Labour Law and Sustainable Development

Studies in Employment and Social Policy, Volume Number 55.

Labour Law and Sustainable Development is a detailed reconstruction of the regulatory framework and jurisprudential findings of sustainable development at the international, European and national level. The global crisis of the past decade has underlined the social unsustainability of the ultra-liberalistic theories through which the labour law deregulation represents the precondition for social and economic development coherent with the globalization imperatives. It is no exaggeration to assert that the existing foundations of labour law have been irreversibly compromised. It is essential to find a way out of the crisis, at the same time defining the founding values of new sustainable labour law. In linking labour law with the sustainability paradigm, this provocative book promises to widen the scope and terms of the reconciliation of interests, taking into account the multiplicity of the stakeholders interested in economic, social and environmental issues and, in particular, to practise an approach that achieves intergenerational equity.

What’s in this book:

In an unprecedented comparative study, including case law, of the network of principles, agreements, practices and norms concerning sustainable development and its different economic and social implications, the author examines such facets as the following:

• sustaining solidarity and equality of opportunity in current and emerging work situations;
• enhancing individual autonomy in the current world of (subordinate but independent) labour;
• reconciling personal needs, flexible organization of companies and reduction of external and internal costs to companies;
• collective action for the regulation of labour relations allowing for the exercise of individual autonomy;
• involving entire populations that have been so far excluded in the world scene;
• developing a sustainable pension system to promote intergenerational solidarity;
• implementing flexicurity policies positively;
• social clauses of international trade treaties;
• undoing the profound contradiction of gender and wage inequalities; and
• promoting corporate social responsibility.

The objective of this book is to provide the reader with a reasoning basis to assess whether the choice to elect sustainable development as a new paradigm of reference for labour law is feasible, and if, in particular, this choice can be useful in order to define the founding values of a new ‘sustainable’ labour law.

How this will help you:

Using an interdisciplinary approach, the author emphasizes the need to consider the various dimensions of sustainability together, not only the original environmental but also the economic and social dimensions. This book offers a real strategic leap for both legislators and social actors, in particular leading the way to avoiding a fracture of the generational pact that has held together modern societies. Although the book presents a profound academic contribution to the analysis of labour law realities and trends, it will also be welcomed by corporate lawyers, judges, human rights experts, trade unionists, business managers, entrepreneurs and consultants interested in the issues of labour, sustainable development and social rights.