needs for food, universal state-paid education,...

. Child labour can be factory work, mining or quarrying, agriculture, helping in the parents' business, having one's own small business

Small business

A small business is a business that is privately owned and operated, with a small number of employees and relatively low volume of sales. Small businesses are normally privately owned corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships...

(for example selling food), or doing odd jobs. Some children work as guides for tourists

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

, sometimes combined with bringing in business for shops and restaurant

Restaurant

A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...

s (where they may also work as waiters). Other children are forced to do tedious and repetitive jobs such as assembling boxes, or polishing shoes. However, rather than in factories and sweatshop

Sweatshop

Sweatshop is a negatively connoted term for any working environment considered to be unacceptably difficult or dangerous. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for very low pay, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labour laws may be violated. Sweatshops may have...

s, most child labour occurs in the informal sector, "selling on the street, at work in agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

or hidden away in houses — far from the reach of official inspectors and from media scrutiny."

Collective labour law

Collective labour law concerns the tripartite relationship between employer, employee and trade unions. Trade unions, sometimes called "labour unions"

Trade unions

Some countries require unions to follow particular procedures before taking certain actions. For example, some countries require that unions ballot the membership to approve a strike or to approve using members' dues for political projects. Laws may guarantee the right to join a union (banning employer discrimination), or remain silent in this respect. Some legal codes may allow unions to place a set of obligations on their members, including the requirement to follow a majority decision in a strike vote. Some restrict this, such as the 'right to work

Right to work

The right to work is the concept that people have a human right to work, or engage in productive employment, and may not be prevented from doing so...

' legislation in some of the United States.

Strikes

Strike action

Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...

is the weapon of the workers most associated with industrial disputes, and certainly among the most powerful. In most countries, strikes are legal under a circumscribed set of conditions. Among them may be that:

The strike is decided on by a prescribed democratic process. (Wildcat strikes are illegal).
Sympathy strike
Sympathy strike
Secondary action is industrial action by a trade union in support of a strike initiated by workers in another, separate enterprise...

s, against a company by which workers are not directly employed, may be prohibited.
General strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...

s may be forbidden by a public order.
Certain categories of person may be forbidden to strike (airport personnel, health personnel, teachers, police or firemen, etc.)
Strikes may be pursued by people continuing to work, as in Japanese strike action
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...

s which increase productivity to disrupt schedules, or in hospitals.

A boycott

Boycott

A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...

is a refusal to buy, sell, or otherwise trade with an individual or business who is generally believed by the participants in the boycott to be doing something morally wrong. Throughout history, workers have used tactics such as the go-slow, sabotage

Sabotage

Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...

, or just not turning up en-masse to gain more control over the workplace environment, or simply have to work less http://www.af-north.org/lordstown.html. Some labour law explicitly bans such activity, none explicitly allows it.

Pickets

Picketing is a tactic which is often used by workers during strikes. They may congregate outside the business they are striking against to make their presence felt, increase worker participation, and dissuade (or prevent) strike breakers

Strikebreaker

A strikebreaker is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who are not employed by the company prior to the trade union dispute, but rather hired prior to or during the strike to keep the organisation running...

from entering the workplace. In many countries, this activity is restricted by labour law, by more general law restricting demonstrations, or sometimes by injunctions on particular pickets. For example, labour law may restrict secondary picketing (picketing a business not directly connected with the dispute, such as a supplier of materials), or flying pickets (mobile strikers who travel to join a picket). There may be laws against obstructing others from going about their lawful business (scabbing, for example, is lawful); making obstructive pickets illegal, and, in some countries, such as Britain, there may be court orders made from time to time against pickets being in particular places or behaving in particular ways (shouting abuse, for example).

Workplace involvement

Workplace consolation statutes exist in many countries, requiring that employers consult their workers on issues that concern their place in the company. Industrial democracy refers to the same idea, but taken much further. Not only that workers should have a voice to be listened to, but that workers have a vote to be counted.

Co-determination

Originating in Germany, some form of co-determination (or Mitbestimmung) procedure is practised in countries across continental Europe, such as Holland and the Czech Republic, as well as Scandinavian countries (e.g. Sweden). This involves the rights of workers to be represented on the boards of companies for whom they work. The German model involves half the board of directors being appointed by the company trade union. However, German company law uses a split board system, with a 'supervisory board' (Aufsichtsrat) which appoints an 'executive board' (Vorstand). Shareholders and unions elect the supervisory board in equal number, except that the head of the supervisory board is, under co-determination law, a shareholder representative. While not gaining complete parity, there has been solid political consensus since the Helmut Schmidt

Helmut Schmidt

Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt is a German Social Democratic politician who served as Chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. Prior to becoming chancellor, he had served as Minister of Defence and Minister of Finance. He had also served briefly as Minister of Economics and as acting...

social democrat

Social Democratic Party of Germany

The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

government introduced the measure in 1976.

In the United Kingdom, the similar proposals were drawn up, and a command paper produced named the Bullock Report (Industrial democracy). This was released in 1977 by the James Callaghan

James Callaghan

Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was a British Labour politician, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...

Labour government. This proposal involved a similar split on the board, but its effect would have been even more radical. Because British company law requires no split in the boards of directors, unions would have directly elected the management of the company. Furthermore, rather than giving shareholders the slight upper hand as happened in Germany, a debated 'independent' element would be added to the board, reaching the formula 2x + y. However, no action was ever taken as the UK slid into the winter of discontent

Winter of Discontent

The "Winter of Discontent" is an expression, popularised by the British media, referring to the winter of 1978–79 in the United Kingdom, during which there were widespread strikes by local authority trade unions demanding larger pay rises for their members, because the Labour government of...

. This tied into the European Commission's proposals for worker participation in the 'fifth company law directive', which was also never implemented.

In Sweden, this is regulated through the 'Law on board representation' (Lagen om styrelserepresentation). The law covers all private companies with 25 or more employees. In these companies, workers (usually through unions) have a right to appoint two board members and two substitutes. If the company has more than 1,000 employees, three members and three substitutes are appointed by workers/unions. It is common practice that seats are divided between representatives from the major union coalitions.

International labour law

One of the crucial concerns of workers and those who believe that labour rights are important, is that in a globalizing

Globalization

Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...

economy, common social standards ought to support economic development in common markets. However, there is nothing in the way of international enforcement of labour rights, with the notable exception of labour law within the European Union. At the Doha round

Doha round

The Doha Development Round or Doha Development Agenda is the current trade-negotiation round of the World Trade Organization which commenced in November 2001. Its objective is to lower trade barriers around the world, which will help facilitate the increase of global trade...

of trade talks through the World Trade Organization

World Trade Organization

The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...

one of the items for discussion was the inclusion of some kind of minimum standard of worker protection. The chief question is whether, with the breaking down of trade barriers in the international economy, while this can benefit consumers it can also make the ability of multinational companies to bargain down wage costs even greater, in wealthier Western countries and developing nations alike. The ability of corporations to shift their supply chain

Supply chain

A supply chain is a system of organizations, people, technology, activities, information and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer. Supply chain activities transform natural resources, raw materials and components into a finished product that is delivered to...

s from one country to another with relative ease could be the starting gun for a "regulatory race to the bottom", whereby nation states are forced into a merciless downward spiral, not only slashing tax

Tax

To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...

rates and public services

Public services

Public services is a term usually used to mean services provided by government to its citizens, either directly or by financing private provision of services. The term is associated with a social consensus that certain services should be available to all, regardless of income...

with it but also laws that in the short term cost employers money. Countries are forced to follow suit, on this view, because should they not foreign investment will dry up, move places with lower "burdens" and leave more people jobless and poor. This argument is by no means uncontested. The opposing view suggests that free competition

Competition

Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...

for capital

Capital (economics)

In economics, capital, capital goods, or real capital refers to already-produced durable goods used in production of goods or services. The capital goods are not significantly consumed, though they may depreciate in the production process...

investment between different countries increases the dynamic efficiency of the market place. Faced with the discipline that markets enforce, countries are incentivized to invest in education, training, and skills in their workforce to obtain a comparative advantage

Comparative advantage

In economics, the law of comparative advantage says that two countries will both gain from trade if, in the absence of trade, they have different relative costs for producing the same goods...

. Government initiative is spurred, because rational long term investment will be perceived as the better choice to increasing regulation. This theory concludes that an emphasis on deregulation is more beneficial than not. That said, neither the International Labour Organization (see below), nor the European Union takes this view.

International Labour Organization

The International Labour Organization (ILO), whose headquarters are in Geneva, is one of the oldest surviving international bodies, and the only surviving international body set up at the time of the League of Nations

League of Nations

The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...

following the First World War. Its guiding principle is that "labour is not a commodity" to be traded in the same way as goods, services or capital, and that human dignity demands equality of treatment and fairness in dealing within the workplace. The ILO has drawn up numerous conventions on what ought to be the labour standards adopted by countries party to it. Countries are then obliged to ratify the Conventions in their own national law. However, there is no enforcement of this, and in practice most conventions are not agreed to, even if they are adhered to.

European labour law

The European

European Union

Working Time Directive

The Working Time Directive is a European Union Directive, which creates the right for EU workers to a minimum number of holidays each year, paid breaks, and rest of at least 11 hours in any 24 hours; restricts excessive night work; and makes a default right to work no more than 48 hours per week....

limited the maximum length of a working week to 48 hours in 7 days, and a minimum rest period of 11 hours in each 24 hours. Like all EU Directives, this is an instrument which requires member states to enact its provisions in national legislation. Although the directive applies to all member states, in the UK it is possible to "opt out" of the 48-hour working week to work longer hours. In contrast, France has passed more strict legislation, limiting the maximum working week to 35 hours

35-hour workweek

The 35-hour working week is a measure adopted first in France, in February 2000, under Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's Plural Left government; it was pushed by Minister of Labour Martine Aubry. The previous legal duration of the working week was 39 hours, which had been established by François...

(but optional hours are still possible). The controversial Directive on services in the internal market

Directive on services in the internal market

The Directive on services in the internal market is an EU law aiming at establishing a single market for services within the European Union . Drafted under the leadership of the former European Commissioner for the Internal Market Frits Bolkestein, it has been popularly referred to by his name...

(aka "Bolkestein

Frits Bolkestein

Frederik "Frits" Bolkestein is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy . He served as a Member of the House of Representatives from 16 January 1978, until 5 November 1982, when he became State Secretary for Economic Affairs from 5 November 1982, until 14 July...

Directive") was then passed in 2006.

British labour law

The Factory Acts (first one in 1802, then 1833) and the 1832 Master and Servant Act

Master and Servant Act

Master and Servant Acts or Masters and Servants Acts were laws designed to regulate relations between employers and employees during the 18th and 19th centuries. An 1823 United Kingdom Act described its purpose as "the better regulations of servants, labourers and work people"...

were the first laws regulating labour relations in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

. The vast majority of employment law before 1960 was based upon the Law of Contract. Since then there has been a significant expansion primarily due to the "equality movement" and the European Union. There are three sources of Law: Acts of Parliament called Statutes, Statutory Regulations (made by a Secretary of State under an Act of Parliament) and Case Law (developed by various Courts).

The first significant modern day Employment Law Act was the Equal Pay Act of 1970 although as it was a somewhat radical concept it did not come into effect until 1972. This act was introduced as part of a concerted effort to bring about equality for women in the workplace. Since the election of the Labour Government in 1997, there have been many changes in UK employment law. These include enhanced maternity and paternity rights, the introduction of a National Minimum Wage and the Working Time Directive which covers working time, rest breaks and the right to paid annual leave. Discrimination law has also been tightened, with protection from discrimination now available on the grounds of age, religion or belief and sexual orientation as well as gender, race and disability.

5.2 Management Tricks

A trick of modern management is to stalk the junior employees which leads to alarm, harassment or distress - a criminal act.

Management get around this by a claim that an employee's behaviour was unacceptable; despite being put under stress by the said manager. See Constructive Dismissal.

Canadian labour law

In Canadian law, 'labour law' refers to matters connected with unionized workplaces, while 'employment law' deals with non-unionised employees.

Chinese labour law

Labour Law in the People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

has become a very hot issue with the soaring numbers of factories

Economy of the People's Republic of China

The People's Republic of China ranks since 2010 as the world's second largest economy after the United States. It has been the world's fastest-growing major economy, with consistent growth rates of around 10% over the past 30 years. China is also the largest exporter and second largest importer of...

and the fast pace of urbanization

Urbanization in China

Urbanization in the People's Republic of China increased in speed following the initiation of the reform and opening policy. By the end of 2010, the mainland of the People's Republic of China had a total urban population of 665.57 million or 49.68 percent of the total population.The rural-to-urban...

. The basic labour laws are the Labour Law of People's Republic of China (promulgated on 5 July 1994) and the Law of the People's Republic of China on Employment Contracts (Adopted at the 28th Session of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress

National People's Congress

The National People's Congress , abbreviated NPC , is the highest state body and the only legislative house in the People's Republic of China. The National People's Congress is held in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, capital of the People's Republic of China; with 2,987 members, it is the...

on June 29, 2007, Effective from January 1, 2008). The administrative regulations enacted by the State Council, the ministerial rules and the judicial explanations of the Supreme People's Court stipulate detailed rules concerning the various aspects of the employment relationship. Labour Union in China is controlled by the government through the All China Federation of Trade Unions, which is also the sole legal labour union in Mainland China. Strike is formally legal, but in fact is discouraged.

French labour law

In France the first labour laws were Waldeck Rousseau's laws passed in 1884. Between 1936 and 1938 the Popular Front

Popular Front (France)

enacted a law mandating 12 days (2 weeks) each year of paid vacation

Annual leave

for workers, and a law

Matignon Accords (1936)

The Matignon Agreements were signed on June 7, 1936, at one o'clock in the morning, between the CGPF employers trade union confederation, the CGT trade union and the French state...

limiting the work week to 40 hours, excluding overtime. The Grenelle accords negotiated on May 25 and 26th in the middle of the May 1968 crisis, reduced the working week to 44 hours and created trade union sections in each enterprise. The minimum wage was also increased by 25%. In 2000 Lionel Jospin

Lionel Jospin

Lionel Jospin is a French politician, who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002.Jospin was the Socialist Party candidate for President of France in the elections of 1995 and 2002. He was narrowly defeated in the final runoff election by Jacques Chirac in 1995...

's government then enacted the 35-hour workweek

35-hour workweek

, down from 39 hours. Five years later, conservative prime minister Dominique de Villepin

Dominique de Villepin

Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin is a French politician who served as the Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007....

enacted the New Employment Contract (CNE). Addressing the demands of employers asking for more flexibility

Labour market flexibility

Labour market flexibility refers to the speed with which labour markets adapt to fluctuations and changes in society, the economy or production.-Definition:In the past, the most common definition of labour market flexibility was the neo-liberal definition...

in French labour laws, the CNE sparked criticism from trade unions and opponents claiming it was lending favour to contingent work

Contingent work

Contingent work, also sometimes known as casual work, is a neologism which describes a type of employment relationship between an employer and employee...

. In 2006 he then attempted to pass the First Employment Contract

First Employment Contract

The contrat première embauche was a new form of employment contract pushed in spring 2006 in France by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin...

(CPE) through a vote by emergency procedure, but that it was met by students and unions' protests

2006 labour protests in France

The 2006 youth protests in France occurred throughout France during February, March, and April 2006 as a result of opposition to a measure set to deregulate labour...

. President Jacques Chirac

Jacques Chirac

Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...

finally had no choice but to repeal it.

Mexican labour law

Mexican labour law governs the process by which workers in Mexico may organize labour unions, engage in collective bargaining, and strike. Current labour law reflects the historic interrelation between the state and the Confederation of Mexican Workers, the labour confederation officially aligned with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI), which ruled Mexico under various names for more than seventy years. While the law, on its face, promises workers the right to strike and to organize, in practice it makes it difficult or impossible for independent unions to organize while condoning the corrupt practices of many existing unions and the employers with which they deal.

Swedish labour law

Swedish labour law is from an international perspective comparatively 'thin'. This is because many of the issues and areas that in other countries are regulated through state or federal law, e.g. working hours, minimum wage and right to overtime compensation, in Sweden instead are regulated through collective agreements between trade union and employer organisation representatives.

United States labour law

The Fair Labor Standards Act

Fair Labor Standards Act

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is a federal statute of the United States. The FLSA established a national minimum wage, guaranteed 'time-and-a-half' for overtime in certain jobs, and prohibited most employment of minors in "oppressive child labor," a term that is defined in the statute...

of 1938 set the maximum standard work week to 44 hours, and in 1950 this was reduced to 40 hours. The green card

United States Permanent Resident Card

United States lawful permanent residency refers to a person's immigration status: the person is authorized to live and work in the United States of America on a permanent basis....

s entitle legal immigrants to work just like US citizens, without requirement of work permit

Work permit

Work permit is a generic term for a legal authorization which allows a person to take employment.It is most often used in reference to instances where a person is given permission to work in a country where one does not hold citizenship, but is also used in reference to minors, who in some...

s. Despite the 40-hour standard maximum work week, some lines of work require more than 40 hours to complete the tasks of the job. For example, if you prepare agricultural products for market you can work over 72 hours a week, if you want to, but you cannot be required to. If you harvest products you must get a period of 24 hours off after working up to 72 hours in a seven-day period. There are exceptions to the 24-hour break period for certain harvesting employees, like those involved in harvesting grapes, tree fruits and cotton. Professionals, clerical (administrative assistants), technical, and mechanical employees cannot be terminated for refusing to work more than 72 hours in a work week. These high-hour ceilings, combined with a competitive job market, often motivate American workers to work more hours than required. American workers consistently take fewer vacation days than their European counterparts, and on average take the fewest days off of any developed country.

The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution

United States Constitution

The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...

limit the power of the federal

Federal government of the United States

The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...

and state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

governments to discriminate. The private sector is not directly constrained by the Constitution, but several laws, particularly the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation...

, limit the ability of the private sector to discriminate against certain classes in employment. The Fifth Amendment

Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure. Its guarantees stem from English common law which traces back to the Magna Carta in 1215...

has an explicit requirement that the Federal Government not deprive individuals of "life, liberty, or property", without due process of the law and an implicit guarantee that each person receive equal protection of the laws. The Fourteenth Amendment

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...

explicitly prohibits states from violating an individual's rights of due process

Due process

Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...

and equal protection. Equal protection limits the State and Federal governments' power to discriminate in their employment practices by treating employees, former employees, or job applicants unequally because of membership in a group, like a race, religion or sex. Due process

Due process

protection requires that employees have a fair procedural process before they are terminated if the termination is related to a "liberty", like the right to free speech, or a property interest.

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 prohibits employment discrimination based on age with respect to employees 40 years of age or older. This Act was created to promote employment of older persons based on their ability rather than age; to prohibit arbitrary age discrimination in employment; to help employers and workers find ways of meeting problems arising from the impact of age on employment because in the face of rising productivity and affluence, older workers find themselves disadvantaged in their efforts to retain employment, and especially to regain employment when displaced from jobs; the setting of arbitrary age limits regardless of potential for job performance has become a common practice, and certain otherwise desirable practices may work to the disadvantage of older persons; the incidence of unemployment, especially long-term unemployment with resultant deterioration of skill, morale, and employer acceptability is, relative to the younger ages, high among older workers; their numbers are great and growing; and their employment problems grave; and the existence in industries affecting commerce, of arbitrary discrimination in employment because of age, burdens commerce and the free flow of goods in commerce.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act is the principal federal statute with regard to employment discrimination

Employment discrimination

Employment discrimination is discrimination in hiring, promotion, job assignment, termination, and compensation. It includes various types of harassment....

prohibiting unlawful employment discrimination by public and private employers, labour organizations

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

, training programmes and employment agencies based on race or colour, religion, sex, and national origin. Retaliation is also prohibited by Title VII against any person for opposing any practice forbidden by statute, or for making a charge, testifying, assisting, or participating in a proceeding under the statute. The Civil Rights Act of 1991

Civil Rights Act of 1991

The Civil Rights Act of 1991 is a United States statute that was passed in response to a series of United States Supreme Court decisions which limited the rights of employees who had sued their employers for discrimination...

expanded the damages available to Title VII cases and granted Title VII plaintiffs the right to jury trial.

The National Labor Relations Act

National Labor Relations Act

The National Labor Relations Act or Wagner Act , is a 1935 United States federal law that limits the means with which employers may react to workers in the private sector who create labor unions , engage in collective bargaining, and take part in strikes and other forms of concerted activity in...

, enacted in 1935 as part of the New Deal

New Deal

The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...

legislation, guarantees workers the right to form unions and engage in collective bargaining. This legislation and its subsequent amendments are also key elements of U.S. labour law.

External links

Labour Legislation from 1911encyclopedia.org, Encyclopædia Britannicas 1911 edition
British employment law at emplaw.co.uk
Overview article on Austrian labour law
Overview article on Georgian labour law at Getsadze & Pateishvili Law Office
Summary of Dutch labour law in English
Other articles on Austrian labour law (mainly in German language)
Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School
Repression Against the IWW
California Labor Code
Foreign Countries - Labor, Employment & Income Data, Policy & Law Research Guide from the Mississippi State University Libraries
HG.org States Labor Departments and Law
Labor and Employment Law Subject Guide from Catherwood Library, ILR School, Cornell University
British Employment Law Training
All China Federation of Trade Unions
Indian Labor Law
Labour Related Laws and Regulations of P.R.China
Swedish labour law Information about Swedish labour law

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Labour law history

Contract of employment

Minimum wage

Working time

Health and safety

Anti-discrimination

Unfair dismissal

Child labour

Collective labour law

Trade unions

Strikes

Pickets

Workplace involvement

Co-determination

International labour law

International Labour Organization

European labour law

British labour law

Canadian labour law

Chinese labour law

French labour law

Mexican labour law

Swedish labour law

United States labour law

See also

Further reading

External links