EXPLORING THE CONCEPT OF REGULATORY SPACE: EMPLOYMENT AND WORKING TIME REGULATION IN THE GIG-ECONOMY A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2018 Cristina Inversi Alliance Manchester Business School People, Management and Organisations Division (Blank Page) 2 Table of Contents Declaration ......................................................................................................................... 8 Copyright statement ......................................................................................................... 9 List of Abbreviations ..................................................................................................... 10 List of Tables .................................................................................................................. 12 List of Images ................................................................................................................. 12 Abstract ............................................................................................................................ 13 Dedication ....................................................................................................................... 15 Preface and Acknowledgments .................................................................................. 17 Chapter 1 - Introduction ............................................................................................... 21 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 21 1.2 Rationale and gap in knowledge ......................................................................................... 22 1.3 Research questions, answers and thesis structure .......................................................... 24 1.4 Summary of the contributions of the thesis .................................................................... 29 1.5 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 31 Chapter 2 - Explaining employment regulation .................................................... 33 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 33 2.2 The concept and meaning of regulation .......................................................................... 33 2.3 The regulatory space ............................................................................................................. 36 2.3.1 An institutionalist theory of regulation .................................................................... 36 2.3.2 Regulation, de-regulation, re-regulation ................................................................... 39 2.3.3 Analysing regulatory space .......................................................................................... 42 2.3.3.a) Law ........................................................................................................................... 46 2.3.3.b) Negotiated regulation .......................................................................................... 49 2.3.3.c) Unilateralism .......................................................................................................... 54 2.4 Levels of regulation within the regulatory space ............................................................ 56 2.4.1 Problems of coordination and cooperation between the different levels ....... 56 2.4.2 European level ................................................................................................................ 59 2.4.2.a) European Actors .................................................................................................. 59 2.4.2.b) Fundamental rights for labour law .................................................................. 60 2.4.2.c) Hard law – Soft law ............................................................................................. 61 2.4.3 The role of the State and the national level ............................................................ 62 3 2.4.4 Workplace level .............................................................................................................. 68 2.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 70 Chapter 3 - Employment regulation and working time ........................................ 71 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 71 3.2 Defining working time: concepts and current issues .................................................... 72 3.2.1 History and evaluation of working time .................................................................. 72 3.2.2 Recent trends: reassessing working time.................................................................. 75 3.3 Working time: analytical and operational meanings ...................................................... 79 3.4 Working time regulation: the three levels of analysis.................................................... 82 3.4.1 International Level ........................................................................................................ 82 3.4.1.a) The Working Time Directive and the European case law ......................... 84 3.4.2 National level .................................................................................................................. 92 3.4.2.a) The Working Time Regulations ........................................................................ 93 3.4.3 Workplace level .............................................................................................................. 95 3.5 The regulatory framework applied .................................................................................... 97 3.5.1 Law ..................................................................................................................................100 3.5.1.a) Labour law and the contract of employment ..............................................103 3.5.2 Negotiation ....................................................................................................................105 3.5.4 Unilateralism .................................................................................................................107 3.6 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................110 Chapter 4 - Methodology ........................................................................................... 113 4.1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................113 4.2 Purposes of the research and research questions ........................................................114 4.3 Research theories and perspectives .................................................................................117 4.3.1 Legal Research Theories ............................................................................................120 4.4 Contextual challenges for conducting inter-disciplinary research about employment regulation ..............................................................................................................123 4.5 Research methods ................................................................................................................125 4.6 Data collection ......................................................................................................................130 4.6.1 Levels and sources of data collected .......................................................................130 4.6.2 Type and depth of data collected ............................................................................134 4.6.2.a) Scope of documentary sources .......................................................................134 4.6.2.b) Interview data and respondents .....................................................................135 4 4.6.2.c) Type and Nature of data sources ...................................................................139 4.6.3 Case study of Deliveroo workers in three UK cities ..........................................140 4.7 Data analysis ..........................................................................................................................142 4.7.1 Legal analysis.................................................................................................................143 4.7.2 Analysis of interviews .................................................................................................144 4.7.3 Content analysis and coding protocols ..................................................................145 4.8 Research limitations ............................................................................................................148 4.9 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................149 Chapter 5 - The (contested) role of the State in the regulation of working time .......................................................................................................................................... 151 5.1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................151