The collection referred to here is a compilation of all the textbooks on the topic of labor law that have been authored by Professor Dr. Antoine Jacobs of Tilburg University. This collection comprises a set of Open Access resources that are freely available to anyone who wishes to access them, without any charge or subscription fee.
The aim of this coursebook is to present a satellite view on labour law in Europe, notably of the Member States of the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom. In the United States the most important labour laws have an all USAcharacter. New York, California, Florida etc. have their own labour laws. However, the basic labour and social security law is overwhelmingly uniform from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast.
Things are different in Europe. Presumably at least 80% of labour law in Europe is determined by the various States. As a consequence there are still numerous differences between the labour laws of the various countries in Europe. And it is bound to stay so for several more decades, as the EU does not have the ambition to bring about full scale harmonization of labour law in its Member States. However, I believe that – even if harmonization of labour law is not the deliberate objective of the EU – the legal systems of the European countries are in fact getting closer to each other. The countries are looking beyond their national fences and they are often voluntarily adapting their systems to those of their neighboring countries. It is therefore tempting and challenging to study the labour law of the countries in Europe from a comparative perspective.
Why is American labour law so different from the law in other states? And can we expect in the nearby future changes in the present state of American Labour Law? This textbook tries to find the answer by exploring the background of labour law, the size, geographical situation, population, culture and economic data of the USA.
Unfortunately, labour law is very seldom on the bookshelves of the workers in Europe. It certainly is on the desks of trade union officials, of HRM staff of the enterprises and of lawyers and judges, but that is French, German, Polish, etc. labour law. European Labour Law is hardly known even among labour law experts. That is of no great matter as much of the labour law of Europe is, like a sponge absorbs the water, implemented in domestic law. Sometimes, however, one needs to trace the European origins of domestic laws, for example when there are doubts whether domestic law is fully in accordance with European law.
This book has the ambition to put the reader wise about the European origins on Labour Law. It is the fruit of lectures that Prof. Antoine Jacobs has given (2012-2019) as visiting professor at the State University of Milano.
About the Author
Dr. Antoine T.J.M. Jacobs is emeritus Professor in Labour Law, Social Security Law and Social Policy at the University of Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Born on 30 April 1946, in Vaals (The Netherlands), he took his Master’s Degree (cum laude) in law at Leyden University, 1973. Later he studied in Düsseldorf, Paris, Cambridge, Canterbury and Brussels.
He was deputy-secretary on social affairs at the Dutch Merchant Shipping Council (1968–1974) and lecturer in Labour Law and Social Security Law at Tilburg University (1976–1982). In 1986 he obtained his doctorate (cum laude) at the University of Brabant in Tilburg on the right of collective bargaining in European and comparative perspective.
He has written books and articles on Dutch labour and social security law in general, the right to work, the right to strike, discrimination and employment, the direct effect of international norms on Dutch labour and social security law, the influence of ILO norms on Dutch social security law, labour law and social policy of the European Communities, labour law in the German Federal Republic, labour law, employment law and social security law in the USA, Dutch collective labour law, the Dutch law on dismissals and flexible workers, actual developments in Dutch social security law, etc.
He has held the chair of Professor in Labour Law, Social Security Law and Social Policy at Tilburg University from 1987 until 2011. He continued teaching there as well as at the State University of Milano, where he is charged by giving each year an English-language course in European Labour Law.
He has been visiting professor in Montpellier (1993), Bari (1995), Nantes (1996), Leuven (1998), Pavia (2004), has given papers on comparative labour law at international conferences on Labour Law in Cologne, Frankfurt, Komintini (Greece), Fontevreau (France), Tokyo, Barcelona, Montreal, Paris, etc., cooperated with colleagues in other European countries on comparative work and has advised the European Commission and social partners in The Netherlands on matters of labour law and social security law.
He is a member of the Research Network on transnational trade union rights of the European Trade Union Institute.
Open Press TiU is the academic Open Access publishing house for Tilburg University and beyond. As part of the Open Science Action Plan of Tilburg University, Open Press TiU aims to accelerate Open Access in scholarly book publishing.
