Resocialising Europe in a Time of Crisis

Terms such as 'Social Europe' and 'European Social Model' have long resided in the political and regulatory lexicon of European integration. But in recent years, and in spite of the adoption of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the EU social profile has entered a profound period of crisis. The ECJ judgments of Viking and Laval exemplify the unresolved tension between the EU's strong market imperatives and its fragile social aspirations while the ongoing economic crisis, while the various 'bail out' packages are producing a constant retrenchment of social rights. The status quo is one in which workers appear to shoulder most of the risks attendant on making and executing arrangements for the doing of work. Chapters in this book advocate a reversal of this trend in favour of fair mutualization, so as to disperse these risks and share them more equitably between employers, the state, and society at large.

Introduction; The myths and realities for 'social Europe' Nicola Countouris and Mark Freedland; Part I. Social Europe and the Crisis of Idea(l)s: 1. Towards a European policy on work Alain Supiot; 2. Entrenching neo-liberalism: the current agenda of European social policy Colin Crouch; 3. Completing economic and social integration: towards labour law for the United States of Europe Frank Hendrickx; 4. International labour standards and EU labour law Giuseppe Casal; 5. The European Social Charter: could it contribute to a more social Europe? Monika Schlachter; 6. Completing the picture: the complex relationship between EU anti-discrimination law and 'social Europe' Colm O'Cinneide; 7. Breaking the mould: equality as a proactive duty Sandra Fredman; 8. The sovereign debt crisis and the evolution of labour law in Europe Simon Deakin and Aristea Koukiadaki; Part II. Addressing Precariousness in Work: 9. Disturbing equilibrium and transferring risk - confronting precarious work Sonia McKay; 10. Resocialising temporary agency work through a theory of 'reinforced' employers' liability Consuelo Chacartegui; 11. Regulating atypical work: beyond equality Anne Davies; 12. The charter in time of crisis: a case study of dismissal Catherine Barnard; 13. Job security: a challenge for EU social policy Manfred Weiss; 14. Flexibility and enterprise risk: employees as stakeholders in corporate governance Wanjiru Njoya; 15. The changing face of 'flexicurity' in times of austerity? Astrid Sanders; 16. Equality, fair-mutualisation and the socialisation of risk and reward in European pensions Kendra Strauss; Part III. Reinventing the Collective Dimensions of Social Europe: 17. Solidarity and the re-socialization of risk: analysing ETUC strategies to face the crisis Julia Lopez; 18. For better or for worse? Transnational solidarity in the light of social Europe Catherine Jacqueson; 19. Resocialising Europe through a European right to strike modelled on the Social Charter? Andrzej Marian Swiatkowsk; 20. Re-socialising collective deliberations Silvana Sciarra; 21. The emergence of socially sustainable sourcing: a mechanism for protecting labour standards in the context of collective bargaining decline Chris Wright and William Brown; 22. Migrant workers and collective bargaining: institutional isomorphism and legitimacy in a resocialised Europe Lydia Hayes, Tonia Novitz and Petra Herzfeld Olsson; 23. The European social dialogues - from autonomy to here Alan Bogg and Ruth Dukes; Epilogue Nicola Countouris and Mark Freedland.

Dr Nicola Countouris is a Reader in Law in the Faculty of Laws at University College London and the co-ordinator of the UCL Labour Rights Institute. His main research interests are in the areas of labour law and European law.
Professor Mark Freedland FBA is an Emeritus Research Fellow in Law at St John's College, Oxford, and an Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Laws at University College London. His main research interests are in the areas of labour law and public law.