Collective Agreements and Individual Contracts of Employment Edited by
Michat Seweryhski
KLUWER LAW INTERNATIONAL THE HAGUE/LONDON/NEW YORK
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword
xv
Notes on Contributors
xvi
Collective Agreements and Individual Contracts of Employment in Labour Law - General Report
Michal Sewerynski I.
Factors determining the Position of Collective Agreements in Contemporary Industrial Relations 1. Freedom of Collective Bargaining as an Integral Element of Democracy 2. Collective Agreements as an Integral Element of the Market Economy 3. Collective Agreements as an Instrument of Labour Relations Regulation
II. Factors Determining the Regulatory Power of Collective Agreements towards Contract of Employment 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Normative Character of Collective Agreements Derogatory Effect of Collective Agreements Duty to Bargain Application of Collective Agreements to all Employees Concerned Extension of Collective Agreements by the Public Authority Prolongation of the Collective Agreement Application
III. Factors Limiting the Regulatory Power of Collective Agreements 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Contractual Character of Collective Agreements No Duty to Bargain Collective Agreements applied only to Union Members Statutory Limits of the Scope of Collective Agreements Limits Imposed on Collective Agreements by Basic Agreements Limits Imposed by Higher-Level Collective Agreements
1 1 1 4 5 6 6 9 12 13 14 16 16 16 17 18 19 22 24
IV. Collective Agreement Regulation and Freedom of the Parties to shape the Contract of Employment
25
1. Freedom to put into the Contract of Employment more favourable terms than those of Collective Agreements
25
Contents 2. No Freedom to Derogate from Collective Agreements V. Prospects of the Regulatory Function of Collective Agreements towards the Contract of Employment 1. Collective Agreements and the Evolution of Trade Unions 2. Collective Agreements and the Evolution of Economy Conclusions
26 27 27 35 45
Individualism and Collectivism in Agreement-Making under Australian Labour Law
Andrew Frazer
49
Introduction: Compulsory Arbitration, Collective Agreements and Individual Contracts
49
I.
Collective Labour Agreements as one of the Pillars of Contemporary Labour Relations 1. Democracy and Collective Labour Agreements 2. Market Economy and Collective Labour Agreements 3. Collective Labour Agreements as an Instrument of Negotiated Social Policy 4. Freedom to Negotiate Collective Labour Agreements as a Principle of Labour Law
II. Legal Mechanisms for shaping the Content of the Employment Contract via Collective Agreement 1. Normative Mechanism 2. Contractual Mechanism 3. Replacement of terms of the Contract of Employment by Provisions of a Collective Agreement III. Factors determining the Regulatory Power of Collective Labour Agreements towards the Employment Contract 1. Collective Agreements and Deregulation 2. Statutory Limits of the Scope of Collective Labour Agreements 3. Exclusion of some Employees' Groups from a Collective Labour Agreement as stipulated by its Parties 4. Extension of a Collective Labour Agreement by a Public Authority 5. Limits imposed on a Lower-Level Collective Labour Agreement by a Higher-level Collective Agreement IV. Regulation of Collective Labour Agreements and Freedom of Parties to a Contract of Employment vi
52 52 57 58 59 64 65 67 69
70 70 72 74 75 75 76
Contents V. Prospects for Collective Labour Agreements as a means of regulation of an Employment Contract
78
Accords collectives et individuals de travail en droit du travail beige Jacques Clesse, Fabienne Kefer, and Pascale Vielle
83
I.
La place de la convention collective de travail dans l'ordonnancement juridique beige
83
1. Le cadre normatif 2. La nature juridique des conventions collectives de travail
83 84
II. Mecanismes legaux permettant d'affecter le contrat de travail via conventions collectives de travail
86
1. La (a) (b) (c) (d) 2. Le (a) (b) (c) (d)
convention collective de travail Conclusion de la convention collective Duree de la convention collective Contenu de la convention collective de travail Effets de la convention collective sur les dispositions du contrat de travail reglement de travail Elaboration et modification du reglement de travail Publicite du reglement de travail Contenu du reglement de travail Effet du reglement de travail
III. Facteurs determinant le pouvoir regulatoire des accords collectives de travail envers le contrat de travail 1. Accords collectifs de travail et deregulation (a) Loi semi-imperative (b) La loi unilateralement imperative 2. Limites legales du champ d'application des conventions collectives de travail (a) Exclusion de la negotiation collective de certaines matieres (b) Exclusion de la reglementation des accords collectifs de travail de certains groupes de travailleurs ou de certains domaines d'emploi 3. Exclusion de certains groupes de salaries des conventions collectives de travail decidees par les parties: le probleme des avantages reserves aux syndiques 4. Extension d'une convention collective de travail par une autorite publique (a) Procedure (b) Effets (c) Modalites selon lesquelles l'extension cesse de produire ses effets
Contents 5. Limites imposees a un niveau inferieur de conventions collectives par un niveau superieur de conventions collectives (a) Limites imposees a un niveau inferieur de conventions collectives de travail par un niveau normatif superieur, compte tenu de l'objet des dispositions. (b) Limites imposees a un niveau inferieur de conventions collectives de travail par un niveau normatif superieur en raison de la hierarchie des normes
102 102
102
IV. Conventions collectives de travail et liberte des parties au contrat de travail
104
V. Perspectives des conventions collectives de travail en tant que moyen de regulation du contrat de travail: Les conventions collectives de travail et les actes juridiques voisins (a) La convention collective 'irreguliere' (b) Le reglement de travail (c) Decision (d) L'acte d'adhesion
104
104 105 105 106
Convention collectives et contrats individuels de travail en droit quebecois
109
Claude Fabien
Introduction
109
I.
111
Description et comparaison
1. Le contrat individuel de travail 1.1. Les regies du Code civil 1.2. Les lois complementaires 2. La convention collective de travail 2.1. Definition et contenu 2.2. Caracteristiques et nature juridique II. Rapports entre le contrat et la convention 1. Rapports du contrat individuel avec le regime collectif 2. Rapports de la convention collective avec le regime individuel 2.1. Rapport avec le droit du regime individuel 2.2. Rapport avec contrat individuel de travail
111 112 120 124 125 127 132 132 132 133 134
Conclusion
135
Annexe: Code civil du Quebec
138
viii
Contents Collective Agreements and Individual Employment Contracts: Developments in the Light of Comparative Law - Greek Report Nikitas Aliprantis
141
Collective Agreements and Individual Contracts of Employment in Labour Law - Italian Report Riccardo Del Punta
147
I.
147
Constitutional Framework
II. Development of Collective Bargaining
148
III. Collective Agreements as Contracts
151
IV. Conclusions: Collective Agreements between Civil Law and Public Law
154
Collective Labour Agreements and Individual Contracts of Employment in Japanese Labour Law Shinya Ouchi
157
I.
157
Collective Labour Agreements as one of the Pillars of Contemporary Labour Relations 1. The Legal System of Collective Bargaining 2. Japanese Enterprise Unionism
II. Legal Mechanisms of shaping the Content of the Contract of Employment through Collective Labour Agreements 1. Peculiarity of the Japanese Legal System on the Formation or Modification of Working Conditions 2. Legal Form and Effect of Collective Labour Agreements 3. Legal Form and Effect of Work Rules III. Factors determining the Regulatory Power of Collective Labour Agreements towards the Contract of Employment 1. Collective Labour Agreements and Deregulation 2. Statutory Limits of the Scope of Collective Labour Agreements 3. Exclusion of Some Employees7 Groups from the Collective Labour Agreement Concluded by its Parties 4. Extension of a Collective Labour Agreement by a Public Authority 5. Limits imposed on a Lower-level Collective Labour Agreement by a Higher-level Collective Labour Agreement
157 158 159 159 160 161 162 162 163 163 163 164
IV. Collective Labour Agreement Regulation and Freedom of Parties to Enter into Contracts of Employment
164
V. Prospects for Collective Labour Agreements as a Means of Regulation of an Employment Contract
164
ix
Contents 1. Collective Labour Agreements and the Evolution of Trade Unions and Employers' Organizations 2. Collective Labour Agreements and other Collective Accords 3. Evolution of the Economy and its Impact on the Application of Collective Labour Agreements
164 165 165
Conclusion
166
Collective Agreements and Individual Contracts of Employment in Labour Law - Netherlands Report Aukje A.H. van Hoek
167
I.
Collective Labour Relations: the Institutional Context
167
II.
Collective Labour Relations: the Legal Context
170
1. General 2. Freedom and Duty to Negotiate 3. Statutory Regulation of Collective Agreements and Similar Instruments
170 172 173
III.
The Concept of the Collective Agreement in the Collective Labour Agreements Act 1927
174
IV.
The Scope of Application of Collective Agreements
175
V.
The Binding Character of Collective Agreements and their effect on the Individual Employment Contract
176
VI.
The Contents of Collective Agreements: Legal Constraints
179
1. 2. 3. 4.
179 180 181 182
General Arbitration Clauses Closed Shop Non-competition Clauses
VII. Conflicts between Collective Agreements and Individual Agreements: the Absence of a more favourable Right-provision in Dutch Law
183
VIII. Conflicts amongst Collective Agreements
183
IX.
Future Problems and Trends: the changing position of the Unions
185
X.
Future Problems and Trends: the changing position of Collective Arrangements
186
1. Tendering out. Temp-workers and Self-employment 2. Levels of Negotiation: from Sector to Undertaking and back 3. Framework Agreements and Labour Conditions 'a la carte'
187 188 189
Conclusions
189
Contents Collective Labour Agreements and Contracts of Employment in Polish Labour Law Zbigniew Hajn
191
I.
General Description of Collective Agreements as a source of Labour Law
191
II.
Legal Mechanism for regulating the Content of the Employment Relationship by means of a Collective Labour Agreement
193
III.
Factors determining the Role of Collective Labour Agreements as a means of shaping the Content of Employment Contracts
194
IV.
Perspectives for regulating the Content of Employment Contracts by means of Collective Agreements
202
Collective Agreements and Individual Contracts of Employment in Labour Law - South Africa Report Marius Olivier and Nicola Smit, Fiance Kalula and Graham Leslie
207
I.
Collective Labour Agreements as one of the Pillars of Contemporary Labour Relations
207
(a) Recognition of freedom to negotiate collective agreements within the democratic system (b) Constitutionalization of freedom to negotiate collective labour agreements 1. Market Economy and Collective Labour Agreements 2. Collective Labour Agreements as instruments of negotiated Social Policy (a) Social partners dialogue (b) Collective agreements and social agreements 3. Freedom to negotiate Collective Labour Agreements as a Principle of the Labour Law (a) Explicit or implicit legal recognition of the principle (b) Duty to negotiate
207
II. Legal Mechanism of shaping the Content of the Employment Contract via Collective Agreement 1. Normative Mechanism 2. Contractual Mechanism 3. Replacement of Terms of the Contract of Employment by Provisions of a Collective Agreement (a) Automatically/without notice (b) With notice
Contents III. Collective Labour Agreements and Deregulation - Advantages and Disadvantages
223
1. Statutory Limits of the Scope of Collective Labour Agreements (a) Exclusion of subject-matters (b) Exclusion of groups of employees or fields of employment 2. Exclusion of some Employees' Groups from Collective Labour Agreement stipulated by the Parties 3. Extension of a Collective Labour Agreement by a Public Authority 4. Limits imposed on a Lower-level Collective Labour Agreement by a Higher-level Collective Labour Agreement (a) Concerning the subject matters of a lower-level collective agreement (b) Subordination of a lower-level collective agreement to a higherlevel collective agreement
224 224 225 225
IV. Collective Labour Agreements' Regulation and Freedom of Parties to a Contract of Employment
230
1. Freedom to put into a Contract Provisions more favourable to an Employee than the Provisions of a Collective Agreement 2. Freedom to put into a Contract Provisions less favourable to an Employee than the Provisions of a Collective Agreement V. Collective Labour Agreements and the Evolution of Trade Unions and Employers' Organisations (a) Reduction of the application of collective labour agreements as a consequence of a decrease in trade unionism (b) Weakening of trade unions' bargaining power as a consequence of unemployment 1. Collective Labour Agreements and other Collective Accords (a) Works' agreements (b) Informal collective agreements/concluded with informal employees' representation 2. Collective Labour Agreements in the field of Particular Employment (a) Atypical contracts of employment (b) Contract labour/employment not based on a contract of employment 3. Evolution of the Economy and its Impact on the Application of Collective Labour Agreements (a) Development of the service sector based on self-employment (b) Globalization of the economy and multinational collective agreements xii
