Subject matter of labour legislation

Subject matter of labour legislation

Labour legislation that is adapted to the economic and social challenges of the modern world of work fulfills three crucial roles:

· it establishes a legal system that facilitates productive individual and collective employment relationships, and therefore a productive economy;

· by providing a framework within which employers, workers and their representatives can interact with regard to work-related issues, it serves as an important vehicle for achieving harmonious industrial relations based on workplace democracy;

· it provides a clear and constant reminder and guarantee of fundamental principles and rights at work which have received broad social acceptance and establishes the processes through which these principles and rights can be implemented and enforced.

But experience shows that labour legislation can only fulfill these functions effectively if it is responsive to the conditions on the labour market and the needs of the parties involved. The most efficient way of ensuring that these conditions and needs are taken fully into account is if those concerned are closely involved in the formulation of the legislation through processes of social dialogue. The involvement of stakeholders in this way is of great importance in developing a broad basis of support for labour legislation and in facilitating its application within and beyond the formal structured sectors of the economy.

When the International Labour Office assists constituents in the process of formulating or reforming labour law, it adopts the basic approach that where labour legislation is appropriately developed, with the support of the parties involved, it not only promotes social justice throughout society, but also has a positive effect on economic performance and contributes to social stability and the reduction of social conflict.

Labour legislation is widely used both to regulate individual employment relationships and to establish the framework within which workers and employers can determine their own relations on a collective basis, for example through collective bargaining between trade unions and employers or employers' organizations or through mechanisms of worker participation in the enterprise.

The legislative regulation of the individual employment relationship typically entails the enactment of provisions governing the formation and termination of the relationship (that is, the conclusion of contracts of employment, their suspension and termination) and the rights and obligations relating to the different aspects of the relationship (such as the minimum age for admission to employment of work, the protection of young workers, equality at work, hours of work, paid holidays, the payment of wages, occupational safety and health and maternity protection). Provision also has to be made for enforcement procedures and supporting institutions (such as labour inspection services and courts or tribunals).

Regulation of the collective relations of workers and employers typically includes laying down legal guarantees of the right of workers and employers to organize in occupational organizations, to bargain collectively and the right to strike, as well as mechanisms for worker participation at the enterprise level.

Дата добавления: 2014-10-17