This new edition traces the evolution of EU employment law over sixty years from its limited market-based origins in the Treaty of Rome through to the present-day commitment to advance the fundamental social rights of workers and establish a core 'guarantee' of adequate social protection in Union policies in the Treaty of Lisbon. Each historical stage of development of Community/Union employment law is analysed in depth chapter by chapter to give a sense of perspective to this fast changing area.
The book addresses the challenges posed to EU employment law in the 2010s by the global economic crisis, the growth of the service economy, e-working, demographic changes, and the breakdown of traditional work relationships and methods of collective organisation. The author explains how the social, economic and employment imperatives of the European integration process have always been intertwined and explains how the gradual emergence of EU employment law from a twilight existence is best understood by exploring consistent strands of policy development.