Core and Contingent Work in the European Union

Labour and social security law studies have addressed the topic of the decline of the standard employment relationship mainly from the point of view of the growing number of atypical relationships. Only a limited number of studies have examined the issue from the perspective of the differentiation between core and contingent work. Such an examination is necessary as the increase in contingent work leads to complicated legal questions which vary between European states depending on the type of contingent arrangements that have become most prevalent. This book analyses, using a comparative approach, these different types of contingency from a national and EU perspective touching on the work relationship from a labour as well as a social security point of view. The aim of the book is to identify and analyse those questions adopting an innovative approach and to put forward proposals for safeguarding social cohesion within undertakings and European society.

1. The Spirit of Pontignano
Lorenzo Gaeta
2. Methodological Introduction
Edoardo Ales
3. Contingent Work: A Conceptual Framework
Antonio Lo Faro
4. Equal Treatment as a Problem: Germany and Agency Work
Olaf Deinert
5. 'Making' Contingent Work Conditional: Fixed-Term and Temporary Agency Contracts in Belgian Law
Filip Dorssemont
6. Externalising the Workforce: Lessons from France
Pascal Lokiec
7. Do We Really Wish You Were Here? Hungary and Distance Work
Erika Kovács
8. Re-structuring the Standard Employment Relationship: Italy and the Increasing Protection Contract
Maurizio Del Conte
9. Re-addressing Self-employment: Spain and the New Entrepreneurship
José Manuel Gómez Muñoz
10. Inverting the Flexicurity Paradigm: The United Kingdom and Zero Hours Contracts
Jeff Kenner
11. Collective Regulation of Contingent Work: From Traditional Forms of Contingent Work to Crowdwork-A German Perspective
Thomas Klebe and Johannes Heuschmid
12. Does Age Matter? Sweden, Younger and Older Workers and the Intergenerational Dimension of Contingent Work
Mia Rönnmar
13. Social Protection of Contingent Work: Austria and the Full Coverage Social Insurance System
Franz Marhold
14. The 'Risk Approach' in Occupational Health and Safety (with an Eye to Italy): Alternative or Complement to the 'Core/Contingent Approach'?
Edoardo Ales
15. Contingent Work and Social Cohesion: Some Outcomes and One Proposal
Edoardo Ales and Olaf Deinert

“It is indeed the case that the wealth of the analysis and reflection provided in this book makes it extremely difficult to provide an accurate account of all the issues contained within it ... [The editors] put forward a number of proposals that would be useful for the European institutions to consider.” –  Michel Theys, Bulletin Quotidien Europe

“The contributions embedded in the book come from an international set of authors and offer very detailed, insightful and interesting analyses ... the book fulfils its purpose to provide a comparative overview on the role of contingent work in the current labour market.” –  Marco Biasi, University of Milan, European Journal of Social Security