Valerio De Stefano,* Ilda Durry,* Harry Stylogiannis,* Mathias Wouters* The debates on platform work have come a long way since the early publications in the first part of the last decade. For a long time, many commentators agreed with the words of Judge Vince Chhabria in the Californian case about the ride-hailing platform Lyft:…
Foodora Leaves Canada The pandemic of 2020 is a demarcation point that will take some time to understand. In the midst of such profound changes to daily life, labour law remains one background to these challenges. After its riders in the Canadian province of Ontario won a challenge to their union certification on 28 February…
It cannot be disputed that labour law has served and still serves as the institution that protects the dependent workforce. Yet labour law has also served the purpose to codify the authority of the employers over their employees while, in return, recognising them the entitlement to certain rights they can invoke against the employer itself….
Reflecting on digitalization (as a collective term for artificial intelligence, robotization and new technologies) of the workplace draws out the confused intermingling of outcomes and ambitions. The aims of technological innovations entrench an economic understanding of efficiency, often at the expense of social considerations, which pose significant potential to displace human workers. These aims, as…
Valerio De Stefano,* Ilda Durry,* Harry Stylogiannis,* Mathias Wouters* It started as an investigation into something long dismissed as an urban legend. Finally, even if far too late, the awful scale of the Parisian Ligue du LOL – internationally known as the LOL league – unfolded. Members of a private social media group had ‘cyber-harassed’ people for several years. Some commentators…
Thinking positively ‘Do or die’, the UK will leave the EU by end of October 2019. Since assuming the role of Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has made a number of spending commitments including: £1.85 billion for hospital upgrades and equipment, 20,000 more police officers by 2022, more money for schools, and raising the higher tax…
By Valerio De Stefano & Mathias Wouters Should digital platforms be allowed to charge fees to workers to work? If ordinary rules were clearly applied to platform work, the answer would be a resounding “No”. Workers should, in theory, never be charged to get work. This norm stems directly from the principle that “labour is…
On 13 June 2019, the EU Council adopted the Directive on Work-Life Balance for Parents and Carers. The Directive was proposed in 2017 and it was one of the key legislative initiatives that the European Commission presented alongside its proposal for the European Pillar of Social Rights. It contains significant enhancements to existing EU legislation,…
Antonio Aloisi, Valerio De Stefano, Six Silberman* In 2017, Sarah O’Connor of the Financial Times published a sensible plea, gently chiding both doomsayers warning of a “jobless society” and “techno-fantasists” paying breathless homage to a digital future filled with exciting new professions. “We should worry less about the jobs that might be going,” wrote O’Connor—due,…
On January 22, the ILO launched its centenary celebrations by releasing the Report of its Global Commission on the Future of Work. The Report is the result of several years of research, consultation with the Governments and social partners of the ILO Members State and the work of the 28 members of the Global Commission, with…
We wanted to draw your attention to some interesting articles on Regulatory Innovation on Decent Work for Domestic Workers in the Light of International Labour Organization Convention No. 189 that appeared in International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations Volume 34, issue 3, 2018, edited by Guy Davidov. Adelle Blackett, Introduction (2018) 34, Issue 2,…
To date the debate on the “future of work” and technology has predominantly concentrated on the quantity of jobs that will be lost or gained because of automation. While this is certainly important, we should also be concerned about the quality of the jobs we are creating. Over the past few weeks, the news has…
Keep pace with change. We are witnessing change at a very rapid pace. Brexit and “disTrumption,” among other developments, have changed the landscape for international business. A new blog will synthesize and make sense of these developments. The blog, initiated by Wolters Kluwer, will be called “Regulating for Globalization” and is designed to address the significant changes taking place…
