CL_510915 Int-Cyan=pms660 8/11/05 9:26 Page 1 THE EVOLUTION OF LABOUR LAW (1992-2003) VOLUME 1: GENERAL REPORT Silvana Sciarra Professor of Labour Law Florence University [email protected] Employment social affairs Industrial relations and industrial changes European Commission Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Unit D.2 Manuscript completed in June 2005 CL_510915 Int-Cyan=pms660 8/11/05 9:26 Page 2 This report was financed by and prepared for the use of the European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. It does not necessarily represent the Commission's official position. If you are interested in receiving the electronic newsletter "ESmail" from the European Commission's Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, please send an e-mail to [email protected]. The newsletter is published on a regular basis in English, French and German. Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union Freephone number (*): 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (*) Certain mobile telephone operators do not allow access to 00 800 numbers or these calls may be billed. A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int). Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2005 ISBN 92-894-8501-9 © European Communities, 2005 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. Printed in Belgium PRINTED ON WHITE CHLORINE-FREE PAPER CL_510915 Int-Cyan=pms660 8/11/05 9:26 Page 3 Table of contents I. INTRODUCTION . 5 1. The composition and the mandate of the research group . 5 2. The structure of the General Report . 7 II. A COMPARATIVE LEGAL METHODOLOGY . 9 1. National constitutional traditions . 9 2. Convergence of legal standards . 9 III. CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS . 11 1. The institutional context . 11 2. The incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in national legal systems . 11 3. The expansion of constitutional rights . 13 IV. THE IMPACT OF THE EUROPEAN EMPLOYMENT STRATEGY ON NATIONAL LABOUR LAW . 15 1. From Maastricht to Amsterdam and Lisbon . 15 2. Changes within national administrations under the OMC . 17 3. How to preserve a language of rights in the OMC . 18 V. EVOLUTION AND THE ‘AUTONOMY’ OF LABOUR LAW . 21 1. Autonomy from commercial law: agency work . 23 2. Autonomy from the market: economically dependent work. Beyond dependent and self-employed workers . 30 3. Family-friendly labour law . 34 VI. AREAS OF EVOLUTION,WITH ADJUSTMENTS TOWARDS FLEXIBILITY . 37 1. Fixed-term contracts . 39 2. Part-time work . 41 3 CL_510915 Int-Cyan=pms660 8/11/05 9:26 Page 4 Table of contents VII. THE EVOLVING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LAW AND COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS . 45 1. Collective agreements and derogation from the law . 46 2. How to rationalise the structure of collective bargaining . 47 3. The expansion of collective agreements to new groups of workers and content . 48 4. Conclusions . 49 VIII. CHANGES IN REGULATORY TECHNIQUES . 51 IX. THE IMPACT OF EU LAW . ..