Theorising Labour Law in a Changing World

Alysia Blackham is Associate Professor at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne.Miriam Kullmann is Assistant Professor at the Department of Private Law, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.Ania Zbyszewska is Assistant Professor in Law and Work, Department of Law and Legal Studies, Carleton University.

This collection brings together perspectives from industrial relations, political economy, political theory, labour history, sociology, gender studies and regulatory theory to build a more inclusive theory of labour law. That is, a theory of labour law that is more inclusive of non-traditional workers (including those in atypical work, or from non-traditional backgrounds); more inclusive of a variety of collective approaches to work regulation that foster solidarity between workers; and more inclusive of interdisciplinary and complex explanations of labour law and its regulatory spaces. The individual chapters speak to this theme of inclusivity in different ways and offer different suggestions for how it might be achieved. They break down the barriers between legal research and other fields, to promote fruitful and integrative conversations across disciplines. In the spirit of inclusivity and intergenerational dialogue, the book blends contributions from early career and emerging scholars with those from leading scholars in the field, featuring critical commentary from senior labour law figures alongside theoretically and empirically informed work.

Of interest to labour law scholars around the globe.

1. IntroductionMiriam Kullmann, Ania Zbyszewska and Alysia BlackhamPART AWORK REGULATION AND THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC ORDER2. Recovering the Impact of Normative Regimes on Labour Relations Practices: A Socio-Historical View of Institutional RequirementsRobert Knegt3. Theorising Labour Law in the State of Exception: Political and Judicial Responses to CrisisLisa Rodgers4. Redefining the Boundaries of Labour Law: Is 'Double Alienness' a Useful Concept for Classifying Employees in Times of Fractal Work?Vincenzo Pietrogiovanni5. Comment: Reconsidering Historical Perspectives Anew - Old Ideas Adapted to New Forms of WorkNicole BusbyPART BREVITALISING THE ROLE OF COLLECTIVE REPRESENTATION6. Back to the Future: Rediscovering the Non-Economic Role, Value and Scope of Labour Law and Collective Labour Institutions in a Changing WorldFotis Vergis7. Trade Unions, the Gig Economy, and the Feminisation of Work: Lessons from the Past?Rebecca Zahn8. A Socio-Legal History of the Coalition of Immokalee WorkersManoj Dias-Abey9. Comment: Changing Collective Representation and Action to Meet the Challenges - Historical Lessons and Contemporary LearningTonia Novitz10. Comment: Collectivism and Trade Unions (Past, Present and Future) and the New World of WorkNicola SmitPART CADVANCING THEORETICAL MODELS TO RESPOND TO THE NEW WORLD OF WORK11. Employment Regulation and Working Time Through the Lens of a Regulatory Space ApproachCristina Inversi12. Re-Systematising Labour Law: Beyond Traditional Systems Theory and Reflexive Law?Alysia Blackham13. Argumentative Strategies in the Defence of Labour Law: The Promises of Republican TheoryAnja Eleveld14. Anti-Authoritarian Employment Relations? Labour Law from an Anarchist PerspectiveAndrea Iossa15. Challenging Labour Law's 'Productivity' Bias Through a Feminist Lens: A ConversationAnia Zbyszewska and Supriya Routh16. Comment: Theories of Labour Law Assessed from the Perspective of Reflexive Labour LawRalf Rogowski