While it can be said that the use of collective labour agreements has greatly expanded during the last decade ¿ witness their growing application in the public sector, and their introduction in many post-communist countries ¿ it is hard to deny that their power to protect employees has diminished considerably and continues to weaken. An understanding of the factors that have contributed to this fundamental change in economic and social conditions is of crucial significance if we are to preserve an equitable balance in the employer-employee relationship.
A growing body of research and commentary already surrounds this important subject. In this symposium sixteen outstanding scholars have assembled a preliminary survey of the essential issues and the means by which they are being addressed in a variety of different countries. The eleven papers reprinted here were originally presented at the 16th Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law, held in Brisbane in July 2002. Each paper is organized around the following considerations for the particular country in question:
Factors determining the role of collective agreements;
Factors determining the regulatory power of collective agreements toward the employment contract;
Factors limiting the regulatory power of collective agreements;
Degree of freedom of the parties to shape the employment contract; and,
Future prospects for collective agreements as a means of regulating the employment contract.
Underlying issues of decentralization, minimum standards, decreasing unionization, unemployment, and the growing individualization of the employment contract are addressed by all the authors. The countries covered are Australia, Belgium, Canada (Quebec), Greece, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Poland, South Africa and Switzerland.
Collective Agreements and Individual Contracts of Employment offers a convenient platform from which to conduct further research into this complex and dynamic subject. It is sure to be welcomed by specialists in labour law and industrial relations and by other social science professionals.
Foreword, Notes on Contributors
Collective Agreements and Individual
Contracts of Employment in Labour Law – General Report Michał
Seweryński I. Factors determining the Position of Collective
Agreements in Contemporary Industrial
II. Factors Determining the
Regulatory Power of Collective Agreements towards Contract of Employment
III. Factors Limiting the Regulatory Power of Collective Agreements
IV.
Collective Agreement Regulation and Freedom of the Parties to shape the
Contract of Employment
V. Prospects of the Regulatory Function of
Collective Agreements towards the Contract of Employment
Individualism and
Collectivism in Agreement-Making under Australian Labour Law Andrew
Frazer I. Collective Labour Agreements as one of the Pillars of
Contemporary Labour Relations
II. Legal Mechanisms for shaping the
Content of the Employment Contract via Collective Agreement
III.
Factors determining the Regulatory Power of Collective Labour Agreements
towards the Employment Contract
IV. Regulation of Collective Labour
Agreements and Freedom of Parties to a Contract of Employment
V.
Prospects for Collective Labour Agreements as a means of regulation of an
Employment Contract
Accords collectives et individuals de travail en droit
du travail belge Jacques Clesse, Fabienne Kéfer, and Pascale Vielle
I. La place de la convention collective de travail dans l’ordonnancement
juridique belge
II. Mecanismes legaux permettant d’affecter le contrat
de travail via conventions collectives de travail
III. Facteurs
determinant le pouvoir regulatoire des accords collectives de travail envers
le contrat de travail
IV. Conventions collectives de travail et liberte
des parties au contrat de travail
V. Perspectives des conventions
collectives de travail en tant que moyen de travail
Convention collectives
et contrats individuels de travail en droit que´be´cois
Claude Fabien I. Description et comparaison
II. Rapports
entre le contrat et la convention
Collective Agreements and Individual
Employment Contracts: Developments in the Light of Comparative Law –
Greek Report Nikitas Aliprantis Collective Agreements and
Individual Contracts of Employment in Labour Law – Italian Report
Riccardo Del Punta I. Constitutional Framework
II.
Development of Collective Bargaining
III. Collective Agreements as
Contracts
IV. Conclusions: Collective Agreements between Civil Law and
Public Law
Collective Labour Agreements and Individual Contracts of
Employment in Japanese Labour Law Shinya Ouchi I. Collective
Labour Agreements as one of the Pillars of Contemporary Labour Relations
II.
Legal Mechanisms of shaping the Content of the Contract of Employment through
Collective Labour Agreements
III. Factors determining the Regulatory
Power of Collective Labour Agreements towards the Contract of Employment
IV.
Collective Labour Agreement Regulation and Freedom of Parties to Enter into
Contracts of Employment
V. Prospects for Collective Labour Agreements
as a Means of Regulation
Collective Agreements and Individual Contracts of
Employment in Labour Law – Netherlands Report Aukje A.H. van Hoek
I. Collective Labour Relations: the Institutional Context
II.
Collective Labour Relations: the Legal Context
III. The Concept of the
Collective Agreement in the Collective Labour Agreements Act 1927
IV.
The Scope of Application of Collective Agreements
V. The Binding
Character of Collective Agreements and their effect on the Individual
Employment Contract
VI. The Contents of Collective Agreements: Legal
Constraints
VII. Conflicts between Collective Agreements and Individual
Agreements: the Absence of a more favourable Right-provision in Dutch Law
VIII. Conflicts amongst Collective Agreements
IX. Future Problems
and Trends: the changing position of the Unions
X. Future Problems and
Trends: the changing position of Collective Arrangements
Collective Labour
Agreements and Contracts of Employment in Polish Labour Law Zbigniew
Hajn I. General Description of Collective Agreements as a source of
Labour Law
II. Legal Mechanism for regulating the Content of the
Employment Relationship by means of a Collective Labour Agreement
III.
Factors determining the Role of Collective Labour Agreements as a means of
shaping the Content of Employment Contracts
IV. Perspectives for
regulating the Content of Employment Contracts by means of Collective
Agreements
Collective Agreements and Individual Contracts of Employment in
Labour Law – South Africa Report Marius Olivier and Nicola Smit,
Evance Kalula and Graham Leslie I. Collective Labour Agreements as
one of the Pillars of Contemporary Labour Relations
II. Legal Mechanism
of shaping the Content of the Employment Contract via Collective Agreement
III. Collective Labour Agreements and Deregulation – Advantages and
Disadvantages
IV. Collective Labour Agreements’ Regulation and Freedom
of Parties to a Contract of Employment
V. Collective Labour Agreements
and the Evolution of Trade Unions and Employers’ Organisations
Collective Agreements and Individual Contracts of Employment under Modern
Labour Conditions – Swiss Report Urs Ch. Nef I.
Characterisation of Modern Labour
II. Legal Consequences of the Modern
Individual Employment Relationship
III. The Status of Collective Labour
Agreements under Present Law
IV. The Objectives of the Collective
Labour Agreement
V. The Crisis of Collective Labour Law
VI. New
Orientation of Trade Union Policy
