labour law in a context of austerity guamán, katsaroumpas, loffredo, lorente
TRANSCRIPT
LABOUR LAW IN A CONTEXT OF AUSTERITYGuamán, Katsaroumpas, Loffredo, Lorente
Introductory remarks to a common problem
Juridifying Commodification of Labour Law?
Introduction
Euro-Mediterranean Labour Law Model: Greece, Portugal and Spain influenced by Italy
Evolution with common trends: Productive structure Employers’ behavior and informal economy Traditional labour law based on stability (among
core workers) and protection against dismissal The systems have been considered “rigid” by
the EU Institutions
Introduction
Relation between the evolution of traditional labour law and the European Economic Integration First wave: Maastricht and privatization Second wave: Amsterdam and employment
policies Third wave: New Economic governance
instruments (European Semester CSR, Memoranda)and anti-democratic interventions
Introduction
Goals: reduction of the remaining components of labour law Break down the stability principle Transfer of the economic risk: from employer to
employees Labour law colonised by market rules Destruction of the continental labour law model
Instruments: EU Recommendations and financial compromises Intervention in democratic governments (Memoranda) National Labour law reforms
Three laboratories for pursuing the same goal
Common premises
Labour law and labour rights have been considered the main causes of job loss
Labour relations model is accused of “rigidity” and “flexibilisation” is proposed as solution
Was labour law so rigid? Several labour reforms have been adopted
following the country-specific recommendations adopted by the Commission and the Council of EU
Austerity and Greece
First laboratory
The Paradigmatic ‘‘Path Departure’’ of Greek Labour Law during the economic crisis
A. Individual Labour Law Reforms: De-Mutualising Risk towards the Employee
Increasing ‘’External Flexibility’’ (Trial Period for Open-ended Contracts raised from 2 to 12 months, Substantial Reduction of severance pay and notice periods for dismissals, Increase of Collective Redundancy Thresholds, Labour Reserve ‘‘Concealed Dismissal’’ Process for Public Sector Workers)
Increasing ‘‘Internal Flexibility’’ (Maximum duration of ‘’rotating work’’ lengthened from six to nine months per Year, Extension of Working Time for Public Sector Workers from 37.5 to 40 hours per week)
The Paradigmatic ‘‘Path Departure’’ of Greek Labour Law during the economic crisis
Promoting the Use of Non-Standard Forms of Employment (Maximum Duration of temporary Agency Work raised from 1 to 3 years, Maximum Duration of Successive Fixed-Term Contracts raised from 2 to 3 years)
New Sub-Minimum Contractual Arrangements for Young Workers
The Paradigmatic ‘‘Path Departure’’ of Greek Labour Law during the economic crisis
B. Collective Labour Law Reforms: Reducing Workers’ Collective Anti-Power
Disorganised Decentralisation (Suspension of ‘’favourability’’ between enterprise and sectoral agreements, removal of the numerical requirement for the conclusion of enterprise agreements, elimination of the extension mechanisms for sectoral agreements, granting of collective bargaining powers to the atypical non-union entity ‘associations of persons’
Reduction of After-Effect from Six to Three Months
The Paradigmatic ‘‘Path Departure’’ of Greek Labour Law during the economic crisis
Multiple Interventions in Collective Autonomy by Modifying the Effects of Existing Collective Agreements and Arbitration Awards
Replacement of a Collectively-Determined Minimum Wage with a State-Determined Minimum Wage
Decapacitation of Arbitration as Ultimum Remedium for a Non-Market Determination of Terms and Conditions of Employment (from unilateral to consensual recourse, confinement of the scope of arbitration awards to the basic wage and not as previously to all aspects of a collective dispute)
Partial Conclusion
Juridifying ‘‘Hyper-Commodification’’: Demutualising Risk towards the Employee and Attacking Workers’ Collective Anti-Power as the Dominant Crisis Trends. The Neutralisation of the Pre-Crisis Pro-Worker Identity of Greek Labour Law (normative weakening)
The New Greek Government and Labour Law: Is the Darkest Hour for Greek Labour Law just before the dawn?
Spain, crisis and austerity: denaturalising labour law
Second laboratory
Labour law reforms during the crisis: (2008-2014): the permanent reform
1. Individual Labour Law Reforms: De-Mutualising Risk towards the Employee:
A. Changing the nature of the “open ended contract”: from stability to hyper-flexibility and incertitude
Creation of a new type of contract, the “contract supporting entrepreneurs” with a one-year trial period and tax and social security discounts
Internal “flexibility”: mechanisms modify labour conditions inside the enterprise
Deeply modification of the dismissal procedure and reduction of its cost regarding unfair dismissal severance pay and redundancy payment. Less control possibilities for administrative and judicial authorities
Labour law reforms during the crisis: (2008-2014): the permanent reform
b. Changing the nature of the “training contracts”: from training to low cost labour force
Reform of training contracts: less security to ensure formation and participation of Temporary Agencies
c. Changing the nature of “part time work”: involuntary & the perfect way for labour fraud
Part-time contracts promotion by deregulation of extra-hours and a new part-time contract linked to training
d. The end of the causality principle in temporary contracts: temporarity as a way to employment creation
New temporary contracts for young people (first young employment contract)
Labour law reforms during the crisis: Phase II (2012-2014): the permanent reform
B. Collective Labour Law Reforms: Reducing Workers’ Collective Anti-Power
Widening the opportunities for the employer to modify a sectoral collective agreements at the level of the undertaking (opting out)
Granting to the enterprise collective agreement a priority over the sectorial agreement
Limiting the temporal validity of collective agreements
Partial conclusions
Weaknesses of the Welfare State model in Spain
Model of previous growth based in serious unbalances: Oversize of certain sectors (construction) Underdevelopment of others (industry) Abuse and lack of control of temporary contracts based on jobs with low added value and import of
workers In Spain the destruction of SME trends has been
easier: was the Spanish labour law that rigid? Spain has been an ideal scenario to experiment
From polarisation to precarisation of Italian labour market in times of austerity
Third laboratory
The “never ending reform” of Labour Law
A model based on the stability principle The “Biagi Reform” (L.D. 276/2003) and
the flex(in)security policies Effects: the polarisation of labour market The “Fornero Reform” (Act 92/2012) and
the “Jobs act” (2014-15): the austerity policies
A new standard: a generalised precarity for Italian workforce
The flex(in)security reforms
a) the fragmentation of the enterprises after the outsourcing reforms
b) the regulation of some contractual typologies in a more precarious way, acceptable almost exclusively by workers having a low bargaining power, or to some social clusters or categories towards which they are traditionally directed
c) the increase of “subjective causes” to conclude some contractual typologies characterised by less legal and wage protections, mostly used by enterprises operating in labour intensive sectors
d) the use of training in the employment contract mostly in an occupational key has resulted in the debasement of the professional incidence inside the apprenticeship
The paradigm: organisational needs have prevailed over the protection of workers
The austerity reforms (2012-20??)
The fixed term contract (2001-2012-2014) The complete liberalisation for temporary
agency work. The unfair dismissal reform Art. 18 Statuto dei lavoratori The attempts to reform the “real stability” The EU direct intervention The first reform of 2012 The complete abrogation of 2015
Trade unions in a polarised/precarised market
Decline in terms representativeness for trade unions
The peculiar (extra)legal framework of Italian industrial relations
The breakdown of trade unions’ unity The Fiat conflict as a new paradigm in
industrial relations The attack against the right of strike
Partial Conclusions
The need for a legislative intervention developing Art. 39 of the Constitution
Outsourcing: the principle of the economic dependence between enterprises
The abuse of “subjective causes” as a form of indirect discrimination
The apprenticeship: the enhancement of training, as a sign of change in employment policies towards quality employment and not low-cost workforce
Job insecurity is life insecurity for young people A new paradigm: the labour market law
Three ways for arriving to a similar goal?
General Conclussions
Old and new standard
Characteristics of traditional employment model: dependent work, full time and open ended contracts
Characteristics of the new standard rise and generalisation of temporary contracts and part-time
work, de-regulation of open ended contracts New types of atypical contracts destruction of permanent jobs (which would not be recovered), stabilisation of unemployment rate modification of the collective bargaining structure and reduction
of the collective agreement’s coverage, reduction of trade union power, social legitimation and
institutional weight
Global trend and south-Europe new model?
ILO 2015 (World Employment Social Outlook, The Changing nature of Jobs): The traditional employment model is changing in developed countries. In advanced economies, the standard employment model is less and less dominant.
A new common paradigm: the labour market law??