In Defence of Trade-Unionism: Bill Wedderburn and Rookes v. Barnard

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-110
Author(s):  
Paul Smith
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Trade Disputes ◽  
High Court ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
The Right

Bill Wedderburn (1927-2012) - from 1977, Lord Wedderburn of Charlton - was a towering figure in the world of labour law. His commitment to trade-unionism and the right of workers to take industrial action, given the asymmetrical nature of the employment relationship, ran deep, pervading every aspect of his forensic, sometimes biting, analysis of labour law and the role of the common law. Prompted by the Rookes decision in the High Court, 1961, and the subsequent decision of the House of Lords Judicial Committee, 1964, Wedderburn launched a wide-ranging defence - academic and public - of trade unions’ freedom to strike and the Trade Disputes Act (TDA) 1906. He argued that the House of Lords’ decision had created a new common law liability which evaded the protections in the TDA 1906. This was neutralized by the Trade Disputes Act 1965, but a new wider version of the TDA had to wait for the passage of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act, as amended in 1976.

The Wapping Dispute and Labour Law

1986 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. D. Ewing ◽  
B. W. Napier
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
International Group ◽  
Industrial Conflict ◽  
The Law ◽  
Rich Material ◽  
The Right

A decade ago the conflict between George Ward, proprietor of Grunwick Processing, and the Association of Professional, Executive Clerical and Computer Staff (APEX) provided a platform for an extended debate about the role of the law in industrial relations, the right of employers to refuse to recognise trade unions for collective bargaining purposes and, in particular, the efficacy of legislation as a means of promoting such recognition. In 1986 the decision to move the printing of various newspapers within the News International Group (the chairman of which is Mr. Rupert Murdoch) from Fleet Street to a new purpose-built printing plant at Wapping in London's docklands occasioned another set-piece battle between labour and a strong-minded employer. The issues and the climate of industrial relations in which the dispute took place are very different but, like Grunwick, the Wapping dispute provides rich material for all interested in how the law can be used as part of the strategy of industrial conflict.

Collective rights of platform workers: The role of EU law

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 406-424
Author(s):  
Tamás Gyulavári
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Collective Rights ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Right

Platform work is a new umbrella concept which covers a heterogeneous group of economic activities performed through digital platforms. Effective collective rights and bargaining would be essential for platform workers due to their vulnerable employment status. Yet collective organization of platform workers is troublesome, so trade unions face difficulties. The protection of the labour law directives is limited by their personal scope, which may be gradually expanded by the broad ECJ interpretation of the ‘worker’ concept. The effective right to collective bargaining would be particularly important, but it is restricted by EU antitrust rules with an exemption only for employees. In the last decade, the European Court has moved towards a wider personal scope of collective bargaining by interpreting the concept of ‘worker’. The recent FNV Kunsten decision used the notion of ‘false self-employed’ to go beyond the national concept of ‘employee’, but the wide interpretation of ‘worker’ shall be based on the need and necessity of employment protection deriving from economic dependency. As an alternative, the Gebhard formula may be invoked to grant the right to collective bargaining for platform workers.

scholarly journals Regulating Labour Relations in China : The Challenge of Adapting to the Socialist Market Economy

2005 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 753-775
Author(s):  
Pitman B. Potter ◽  
Li Jianyong
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Potential Significance ◽  
Major Step ◽  
Socialist Market Economy ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Socialist Market

This paper examines the new Labour Law of the PRC, effective January 1, 1995, in the light of current and historical conditions of labour relations in China. Provisions regarding the labour contract system and dispute resolution are discussed in greater detail. Issues related to the introduction of collective bargaining and to the relationship between trade unions and the Communist Party are also examined. In their overall assessment, the authors recognize the potential significance of the Labour Law as a major step towards the legal protection of workers' rights, but point out that its effectiveness could be undermined by the preeminent policy of economic growth, by concerns about political control, and by obstacles to full implementation.

scholarly journals Roles of the Courts in New Zealand in Giving Effect to International Human Rights - with Some History

1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth J Keith
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Common Law ◽  
General Effect ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Right ◽  
Domestic Law

The Right Honourable Sir Kenneth Keith was the fourth speaker at the NZ Institute of International Affairs Seminar. In this article he describes and reflects upon the role of courts and judges in relation to the advancement of human rights, an issue covered in K J Keith (ed) Essays on Human Rights (Sweet and Maxwell, Wellington, 1968). The article is divided into two parts. The first part discusses international lawmakers attempting to protect individual groups of people from 1648 to 1948, including religious minorities and foreign traders, slaves, aboriginal natives, victims of armed conflict, and workers. The second part discusses how from 1945 to 1948, there was a shift in international law to universal protection. The author notes that while treaties are not part of domestic law, they may have a constitutional role, be relevant in determining the common law, give content to the words of a statute, help interpret legislation which is in line with a treaty, help interpret legislation which is designed to give general effect to a treaty (but which is silent on the particular matter), and help interpret and affect the operation of legislation to which the international text has no apparent direct relation. 

8. The Decision to Prosecute and the Prosecution’s Duties of Disclosure of Evidence

2021 ◽  
pp. 132-162
Author(s):  
Martin Hannibal ◽  
Lisa Mountford
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
Fair Trial ◽  
The Right ◽  
Disclosure Obligations

This chapter first explains the role of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the factors that are taken into account when deciding to charge a suspect or to divert him from prosecution. It then examines the important obligations which are placed upon the CPS both at common law and under statute to serve pre-trial disclosure of evidence upon the defendant and their importance to the right to a fair trial. Defence disclosure obligations are also considered.

scholarly journals Brazilian Trade Unions

2009 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Lang ◽  
Mona-Josée Gagnon
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Union Leader ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Heavy Body ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Labour Legislation

Many analysts of Brazilian industrial relations share a determinist vision of the country’s trade unionism, according to which the unions maintain a paradoxical yet atavistic relationship with the heavy body of laws that provide them with advantages while limiting their freedom. We tested this vision by conducting field enquiries into the daily activities of two Brazilian unions: the ABC Metalworkers Union and the Seamstress Union for the Sao Paulo and Osasco Region. In this article, we present the results of our case studies and what they reveal about Brazilian trade unionism’s relationship with the labour legislation. We also briefly discuss former trade union leader and current President Lula’s recent attempts to reform the country’s labour relations system.

scholarly journals Labour Constitutions and Market Logics

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 512-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Knegt
Keyword(s):  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Labour Markets ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Economic Perspectives

The article evaluates labour law’s strategies of coping with the pressure put on its project of realizing justice by a hegemony of economic perspectives on labour markets. Its consequences for a methodology of labour law are set out by critically engaging with recent proposals made by Simon Deakin and Ruth Dukes. It is argued that a socio-historical perspective on the role of legal models in actually shaping labour relations can enrich the concept of a ‘labour constitution’.

The Basis of the ‘Basis Rule’: The Role of the Basis Rule in the Admissibility of Expert Opinion

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-337
Author(s):  
Trang Phan ◽  
David Caruso
Keyword(s):  
Expert Opinion ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Court Decision ◽  
Expert Witnesses ◽  
Expert Evidence ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
High Court ◽  
General Terms ◽  
Admissible Evidence

The ‘basis rule’ is, in general terms, a rule which restricts expert witnesses to giving opinion evidence in respect of which there is or will be proof, by other admissible evidence, of the facts and assumptions upon which the opinion is based. There has been no clear consensus as to whether the basis rule exists either at common law or under the Uniform Evidence Legislation, or whether the rule goes to admissibility or weight. This article examines the jurisprudence, with a particular focus on the recent High Court decision of Dasreef Pty Ltd v Hawchar. The authors argue that the controversy surrounding the basis rule has been the result of a misunderstanding and misconstruction of the rule. They argue that the conflict may be resolved by understanding the basis rule as simply a rearticulation, in the specific context of expert evidence, of the requirement that evidence must be relevant to be admissible. The weight of that expert evidence remains to be determined in accordance with ordinary principles.

The Development of the High Court's Willingness to Overrule Common Law Precedent

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-314
Author(s):  
Sonali Walpola
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Detailed Account ◽  
State Supreme Courts ◽  
Privy Council ◽  
Supreme Courts ◽  
High Court ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Economic Ties

In its first 60 years the High Court showed a complete deference to English precedent, and did not of itself initiate changes to common law doctrines. The High Court took its first steps towards autonomy in common law matters only in the 1960s when it abandoned its policy of following decisions of the House of Lords, thereby ending the practice of automatically incorporating English common law developments into Australian law. It is shown that the Court acquired a willingness to overturn ‘recent’ common law rules (those of 20th century origin) after the abolition of appeals from the High Court to the Privy Council in the 1970s. The elimination of appeals from State Supreme Courts to the Privy Council in the 1980s led to a further broadening of the range of doctrines the Court was prepared to reconsider. Notably, since the 1990s, the Court has shown its willingness, in compelling circumstances, to overrule ancient common law doctrines acquired before Federation. This paper gives a detailed account of the emergence and expansion of the High Court's willingness to overrule common law precedent. It reveals how the High Court's autonomy in common law matters was developed in distinct stages that are linked to Australia's changing legal, political and socio-economic ties with Britain, and its growing sense of an independent national identity.

Labour is the essence of coexistence, and the labour law is the oldest legislation

10.12737/509 ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 164-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Виктор Кривой ◽  
Victor Krivoy
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Human Values ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
World Religion ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Working People ◽  
Lev Tolstoy

The article explores the origins of labour and a man on the base of the Old Testament, references to work in the New Testament, and the role of the working people in the transformation of Christianity into a world religion. The autor makes conclusions about the origin of the pre-state labour law, its historical superiority over other branches of law, arising of all contemporary social phenomena (morality, art, family, society, law, state, science, etc.) out of labour relations. Especially stressed the role of Lev Tolstoy in the disclosure of Christian and human values of labour and picking up its status in society.

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