Laws against Strikes, comprising contributions from South African, Italian and British legal scholars, examines the right to strike in periods of socio-economic crisis. The book aims to contribute to the debates on this issue, by comparing, where a

For forty years the international watchword has been deregulation of labour law and of social security. Now, however, the rise in unemployment and lack of employment security, the dizzying inequality gulf, and the environmental disasters and mass migrations caused by this deregulation are generating an impetus that defines social justice no longer merely in terms of the equitable distribution of resources, but also – and often primarily – in terms of the just recognition of persons. This collection of incisive essays recognizes that the growing interdependence of all of the people of the earth demands that labour rights are understood as an aspect of human rights, and thus envisaged at the international level. Contributions by twenty outstanding labour law scholars from a range of countries worldwide provide in-depth analysis of such aspects of the debate as the following: – collective action in the interests of market effectiveness as well as fair outcomes for workers; - right to strike; - resilience of trade unions and collective bargaining as mechanisms of labour market regulation; - importance of national policy, despite the influence of global market forces, in shaping national outcomes; - work as the locus of the relationship between humans and nature; - search for a legal foundation for corporate social responsibility; - litigation as an alternative to collective bargaining; - the role of collective labour relations for immigrants and disabled people; - lessons that developed countries could learn from mechanisms pioneered in developing countries in coping with conditions of austerity; and - the trap of soft law and of declarations of intent that weigh lightly in the face of the power of the interests at play in international trade. The essays take stock of the dimensions of the current situation and also explore paths leading to a better achievement of social justice in labour law. These essays recognize that economic development and the pursuit of social justice are interwoven in a quest for social progress that includes mechanisms designed to eliminate unjustifiable inequality. For lawyers and other parties committed to the emerging political will to not only respect fundamental rights, but more broadly improve labour and environmental protection, this book opens abundant avenues that can be pursued in practice and in policy. The volume is based on a selection of papers presented at the 21st World Congress of the International Society for Labour and Social Security Law in Cape Town in 2015.

This book critically evaluates mandatory strike ballots as a means of protecting the 'democratic' rights of workers. Exploring empirical case studies from Australia and comparative analysis from a range of other countries, this book concludes that often the goal is to curtail strikes rather than support the democratic imperative for workers.

Inquisitive and diverse, this innovative Research Handbook explores the ways in which human rights apply to people at work, through national constitutional provisions, judicial decisions and the application of rights expressed in supranational instruments. Key topics include evaluation of the role of the ILO in developing and promoting internationally recognized labour rights, and the examination of the meaning of the obligation of business to respect human rights, considering the evolution from international soft law to incorporation in codes of conduct and the emerging requirement of due diligence.

This monograph was originally developed as a direct response to the claim made by members of the 'Employers Group' at the 2012 International Labour Conference, namely that the right to strike is not protected in international law, and in particular by ILO Convention 87 on the right to freedom of association. The group's apparent aim was to sow sufficient doubt as to the existence of an internationally protected right so that governments might seek to limit or prohibit the right to strike at the national level while still claiming compliance with their international obligations. In consequence, some governments have seized on the employers' arguments to justify new limitations on that right. The Right to Strike in International Law not merely refutes this claim but is the only complete and exhaustive analysis on this subject. Based on deep legal research, it finds that there is simply no credible basis for the claim that the right to strike does not enjoy the protection of international law; indeed, the authors demonstrate that it has attained the status of customary international law.

The Marikana massacre at a platinum mine in South Africa on 16 August 2012 reflected a deep social crisis in post-apartheid South Africa, but also marked a failure of voluntary collective bargaining. Against the backdrop of Marikana and other violent protest action in "South Africa, Laws Against Strikes examines what went wrong with labour relations in South Africa and what can be done to stabilise and improve those relations. In the European Union, the right to strike has been at the centre of the complex and controversial jurisprudence of the Court of Justice regarding industrial action, which started with the rulings in Viking and Laval in 2007. Although violence was not a factor in those cases, they brought into public focus the problem of disequilibrium between economic freedoms and fundamental social rights. Since 2008, the era of austerity measures in Europe has also called into question the adequacy of labour laws and has revealed that organisations representing collective interests lack the power to significantly influence macro-economic policy. Laws Against Strikes, comprising contributions from South African, Italian and British legal scholars, examines the right to strike in periods of socio-economic crisis. The book aims to contribute to the debates on this issue, by comparing, where appropriate, the operation of the right to strike in South Africa with its operation in the European Union countries."--Page [4] of book cover.

A rethinking of South Africa's recent past, this book presents unique historical evidence of white working-class responses to the dismantling of apartheid and establishment of majority rule in South Africa, from the 1970s to present, placing this in the context of global debates on neoliberalism and identity politics.

Evaluates the successes and failures of the 1996 South African Constitution following the twentieth anniversary of its enactment.

This book argues that we need to focus attention on the ways that workers themselves have invested subjectively in what it means to be a worker. By doing so, we gain an explanation that moves us beyond the economic decisions made by actors, the institutional constraints faced by trade unions, or the power of the state to interpellate subjects. These more common explanations make workers and their politics visible only as a symptom of external conditions, a response to deregulated markets or a product of state recognition. Instead – through a history of retailing as a site of nation and belonging, changing legal regimes, and articulations of race, class and gender in the constitution of political subjects from the 1930s to present-day Wal-Mart – this book presents the experiences and subjectivities of workers themselves to show that the collective political subject ‘workers’ (abasebenzi) is both a durable and malleable political category. From white to black women’s labour, the forms of precariousness have changed within retailing in South Africa. Workers’ struggles in different times have in turn resolved some dilemmas and by other turn generated new categories and conditions of precariousness, all the while explaining enduring attachments to labour politics.