May 2008

This IER Briefing was prepared by Professor Keith Ewing as an IER background Briefing to recent legal and industrial devlopments.

Understanding the Viking and Laval Cases

Recent case law developments in the European Court of Justice (ECJ)pose serious threats to trade unions. Fundamental principles of freedom of association and protection of terms and conditions through collective bargaining have been seriously weakened by no less than three recent cases.

The attached Briefing Note, kindly submitted by Professor Mark Bell of Leicester University, sheds some light and understanding on the first two important decisions, those of Viking and Laval.

…and now the Ruffert and Luxembourg decisions

The attached Article, by Richard Arthur will appear in the Summer Edition of Federation News as produced by IER and the GFTU. This covers the cases of Ruffert and Luxembourg.

The Institute will be updating this section of the website regularly as developments in Europe unfold. This is particulaly important as the Lisbon Treaty, though stalled due to the Irish No vote, proposed to extend the powers of the ECJ, according to a recent IER publication by Lord Wedderburn