Browsing by Subject "labour law"

Labour markets have changed due to globalisation, and this is challenging the traditional way of defining the notion of worker. Currently the international labour legislative system is based on a state centred way of defining the concept of worker. Each country hence defines the scope of the term on the basis of their national social and economic conditions. These national definitions have remained as the starting point even though the labour markets have internationalised. Workers may move from a country to another, businesses reach beyond national borders and across border competition has increased. Furthermore, regional, and international instruments containing their own ways to define the notion of worker, have added layers of regulation. Globalisation has hence changed the playing ground firstly with regards to the ways of work as well as with adding new layers of regulation. As the definition of worker grants rights and obligations to persons working, it is necessary to know who is categorised as a worker. The challenges caused by globalisation in defining the notion of worker based on national needs is amplified with the rise of atypical employment. Next to the traditional employment relationship based on an employment contract new forms of employment are becoming more prominent. These new forms of working do not fit into the traditional binary distinction between the workers and the self-employed. A current example of a form of atypical employment is platform work, which is work done on, or intermediated by digital platforms. Not only national regulation, but also regional and international instruments are being challenged with the changes in the global labour markets. This thesis seeks to outline the changes globalisation has brought to the labour markets. The current way of defining the concept of worker in all national, regional, and international contexts are explained. Based on this, the concepts are compared to see how similar or different the approaches to the concept are. Challenges caused by new forms of labour to the concept are furthermore presented. On the basis of this analysis, the durability of the current system of state centred way of defining the concept of worker is contrasted to the possible future changes in the labour markets and the possibility of harmonising the notion is contemplated as a solution for the changes caused by globalisation.