Introductory description

This module is concerned with contemporary labour law in the UK and global context. It combines legal analysis with a contextual and interdisciplinary understanding of key debates around the regulation of work. In addition to covering sources, institutions and principles of labour law, the module examines the manner and extent to which the law responds to the challenges of work in the current economy, characterised by processes of globalisation, digitalisation, migration, and the commodification and financialisation of particular areas of work. We will consider the law of labour relations within the UK, but also the impact of global economic integration on the design of labour law and policy and aspects of international and transnational labour law.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Outline of topics:

1. The law and governance of labour relations: sources, institutions and approaches
2. The legal boundaries and socio-economic relations of labour
3. Personal employment contract
4. Job security, minimum wage and the regulation of dismissals
5. Non-discrimination, equality and rights
6. Trade unions and collective actions
7. ILO, labour standards and decent work initiatives
8. Informal, migrant and domestic workers
9. Workers in global supply chains and in the gig economy

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• 1. Demonstrate understanding of the concepts, rules and principles, their application and limits, across various key aspects of national and international labour law
• 2. Demonstrate ability to critically evaluate how social norms and relations such as gender, race, class, disability, age, etc and their intersections affect the conceptualisation of work and how this is embedded and normalised in labour law
• 3. Demonstrate awareness of, and ability to discuss, how the national and international socio-economic and political contexts, and the interactions of these contexts, affect the regulation of labour relations
• 4. Demonstrate ability to critically evaluate the suitability of employment contract and other theoretical alternatives as a means of conceiving and regulating employment relationships
• 5. Demonstrate understanding of the application and ability to reflect on the limits of statutory employment protection provisions, unfair dismissals and redundancy protection
• 6. Demonstrate understanding and ability to critically evaluate how labour law addresses issues of discrimination, inequality and work-life balance and the influence of human rights activism and legislation
• 7. Demonstrate understanding of the history of trade unions and their current role and status, the legal regulation of collective bargaining and/or the regulation of industrial conflict
• 8. Demonstrate awareness of the diverse influences that shape UK labour law including the role of trade unions, activism and the impact of international law
• 9. Demonstrate ability to critically reflect on the status of informal, migrant and domestic workers, workers sustaining global supply chains and the gig economy and interrogate current debates about the protection of these workers
• 10. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the developing international framework for regulation of the world of work and awareness of the controversies over the ability of the ILO to ensure compliance with labour standards and decent work initiatives
• 11. Develop critical and imaginative thinking by using the legal knowledge gained and its contextual and socio-economic underpinnings, to critically analyse and evaluate labour law’s effectiveness in regulating employment at the national and international and define potential reforms
• 12. Develop skills in policy evaluation across different aspects of labour law and different categories of workers
• 13. Develop advanced research skills specific to the analysis of the conceptualisation of work and the regulation of labour relations at the national and international level
• 14. Develop skills in planning a coherently structured research essay and constructing nuanced and well-reasons arguments
• 15. Develop teamwork skills as part of the policy-writing group work.

Indicative reading list

Provisional reading list (these are the sources I drew upon to design the module. The reading list will be organised in required and suggested readings):

The law and governance of labour relations: sources, institutions and approaches:

• Davies, Employment Law (Pearson 2018), Chapters 1 and 2
• Cabrelli, Employment Law in Context (OUP, 2020), Chapters 1 and 2
• UK Government, Good work: the Taylor review of modern working practices
• Zoe Adams, Labour Law, Capitalism and the Juridical Form: Taking a Critical Approach to Questions of Labour Law Reform, Industrial Law Journal, , dwaa024, https://doi.org/10.1093/indlaw/dwaa024
• Bales, K, Bogg, A & Novitz, T, 2018, ‘‘Voice’ and ‘Choice’ in Modern Working Practices: Problems with the Taylor Review’. Industrial Law Journal, vol 47., pp. 46-75.
• K D Ewing, Lord Hendy, Covid-19 and the Failure of Labour Law: Part 1, Industrial Law Journal, Volume 49, Issue 4, December 2020, Pages 497–538, https://doi.org/10.1093/indlaw/dwaa026

The legal boundaries and socio-economic relations of labour:

• Kotiswaran P., ‘Labour law Abject Labours, Informal Markets: Revisiting the Law’s (Re)Production Boundary’, feminist@law 4(1), 2014. https://journals.kent.ac.uk/index.php/feministsatlaw/article/view/104/270
• Fudge, J. Feminist Reflections on the Scope of Labour Law: Domestic Work, Social Reproduction, and Jurisdiction. Fem Leg Stud 22, 1–23 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10691-014-9256-2
• J. Fudge, Shae McCrystal, Kamala Sankaran, Challenging the legal boundaries of work regulation, Hart Publishing, 2012.
• Cabrelli, Employment Law in Context, 2020, chapter 3 and 4
• Davies, Employment Law, 2018, chapter 4
• E. Grabham, ‘Passing the buck: unpaid care, precarious work and the children and families bill 2013’, feminists@law, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.22024/UniKent/03/fal.74
• A. Zbyszewska and S. Routh, Challenging Labour Law's 'Productivity' Bias Through a Feminist Lens: A Conversation (Hart 2019)
• K. Weeks, The Problem with Work (Duke University Press, 2011)
• Einat Albin, The Case of Quashie: Between the Legalisation of Sex Work and the Precariousness of Personal Service Work, Industrial Law Journal, Volume 42, Issue 2, July 2013, Pages 180–191, https://doi.org/10.1093/indlaw/dwt006
• K. Rittich and J. Conaghan, Labour law, work and family: critical and comparative perspectives (OUP, 2005)
• G. Standing, The precariat: the new dangerous class (Bloomsbury 2011)

Personal employment contract:

• Cabrelli, Chapters 5-7
• Davies, Chapter 5
• Fudge, Judy and Fredman, Sandra (2016) The Contract of Employment and Gendered Work. In: Freedland, Mark, ed. The Contract of Employment. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 231-252.
• Adams Z., ‘Labour Law and the Labour Market: Employment Status Reconsidered’ (2019) 135 Law Quarterly Review 611.
• J. Conaghan, Richard Fischl, Karl Klare, Labour law in an era of globalisation: transformative practices and possibilities (OUP 2002)
• Alan Bogg and Michael Ford, ‘Between Statute and Contract: Who Is a Worker?’ (2019) 135 Law Quarterly Review 347

Job security, minimum wage and the regulation of dismissals:

• Cabrelli, chapters 8-15-16
• Davies, chapters 7-9
• LJB Hayes, Care and Control: Are the National Minimum Wage Entitlements of Homecare Workers at Risk under the Care Act 2014?, Industrial Law Journal, Volume 44, Issue 4, December 2015, Pages 492–521, https://doi.org/10.1093/indlaw/dwv028
• L. Barmes, Bullying and behavioural conflict at work: the duality of individual rights (OUP 2015) (chapter 1)
• Zoe Adams, ‘Wage’, ‘Salary’ and ‘Remuneration’: A Genealogical Exploration of Juridical Terms and their Significance for the Employer’s Power to Make Deductions from Wages, Industrial Law Journal, Volume 48, Issue 1, March 2019, Pages 34–65, https://doi.org/10.1093/indlaw/dwy003
• Joanna Howe, Poles Apart? The Contestation between the Ideas of No Fault Dismissal and Unfair Dismissal for Protecting Job Security, Industrial Law Journal, Volume 42, Issue 2, July 2013, Pages 122–151, https://doi.org/10.1093/indlaw/dwt005
• Sanders, A. (2014), The law of unfair dismissal and behaviour outside work. Leg Stud (Soc Leg Scholars), 34: 328-352. https://doi.org/10.1111/lest.12023

Non-discrimination, equality and rights:

• Cabrelli, Chapters 10-14
• Davies, Chapter 6
• Fudge, J. (1). Women Workers: Is Equality Enough? feminists@law, 2(2)https://doi.org/10.22024/UniKent/03/fal.63
• C. O’Cinneide, K. Liu, Defining the limits of discrimination law in the UK, International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, 2015 https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1358229114558544
• Cukrowska- Torzewska, E. Cross-Country Evidence on Motherhood Employment and Wage Gaps: The Role of Work-Family Policies and Their Interaction. Social Politics, 24(2), 2017, 178-220.
• Eikhof, D.R., Warhurst, C., Haunschild, A. Introduction: What work? What life? What balance?: Critical reflections on the work-life balance debate. Employee Relations, 29(4), 2007.
• Lewis et al. (eds) Work-Life Balance in Times of Austerity and Beyond: meeting the needs of employees, organizations and social justice (Routledge 2016).
• Warren, T. and Lyonette, C. Good, bad and very bad part-time jobs for women? Re-examining the importance of occupational class since the 'great recession in Britain. Work, Employment and Society, 32(4), 2018, 747-767.
• Albertyn C., S. Fredman and J. Fudge, ‘Introduction: Elusive Equalities – Sex, Gender and Women’, International Journal of Law in Context 10(4) (2014) 421.

Trade unions and collective actions :

• Cabrelli, web chapters B, C, D
• Davies, chapters 12-13
• M. Ford and T. Novits: Legislation for control: the trade union act 2016 45(3), 277-298. https://doi.org/10.1093/indlaw/dww028
• Dean, D. (2015) "Deviant typicality: gender equality issues in a trade union that should be different from others", Industrial Relations Journal, 46, 1, 37-53
• Marginson, P. and Galetto, M. (2016) Engaging with flexibility and security: rediscovering the role of collective bargaining. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 37(1), 95-117.
• R. Dukes, N. Kountouris Pre-strike ballots, picketing and protest: Banning Industrial action by the back door, Industrial Law Journal, 45 (3) 2016, pp. 337-362. 10.1093/indlaw/dww026
• Striking women: https://www.striking-women.org
• T. Novitz, ‘Multi-level disputes relating to freedom of association and the right to strike: transnational systems, actors and resources’36(4) 2020, International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations, pp. 471-494
• Julia Lopez Lopez, Collective Bargaining and Collective Action Labour Agency and Governance in the 21st Century?, Hart 2019.
• Vv. Aa. The Right to Strike in International Law, Hart 2020.
• Nicola Smit, Comment: Collectivism and Trade Unions (Past, Present and Future) and the New World of Work in Theorising Labour Law in a Changing World (Hart 2019).

ILO, labour standards and decent work initiatives:

• Adelle Blackett, ‘Theorizing Emancipatory Transnational Futures of International Labor Law’ (2019) 113 AJIL Unbound 39.
• K. Rittich, "The Right to Work and Labour Market Flexibility: Labour Market Governance Norms in the International Order", V. Mantouvalou, ed., The Right to Work: Legal and Philosophical Perspectives (Hart, 2015)
• Ann Trebilcock, ‘Why the Shift from International to Transnational Law Is important for Labour Standards’ in Henner Gott (ed), Labour Standards in International Economic Law (Springer 2018).
• T. Novits and D. Mangan The Role of Labour Standards in Development (OUP, 2011).
• Jill Murray, Taking social rights seriously: is there a case for institutional reform of the ILO? In Colin Fenwick and Tonia Novits, Human Rights at Work (Hart 2010)
• B. Hepple, Labour Laws and Global Trade (Hart 2005)
• F. Maupin, The Future of the International Labour Organisation in the Global Economy (Hart 2013)
• James Harrison, 'The Labour Rights agenda in Free Trade Agreements' (2019) Journal of World Investment and Trade vol 20 (5).
• Steven Charnotvitz, What the World Trade Organisation Learned from the International Labour Organisation in Adelle Blackett and Anne Trebilcock (eds) Research Handbook on Transnational labour Law (Elgar 2015).

Informal, migrant and domestic workers:

• WIEGO https://www.wiego.org
• Judy Fudge, Illegal Working, Migrants and Labour Exploitation in the UK, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Volume 38, Issue 3, Autumn 2018, Pages 557–584, https://doi.org/10.1093/ojls/gqy019
• D. Ashiagbor (ed.) Re-imagining Labour Law for Development: Informal Work in the Global North and South (Hart 2019)
• Kamala Sankaran, ‘Flexibility and Informalisation of Employment Relationships’ in in Challenging the Legal Boundaries of Labour Regulation, Judy Fudge, Kamala Sankaran and Shae Mccrystal (eds),
• E. Albin, From 'Domestic Servant' to 'Domestic Worker'
  in Challenging the Legal Boundaries of Labour Regulation, Judy Fudge, Kamala Sankaran and Shae Mccrystal (eds), Hart 2012
• Adelle Blackett Everyday Transgressions: Domestic Workers' Transnational Challenge to International Labor Law (Cornell University Press 2019).
• J. Fudge, “Modern Slavery, Unfree Labour and the Labour Market: The Social Dynamics of Legal Characterization”, 27(4) Social and Legal Studies 413-434 (2018).
• K. Rittich, Fragmented Work and Multi-Level Labour Market Governance: Informality, Crisis Policy and an Expanded 'Law of Work'," G. de Burca, C. Kilpatrick and J. Scott, Critical Legal Perspectives on Global Governance (Hart 2014).
• V. Mantouvalou The Right to Non-Exploitative Work in V. Mantouvalou, ed., The Right to Work: Legal and Philosophical Perspectives (Hart, 2015)
• Chantal Thomas, ‘Convergences and Divergences in International Legal Norms on Migrant labour 32 Comparative labour law and policy journal, 2011.
• Adrian Smith, Racism and the regulation of migrant labour in Adelle Blackett and Anne Trebilcock Research Handbook on Transnational labour Law (Elgar 2015)
• Judy Fudge, Making claims for migrant workers human rights and citizenship, Citizenship Studies, 2014.
• SPERI http://speri.dept.shef.ac.uk/2020/10/05/challenging-binaries-why-we-need-new-ways-to-talk-about-people-who-move-for-work/

Workers in global supply chains and in the gig economy:

Global supply chains:

• Ann Stewart, Chapter 5 ‘From anonymity to attribution: producing food in a global value chain’ work on supply chains’ in Gender, Law and Justice in a Global Market (2011, 2011)
• Nicola Phillips and Fabiola Mieres, ‘The Governance of Forced Labour in the Global Economy’ (2015) 12 Globalizations.
• Rutvica Andrijasevic & Tonia Novitz (2020) Supply Chains and Unfree Labor: Regulatory Failure in the Case of Samsung Electronics in Slovakia, Journal of Human Trafficking, 6:2, 195-208, DOI:
• Lizzie Barmes ‘Learning from Case Law Accounts of Marginalised Working’ in Challenging the Legal Boundaries of Work Regulation, Judy Fudge Kamala Sankaran Shae Mccrystal (eds), Hart 2012.
• T. Novitz, Supply chains and temporary migrant labour: The relevance of trade and sustainability frameworks in D. Ashiagbor (ed.) Re-imagining Labour Law for Development: Informal Work in the Global North and South (Hart 2019)
• Dias-Abey, M, 2019, ‘Using law to support social-movement-led collective bargaining structures in supply chains’ Australian Journal of Labour Law, vol 32., pp. 123-145

Gig economy

• Tonia Novitz (2020) The Potential for International Regulation of Gig Economy Issues, King's Law Journal, 31:2, 275-286, 10.1080/09615768.2020.1789442
• S Fredman, D. Du Toit, M. Graham and K. Howson, 'Thinking out of the Box: Fair Work for Platform Workers' (2020) 31 King's Law Journal 236
• Sandra Fredman and Darcy Du Toit, ‘One Small Step Towards Decent Work: Uber v Aslam in the Court of Appeal’ (2019) 48(2) Industrial Law Journal 260.
• Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) v RooFoods Ltd (Deliveroo) CAC decision [2018] IRLR 84 (see commentary in Michael Ford and Tonia Novitz, ‘There is Power in a Union? Revisiting Trade Union Functions in 2019’ in Alan Bogg, Jacob Rowbottom and Alison Young (eds), The Constitution of Social Democracy (Hart Publishing 2020)).
• Miriam Kullmann, ‘Platform Work, Algorithmic Decision-making, and EU Gender Equality Law’ (2018) 34(1) International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations 1
• Regulatory Options for Conflicts of Law and Jurisdictional Issues in the On-Demand Economy, ILO Conditions of Work and Employment Series No. 106 (ILO 2019).
• BBC documentary into the hire of agency workers to carry out Amazon deliveries, found instructions coming from US sources to hand-held devices carried by the couriers <www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-37912858; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o6rVBY8n2s>.
• Jeremias Prassl, Humans as a Service (OUP 2018)
• Valerio De Stefano, The Rise of the ‘Just-in-time Workforce’: On-demand Work, Crowdwork and Labour Protection in the ‘Gig-economy’ (2016) ILO Conditions of Work and Employment Series Working Paper No. 71 (ILO).
• Filipe Calvão and Kaveri Thara, ‘Working Futures: The ILO, Automation and Digital Work in India’ (2019) 11(11) International Development Policy| Revue internationale de politique de développement.
• Mark Graham and Mohammed Anwar, ‘The Global Gig Economy: Towards a Planetary Labour Market?’ (2019) 24(4) First Monday.
• Mark Graham, Villi Lehdonvirta, Alex Wood, Helena Barnard, Isis Hjorth, and Peter D Simon, The Risks and Rewards of Online Gig Work at the Global Margins(2017) 2 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8c791d5a-e3a5-4a59-9b93-fbabea881554.
• Janine Berg, ‘Income Security in the On-demand Economy: Findings and Policy Lessons from a Survey of Crowdworkers’ (2016) 37 Comparative Labor Law and Policy Journal.
• Rebecca Zahn, Trade Unions, the Gig Economy, and the Feminisation of Work: Lessons from the Past? in A. Blackham, M. Kullmann, & A. Zbyszewska (Eds.), Theorising Labour Law in a Changing World: Towards Inclusive Labour Law (pp. 107-123).

Research element

70 per cent of the summative assessment is constituted by a research essay.
From a formative point of view, students will be able to receive feedback on their essay outline and will attend a workshop on policy writing (group policy writing constitutes 30 per cent of the summative assessment)

Interdisciplinary

As evident in the proposed readings, the module will examine debates regarding the conceptualisation and regulation of work and in doing so will encourage students to engage with socio-legal, political economy, feminist literature, social policy. Students will also learn via documentaries, podcasts and movies.

International

The module pays particular attention to the interaction of the UK context with global dynamics of labour and processes of globalisation, economic integration, digitalisation and financialisation. The international scope of the module is also reflected in the readings.

Subject specific skills

• The module combines legal analysis and the transmission of practical skills on labour law with a highly contextual and interdisciplinary understanding of key debates around the regulation of work
• Develop critical and imaginative thinking by using the knowledge gained and its contextual and socio-economic underpinnings, to critically analyse and evaluate labour law’s effectiveness in regulating employment at the national and international and define potential reforms
• Develop skills in policy evaluation across different aspects of labour law and different categories of workers
• Develop advanced research and essay writing skills specific to the analysis of the conceptualisation of work and the regulation of labour relations at the national and international level.

Transferable skills

• Critical thinking
• Imaginative thinking: in deciding their policy writing they will need to reimagine the law
• Policy evaluation and writing
• Advanced research skills and skills in planning a coherently structured research essay and constructing nuanced and well-reasons arguments
• Teamwork skills as part of the policy-writing group work.