Cover -- Half-title -- Series-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- Section I Labour law and Europe -- Part I European labour law -- Chapter 1 European labour law and the social dimension of the European Union -- Introduction: European labour law challenges the dominance of EU economic law -- EC labour law and the EU's social constitution -- EC labour law: constitutionalising national labour laws -- European labour law in the context of EC law and national labour laws -- Regulatory competition and coordination between transnational (EU) and national laws in transnational labour regulation -- Competing regulatory strategies and institutions in the EU -- Competing levels of regulation in the EU -- Free movement of goods and transnational industrial action -- Member State improvements on EU minimum standards -- Collective agreements and competition law: anti-trust immunity? -- Implementation of EC law: legislation and/or collective agreements? -- Negotiated regulation of multinational enterprises -- The role of collective bargaining in EU regulation of working time -- Competition for legitimacy among institutions and levels -- Conclusion -- A new legal order of labour law: EU labour law -- Contrasting international and EU labour law -- National labour laws -- European labour law: a symbiosis of EU and national labour laws -- Sociology of labour law -- Chronology and context: the dynamics of EU labour law -- Free movement of workers in a common market -- From free movement to labour and social law and policy -- An analytical framework for European labour law in context -- The first edition of European Labour Law -- The second edition -- European labour law and Social Europe -- Chapter 2 EU labour law and the UK -- Introduction: the 'British problem' -- The 1970s -- The 1980s -- The 1990s -- 2000-.

The positive contribution of EU labour law to UK labour law -- 1992: European social dialogue -- 1993: Working time regulation -- 1994: European Works Councils -- 1996: Posted workers -- 1995, 1997, 1999: European framework agreements -- 2000: European Employment Strategy -- 2000: Fundamental social rights -- 2002: Information and consultation -- The negative side: UK obstruction of EU labour law -- UK opposition to the Council Directive on Posting of Workers -- UK opposition to the Council Directive establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees in the European Community -- Consultation prior to decision-making -- Sanctions for serious breach -- UK government's implementation of EU labour law: minimalist incorporation, maximalist subsidiarity, unrelenting resistance to the collective dimension -- Minimalist incorporation -- Maximalist subsidiarity -- Unrelenting resistance to the collective dimension -- UK implementation of the European agenda on collective workers' representation: the case of European works councils -- Conclusion -- Directive 2002/14: UK implementation of the Framework Directive on Information and Consultation in the enterprise -- The UK and the future of European social integration -- Chapter 3 The conceptualisation of European labour law -- Models of EC labour law -- 1. EC labour law as equal treatment and health and safety at work -- 2. The traditional model of national labour law: individual employment and collective labour law -- 3. A 'modernised' model of national labour law: employment and labour markets -- 4. EC labour law as the law of the common labour market -- 5. Substantive topics affecting labour addressed by the EC law-making institutions -- Summary -- Concepts of European labour law -- European labour law in context -- Part II History and strategies of European labour law.

Chapter 4 Shifting strategies 1951-1986: ECSC, EEC, harmonisation, financial instruments, qualified majority voting -- Introduction: Shifting strategies 1951-2008 -- The European Coal and Steel Community: active labour market strategy -- The European Economic Community: a strategy of non-intervention in the common market -- Harmonisation strategy: the Social Action Programme 1974 -- Harmonisation of labour law -- Harmonisation and industrial relations context: the case of restructuring labour in the enterprise -- Redundancy and alternatives to dismissal -- Redeployment -- Deskilling and downgrading -- Conclusion -- Harmonisation and formal labour law provisions: a case study of the Collective Redundancies Directive 1975 -- The legal position before the 1975 Directive -- The legal position after the 1975 Directive -- Conclusion -- The UK veto and strategies to outflank it: financial instruments and qualified majority voting procedures -- Indirect financial instruments: the European Social Fund -- Qualified majority voting: the Single European Act 1986 -- Article 100A(2) -- Article 118A -- Chapter 5 The strategy of European social dialogue -- Introduction -- The 'social partners' at EU level: ETUC, BusinessEurope (formerly UNICE), CEEP -- The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) -- BusinessEurope -- CEEP -- The 'Val Duchesse' social dialogue -- 'Social dumping' and 'social regime competition' -- The Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers 1989 -- The Protocol and Agreement on Social Policy of the Maastricht Treaty on European Union 1991 -- The role of the European social dialogue in formulating European labour law -- Promotion of social dialogue -- Participation of the social partners in the formulation of EC labour law: 'bargaining in the shadow of the law' -- Consultation.

Social dialogue: 'bargaining in the shadow of the law' -- A hypothetical case of 'bargaining in the shadow of the law' -- A 'twin-track' procedure? -- 'Agreements concluded at Community level' -- Implementation of 'agreements concluded at Community level' -- National practices and procedures -- The scope of 'agreements concluded at Community level': different competences for the social dialogue and the EC institutions -- Council decision -- Subsidiarity -- The choice among multiple levels of action -- Application of the subsidiarity principle in Community social policy -- Summary and conclusion -- The outlook after Maastricht -- Chapter 6 The European Employment Strategy, the open method of coordination and the 'Lisbon Strategy' -- Introduction: employment policy priority -- Unemployment and labour force participation -- Employment rates and EES targets -- Formulating the European Employment Strategy: Guidelines -- Employability -- Entrepreneurship -- Adaptability -- Equal opportunities -- Critique of the EES: economic policy and legal strategy -- Economic policy -- Legal strategy -- Tripartite concertation -- How 'soft' can law become? -- The Lisbon Strategy -- The Lisbon Strategy and the changes to the EC Social Chapter by the Treaty of Nice -- The Lisbon Strategy in trouble -- Lisbon's change priorities: substance and process -- Chapter 7 The strategy of fundamental rights: the EU Charter of Nice 2000 and a 'constitutional' strategy -- Origins and context of the EU Charter -- Political context -- Economic context -- Institutional context -- Legal context -- The outcome at Nice, December 2000 -- Legal prospects and legal effects of the EU Charter -- Legal prospects of the political declaration of the EU Charter -- Reference in the Treaties -- Action Programme -- Litigation -- Legal effects of the EU Charter if equated to the EC Treaty.

Direct effect -- Indirect effect -- State liability -- Expansion of competences -- Action Programme -- The relation of the EU Charter to national law and practice -- Political dynamics of the EU Charter -- The Charter and the EU institutions and Member States -- EU competences and inter-institutional relations -- Legal dynamics of the EU Charter -- Conclusion -- A 'constitutional strategy' for the economic, political and social integration of Europe -- The Convention on the Future of Europe -- 'Adjusting' the Constitution: EU fundamental rights v. limited EU competences -- The Intergovernmental Conference summit of 17-18 June 2004 and the 'explanations' to the Charter -- The origins of the 'explanations' of the EU Charter -- The 'adjustment' by the Praesidium of the Convention on the Future of Europe -- The contribution of the Chairman of the Working Party of Legal Experts reviewing the text of the draft Treaty -- The European Council's amendments of 18 June 2004 -- The aftermath: the political effect of the 'explanations' and the role of the European Court of Justice -- The substance of the Praesidium's 'explanations' -- Article 12: Freedom of assembly and of association -- Article 28: Right of collective bargaining and action -- Other international labour standards -- The legal effect of the 'explanations' -- Working Group II's 'adjustments' to the text of the EU Charter -- Article 51(1): Limits of the powers of the Union -- Article 51(2): Attack on fundamental rights in general -- Illustration (i): Article 21 of the Charter -- Illustration (ii): Articles 12 and 28 of the Charter -- Article 52(4): The standard of 'constitutional traditions common to the Member States' -- Article 52(5): Attack on social rights in particular -- Article 52(6): National laws and practices -- The Final Report of Working Group XI on Social Europe -- Basic values.

Competences: application to Member States.