Perspectives on Labour Law

Citation

Davies, A. C. L. (2009). Perspectives on Labour Law (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Chapter Summary

The book has twelve chapters in two parts, a short closing chapter called "What next?", and tables of statutes, cases and international instruments. Part I (Chapters 1–4) builds the framework; Part II (Chapters 5–12) applies it to eight topics. Each topic chapter in Part II is organised around the same question: what do economists and what do rights theorists say the law should do here, and what does English law actually do?

Chapter 1: A brief history of labour law

Starts from the 1950s, when labour lawyers, following Otto Kahn-Freund, drew on industrial relations theory and the idea of collective laissez-faire to explain the law. It then traces how rights arguments and economic arguments entered the field from the 1970s and reached the central place they hold today. The point is that no single perspective is enough.

Chapter 2: Economics perspectives on labour law

Written for readers with no economics background. It sets out the methodology and assumptions of economics and its microeconomics, and introduces the neoclassical and new institutional approaches that the later chapters use as competing lenses.

Chapter 3: Human rights perspectives on labour law

Gives a historical introduction to human rights, with attention to labour rights, and an overview of the international and regional instruments cited throughout the book. It then turns to interpretation: who can claim a right and against whom, what a given right protects, and how interference with it can be justified. The Human Rights Act 1998 is part of the background.

Chapter 4: Modes of regulation

Explains that labour law is no longer only a matter for Parliament and the courts. It is made in layers: national legislation, the European Convention on Human Rights as given effect by the Human Rights Act, EU law and ILO conventions. The chapter shows how conflicts between layers often reflect different balances between rights and economic arguments.

Chapter 5: Who is protected by employment law?

Deals with the division of the workforce into employees, workers and the self-employed, and the problem of atypical workers who fit none of these neatly. It sets the economic view of labour rights as a burden on business against the rights view.

Chapter 6: Working time

Covers the Working Time Regulations 1998 (maximum hours, rest breaks, holidays), the protection of part-time workers, and leave and flexible-working rights for combining work and family life, set against the long tradition of working-time rights in international instruments.

Chapter 7: Discrimination

Begins with economic accounts, including those that argue against legal intervention and those that can support it, then turns to rights perspectives, where the main dispute concerns the concept of equality, and ends with English law.

Chapter 8: Wages

Looks at the two forms of pay regulation: the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, and equal pay law under the Equal Pay Act 1970 and anti-discrimination legislation, with equal pay discussed mainly between women and men. It notes that wages were once seen as a matter solely for collective bargaining.

Chapter 9: Dismissal

Examines the conflict between employer and worker when the employer wants to end a job against the worker's wishes. Neoclassical economists would leave the matter to the employer, while new institutionalists see value in some job security for employers too.

Chapters 10–12: Collective representation; Trade union membership; Industrial action

These form the book's collective block. Chapter 10 asks whether workers should have a say in running the workplace and in what form, covering both union bargaining and consultation duties derived from EC law. Chapter 11 covers the law governing the relationship between union member and employer and between member and union, which rights theorists call freedom of association. Chapter 12 deals with strikes, which are rare in the UK but provoke very different reactions from rights theorists and economists.

What next?

A postscript that draws no conclusions but looks ahead, discussing globalisation, fears of a "race to the bottom" in labour standards, and how the weight of rights and economic arguments may differ across the international, regional and national layers.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–4: Perspectives and framework

• Collective laissez-faire: the mid-twentieth-century view that the law should support collective bargaining between unions and employers rather than regulate terms directly.
• Neoclassical economics: an approach under which markets set wages and conditions best, so labour regulation tends to be seen as a cost to employers and workers.
• New institutional economics: an approach under which some regulation can benefit firms, for example by encouraging loyalty and productivity.
• Layers of regulation: national, European Convention, EU and ILO sources that may pull in different directions.

Chapters 5–12: Applications to topics

• Employee, worker, self-employed: the three categories that determine how much protection a person receives.
• Atypical workers: people who do not fit the employee category but are not truly self-employed.
• Freedom of association: the rights label for the law on trade union membership.
• Race to the bottom: the fear that competition between countries will drive down labour standards.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A deliberately accessible entry point. The publisher presents it as suitable for first-time students, and the preface explains that the subject is hard for newcomers because it depends on statute and policy argument rather than cases, and because each perspective has its own methods. Chapters 2 and 3 are written to remove the need for prior study of economics or human rights.
• A consistent method across topics. Part II chapters repeat the same sequence of economic view, rights view and English law, so a reader learns to apply the lenses rather than memorise rules. The chapter introductions state the controversies and where the two camps disagree.
• Clarity praised by reviewers. The first edition was reviewed in the Industrial Law Journal by Tonia Novitz, who credited it with conceptual clarity and with identifying where debate on the form and content of labour law is focused. The publisher also quotes Paul Davies of the London School of Economics describing it as an introduction that hits the nail on the head.
• Layered regulation is explained. Chapter 4 makes the interaction of domestic, European and international law a theme in its own right.

Limitations

• Two perspectives, a selection of topics. The book chooses rights and economics, though the preface acknowledges other approaches such as social justice arguments, and it covers a selection of topics rather than the whole of employment law. It is not a substitute for a doctrinal textbook.
• Dated in places. It was published in 2009 and uses 2007 strike and union-membership figures. It predates the Equality Act 2010 and later changes to the law on discrimination, working time and industrial action, so current statutes must be checked.
• Light on case detail. Because it is a perspectives book, it gives less space to case analysis than the main labour law textbooks.

Where It Fits in the Course

Within this course list, the doctrinal textbooks are the larger and more detailed companions. Employment Law: An Introduction by Stephen Taylor and Astra Emir is an accessible introduction to UK employment law that links the rules to workplace practice. Labour Law (Cambridge) and Labour Law (Hart) are undergraduate textbooks covering the sources, contracts, regulation, collective law and termination. Smith & Wood's Employment Law is a detailed account of the law of Great Britain, and Freedland and Kountouris's The Legal Construction of Personal Work Relations is a research monograph on how labour law defines the relationships it regulates.

Davies does not replace any of these. It is short and theory-led, so it is best read before or alongside a doctrinal text, to understand why the rules look as they do and to prepare for essay questions that ask for critical evaluation. Chapter 5 connects naturally with the monograph's concern with who counts as a worker, once a student is ready for a more advanced treatment.

How to Use This Book

The book suits students meeting labour law for the first time, and also those who need to think about its wider themes. No prior knowledge of economics or international human rights law is needed.

Read Chapters 1–4 first and in order, because Chapters 2 and 3 supply the vocabulary used in every later chapter. After that, Part II chapters can be read separately and matched to the topics on a syllabus; Chapter 5 is a good starting point because it also tests the theory. Read Chapters 10–12 as one unit. Finish with "What next?".

Use the book to structure argument. For each topic, write down the economic case, the rights case and what English law does, and note where they conflict. Then pair each chapter with the relevant statute and recent cases from a current textbook, since the law has moved on since 2009.