E-Journal of International and Comparative

171 Pages·2013·2.75 MB·English

OPEN ACCESS
ISSN 2280-4056

E-Journal of

International and Comparative

LABOUR
STUDIES
Volume 1, No. 1-2 March-June 2012
UNIVERSITY PRESS
E-Journal of International and Comparative LABOUR STUDIES
ADAPT International School of Higher Education in Labour and Industrial Relations
Scientific Directors

Lauren Appelbaum (USA), Greg Bamber (Australia), Daria V. Chernyaeva
(Russia), Richard Croucher (United Kingdom), Maurizio del Conte (Italy), Tomas
Davilus (Lithuania), Tayo Fashoyin (Nigeria), József Hajdu (Hungary), Ann
Hodges (USA), Richard Hyman (United Kingdom), Maarten Keune (The
Netherlands), Chris Leggett (Australia), Shinya Ouchi (Japan), Massimo Pilati (Italy),
Michael Quinlan (Australia), Juan Raso Delgue (Uruguay), Raúl G. Saco Barrios
(Peru), Alfredo Sánchez Castaneda (Mexico), Malcolm Sargeant (United Kingdom),
Jean-Michel Servais (Belgium), Silvia Spattini (Italy), Michele Tiraboschi (Italy),
Anil Verma (Canada), Stephen A. Woodbury (USA)

Joint Managing Editors

Malcolm Sargeant (Middlesex University, United Kingdom)
Michele Tiraboschi (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy)

Editorial Board

Lilli Casano (Italy), Francesca Fazio (Italy), Emanuele Ferragina (United Kingdom),
Antonio Firinu (Italy), Valentina Franca (Slovenia), Maria Giovannone (Italy), Erica
Howard (United Kingdom), Karl Koch (United Kingdom), Lefteris Kretsos (United
Kingdom), Attila Kun (Hungary), Felicity Lamm (New Zealand), Cristina Lincaru
(Romania), Nikita Lyutov (Russia), Merle Muda (Estonia), Boaz Munga (Kenya),
Eleonora Peliza (Argentina), Daiva Petrylaite (Lithuania), Valeria Pulignano
(Belgium), Ceciel Rayer (The Netherlands), Aidan Regan (Ireland), Marian Rizov
(United Kingdom), Salma Slama (Tunisia), Francesca Sperotti (Italy), Araya Mesele
Welemariam (Ethiopia), Barbara Winkler (Austria), Machilu Zimba (South Africa)

Language Editor

Pietro Manzella (ADAPT Senior Research Fellow)

Book Review Editor

Chris Leggett (James Cook University, Australia)

Digital Editor

Avinash Raut (ADAPT Technologies)
E-Journal of

International and Comparative
LABOUR
STUDIES
Volume 1, No. 1-2 March-June 2012

UNIVERSITY PRESS
@ 2012 ADAPT University Press

Online Publication of the ADAPT Series
Registration No. 1609, 11 November 2001, Court of Modena
www.adaptbulletin.eu

The articles and the documents published in the E-journal of International and Comparative Labour Studies are not

copyrighted. The only requirement to make use of them is to cite their source, which should contain the following
wording: @ 2012 ADAPT University Press.
INDEX

Editorial

Malcolm Sargeant and Michele Tiraboschi, Building the Future of Work Together
............................................................................................................................................. 1

Contributions

Michele Tiraboschi, Young Workers in Recessionary Times: A Caveat (to Continental
Europe) to Reconstruct its Labour Law? ............................................................................... 3

Theodore Koutroukis, Factors Contributing to the Effectiveness of the European Works
Council: An Explorative Study ........................................................................................... 25

Erica Howard, Equality Bodies and Individual Victims: an Example of Good Practice
from the Netherlands ........................................................................................................... 43

Lourdes Mella Méndez, The Transposition of Council Directive 99/70/EC of 28 June
1999 on Fixed-term Work into Spanish Labour Law: Some Critical Aspects following the
2011and 2012 Reforms ...................................................................................................... 69

Ben Olabimitan, Family-supportive Organisational Perception: A Predictor of Life
Satisfaction among Lagos State Employees .......................................................................... 85

Zakaria Shvelidze, Working Time Regulation in Georgia ............................................. 99

Carmen Agut García and Cayetano Núñez González, The Regulation of
Economically Dependent Self-Employed Work in Spain: A Critical Analysis and a
Comparison with Italy ....................................................................................................... 117

E-Journa l of International and Comparative LABOUR STUDIES
Volume 1, No. 1-2 March-June 2012
@ 2012 ADAPT University Press - ISSN 2280-4056
INDEX

VI
Commentary

Roy Adams, The Right to Strike in Canada: Comment on a Recent Saskatchewan Court
Decision ............................................................................................................................ 135

Malcolm Sargeant, Shades of Grey ............................................................................ 139

Lisa Rodgers, The UK Employment Law Review and Changes to Unfair Dismissal ... 145

Book Reviews

Christopher Leggett, International Employment and Labour Law by Jean Michel
Servais. A Review. .......................................................................................................... 153

Online Resources ................................................................................................... 157

http://adapt.it/EJCLS/
Building the Future of Work Together

Malcolm Sargeant and Michele Tiraboschi

There is common consensus that innovation in technology, large cuts in
public expenditure for higher education, as well as major demographic
and geopolitical changes that occurred over the last decades deeply
affected the way we carry out research today. This is particularly true in
the field of labour relations, due to ongoing innovation in production and
work processes.
However, although resulting in many limitations and constraints, this state
of affairs laid the foundations for new opportunities, as entailing the
establishment of renewed relations either between the members of the
international academic community, and among various actors from
universities, businesses, trade unions and public institutions.
We firmly believe that there is a continuing need for ways of
disseminating information and ideas and we think that a journal easily
accessible on line will provide a much wider distribution network for
researchers to publicise and share their work. This is the reason for the
establishment of an innovative journal that will be free to all those with on
line access and who have registered their interest.
As recently pointed out by the Association of American University
Presses (Sustaining Scholarly Publishing: New Business Models for
University Presses, March 2011) “monographs remain largely static
objects, isolated from the interconnections of social computing, instead of
being vibrant hubs for discussion and engagement”. The same can be said
for the majority of academic journals as, notwithstanding their high level
of excellence, are at risk of being self-referential, seemingly ignoring the
dynamic nature of the world of work. Further, contributions in this field
are often published long after changes occurred, without being able to
keep up with the evolution of relevant regulatory and institutional
framework, and therefore providing for outdated analyses.
In this connection, the digital format of the E-Journal of International and
Comparative Labour Studies and the internet platform serving as a hub
for a well established international network are intended to provide an
open area where it will be possible to promote the exchange of new ideas,
E-Journa l of International and Comparative LABOUR STUDIES
Volume 1, No. 1-2 March-June 2012
@ 2012 ADAPT University Press - ISSN 2280-4056
MALCOLM SARGEANT AND MICHELE TIRABOSCHI

2
back to index information and relevant documentation as a starting point for further
cooperation between institutions of higher education, social partners,
practitioners and companies.
One of the aims of this new Journal is to accelerate the progress towards a
fully open access environment all over the world. As pointed out in the
Report of the Working Group Expanding Access to Publish Research
Findings (Finch Group in June 2012), this “will bring substantial benefits
both for researchers and everyone who has an interest in the result of
their work”.
Our international network of correspondents will be supported by a
scientific committee and by more than 200 researchers and doctoral
students of ADAPT, the non-profit organization founded in 2000 by
Prof. Marco Biagi with the aim of promoting studies and research in the
field of labour law and industrial relations from an international and
comparative perspective. Our purpose is to encourage and implement a
new approach to academic research, by establishing ongoing relationships
with other universities and advanced research institutes, and by promoting
academic and scientific exchange programmes with enterprises, trade
unions, institutions, foundations and associations.
Generally, we are concerned with issues in employment relations, human
resource management, health and safety, psychology, sociology, labour
economics, politics, labour law and history. More specifically, this might
include research and new developments with regard to comparative
collective and individual labour issues, equality and discrimination,
transitions to work, public policy and labour regulation, vulnerable
workers and precarious working, employment productivity and
international labour institutions; and any other material concerned with
any aspect of labour studies. Such an investigation is intended to cast light
on main issues flowing from the debate in these research fields, sharing a
platform for interdisciplinary discussion and creative hints for research,
with a view to building the future of work together.
The EJICLS is committed to rigorous scholarship and quality. All articles
will be subject to independent refereeing before being accepted for
publication.

http://adapt.it/EJCLS/
Young Workers in Recessionary Times:
A Caveat (to Continental Europe)
to Reconstruct its Labour Law?

Michele Tiraboschi *

Introductory Remarks

Policy makers, social partners, and the public opinion monitor with
interest and increasing concern the steep increase in youth
unemployment, in Europe more than elsewhere.1 Indeed, all the main
international institutions2—supported by the analysis of labour market
experts3—seem to uphold that young people have been hit the hardest by
the “great crisis” that began in 2007 with the collapse of financial markets.
It is only natural then that in a time of ongoing recession and many
sacrifices demanded of workers,4 feelings of apprehension and hope arise

* Michele Tiraboschi is Full Professor of Labour Law, University of Modena and Reggio
Emilia.
1 In other areas of the world, especially in developing countries, the cultural lens through
which the problem of youth unemployment is explored might be different. See on the
issue I. Senatori, M. Tiraboschi, Productivity, Investment in Human Capital and the Challenge of
Youth Employment in the Global Market. Comparative Developments and Global Responses in the
Perspective of School-to-Work Transition, 5th IIRA African Regional Congress, South Africa -
IIRA Cape Town.
2 See, by way of an example, ILO, World of Work Report 2012. Better Jobs for a Better
Economy, International Labour Office, Geneva, 2012; ILO, Global Employment Trends for
Youth. August 2010, International Labour Office, Geneva, 2010; J. Martin, Unfinished
Business: Investing in Youth, in OECD Employment Outlook 2011; OECD, Off to a Good
Start? Jobs for Youth, 2010.
3 See S. Verick, Who Is Hit Hardest during a Financial Crisis? The Vulnerability of Young Men
and Women to Unemployment in an Economic Downturn, IZA Discussion Paper, 2009, n. 4359.
For a different perspective and some valid criticisms on this shared opinion by N.
O’Higgins, see This Time It’s Different? Youth Labour Market During the Great Recession, IZA
Discussion Paper, 2012, n. 6434, in particular, par. 2. Both papers are available at
www.bollettinoadapt.it, A-Z index, Lavoratori giovani.
4 Particularly relevant in this respect is the study presented in the World of Work Report
2012 of the ILO (op. cit., note 2) on the measures that affected workers in terms of
protection reduction.
E-Journa l of International and Comparative LABOUR STUDIES
Volume 1, No. 1-2 March-June 2012
@ 2012 ADAPT University Press - ISSN 2280-4056
MICHELE TIRABOSCHI

4
with regard to the future, therefore involving younger generations and
their employment prospects in the years ahead.
The notion of unemployment has long become less and less appropriate
to frame the critical aspects of the interplay between young people and
employment.5 Of equal importance, as well as extensively discussed and
highly controversial, are those phenomenon accompanying young people
in their school-to-work transitions, particularly inactivity, precarious
employment and low wages.6
Nevertheless, unemployment still remains a main indicator, as it supplies
clear and immediate evidence of the vulnerability of young people in the
labour market, also for those who are not experts in the field. According
to relevant data,7 in most countries—whether industrialised or non-
industrialised ones—high levels of youth unemployment have been
reported long before the onset of the recent economic and financial crisis,
to the extent that many specialists made use of the term déjà vu to refer to
the phenomenon.8
Accordingly, the concern resulting from high youth unemployment rates
is not a novelty. What appears to be quite new here, at least within the
political and institutional public debate taking place in recent years, is the
emphasis placed by Europe on the future of younger generations and how
this issue is “exploited” to justify—or perhaps to impose—major labour
market reforms and deregulation on nation States overseen by central
institutions, which will also limit their sovereignty.9
Put it differently, labour law rules—chiefly concerning high levels of
protection against termination of employment—would explain high youth
unemployment rates as well as the increasing recourse to atypical, non-
standard or temporary employment arrangements.
Indeed, there is little wonder about this issue, save for the fact that—in a
time of severe crisis and ongoing recession—fathers are now called to
make a lot of sacrifices that are deemed to be “acceptable”, for they

5 On this topic, see O. Marchand, Youth Unemployment in OECD Countries: How Can the
Disparities Be Explained? in OECD, Preparing Youth for the 21st Century—The
Transition from Education to the labour Market, 1999, 89.
6 This issue has been extensively discussed in M. Tiraboschi, Young People and Employment
in Italy: The (Difficult) Transition from Education and Training to the Labour Market, in IJCLLIR,
2006, 81 ff.
7 See, among others, N. O’Higgins, op. cit.
8 D.N.F. Bell, D.G. Blanchflower, Youth Unemployment: Déjà Vu, IZA Discussion Paper,
2010, n. 4705, at www.bollettinoadapt.it, A-Z index, Lavoratori giovani.
9 In this respect, see A. Baylos, Crisi del diritto del lavoro o diritto del lavoro in crisi? La riforma
del lavoro spagnola del 2012, in Diritto delle Relazioni Industriali, 2012, n. 2.
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