Fundamental Social Rights in Europe: Challenges and Opportunities (18) (Social Europe Series)

This volume offers a lawyer's view on the meaning of fundamental social rights in today's Europe. It is published on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the European Working Group (EWL) on labor law, and it reflects the research efforts the members of the EWL have made in its 10 years of existence. The recognition of fundamental social rights offers opportunities for valuing the meaning of such rights for workers. The non-discrimination norm, since it has been long and widely recognized in EU law, is the most striking example. It has served as a catalyst for all Member States. Apart from that, fundamental social rights, as generally recognized by international organizations, are also challenged in EU law. This is not only because the EU law does not explicitly grant protection to workers since some of these rights are not covered by it, but also due to a potential collision between these rights and the fundamental freedoms of the European Community. In this volume, experts in the field of European labor law deal with the opportunities EU law is offering and how it is fitting into the social policy of the EU, as well as with potential threats to an effective application of the fundamental social rights. Some of the contributions refer to the cases of Viking, Laval, and Rüffert as to their impact on the right to collective action, as well as their meaning for the establishment of decent employment conditions, and in particular the right to a decent wage which is one of the oldest fundamental social rights. Another crucial issue that is touched upon is the right to work and the right of protection for workers. The objective that is advocated in the EU, as a cornerstone of modern social policy, is the combination of flexibility and security, in one word "flexicurity," which has been analyzed in terms of contributing to or jeopardizing the position of the employee. It is the supposed dilemma of the protection of the 'haves' at the expense of the 'have nots' or 'insiders versus outsiders.' A third topic is the fundamental right connected to the freedom of association. A problem that has recently raised a lot of discussion and legislative proposals is whether sufficient representativeness of trade unions is required in order to be legitimized for collective bargaining and the conclusion of binding collective agreements. Linked to this is the effective recognition of the right of participation for workers and their representatives at enterprise level: the right to information and consultation, its scope, and its effect.

Edoardo Ales is Full Professor Labour Law and Equal Opportunity in Labour Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Cassino ( Italy), Professor Italian and European Labour Law at the Faculty of Political Sciences, LUISS – Guido Carli (Rome, Italy), Professor Labour Law and Social Security Law at the Faculty of Law, Pontificial Lateran University (Rome, Vatican State), Lehrbeauftragte at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Professuer invités de L’Ecole de Droit de la Sorbonne and Professor of European Labour law, AUDENCIA, School of Management, Nantes. He holds a Degree in Political Sciences cum laude (LUISS G. Carli, Rome, 1990) and a Degree in Law cum laude (Università degli studi “La Sapienza” Roma, 1997).

Corinne Sachs-Durand is Professor of the University of Strasbourg. She completed her studies at the University of Strasbourg, where she obtained a PhD in 1982.

Ulrike Wendeling-Schröder completed her law studies in 1971 in Marburg and Freiburg. In that same year she took the first state examination in law, in 1975 the second state examination in law. In 1975 she started practical training in the legal advice department of the DGB, the German Federation of Unions (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund) in Düsseldorf. From 1977 till 1993 she was Researcher at the WSI (Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliches Institut), the Social and Economic Research Institute in Düsseldorf. In 1984 she obtained her PhD-degree in law at the University of Bremen. In 1992 she received an Habilitation (Venia legend) at the University of Frankfurt for private law, commercial law and labour law. Since 1993 she is Professor labour law and civil law at the faculty of law at University of Hanover. She is co-Editor of "New Journal of Labour Law", advisory council of “Labour and Law” and member of the European Working Group on Labour Law (EWLL). 

Contributions by Saskia Klosse, Antonio Lo Faro, Norbert Olszak, Jens M. Schubert, Fernando Valdés Dal-Ré and Charlotte Villiers.