The Right to Work Legal and Philosophical Perspectives

The value of work cannot be underestimated in today's world. Work is valuable because productive labour generates goods needed for survival, such as food and housing; goods needed for self-development, such as education and culture; and other material goods that people wish to have in order to live a fulfilling life.

Ajob also generally inspires a sense of achievement, self-esteem and the esteem of others. People develop social relations at work, which can be very important for them. Work brings both material and non-material benefits. There is no doubt that work is a crucial good. Do we have a human right to this good? What is the content of the right? Does it impose a duty on governments to promote full employment? Does it entail an obligation to protect decent work? There is also a question about the right-holders. Do migrants have a right to work, for example? At the same time many people would rather not work. What kind of right is this, if many people do not want to have it?

The chapters of this book address the uncertainty and controversy that surround the right to work both in theoretical scholarship and in policymaking. They discuss the philosophical underpinnings of the right to work, and its development in human rights law at national level (in jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, France and the United States) and international level (in the context of the United Nations, the European Social Charter, the International Labour Organization, the European Convention on Human Rights and other legal orders).

- 1. Work, its Moral Meaning or Import
- 2. Is there a Human Right to Work?
- 3. The Right to Non-Exploitative Work
- 4. Universalising the Right to Work of Persons with Disabilities: An Equality and Dignity Based Approach
- 5. Aristotle, Arendt and the Gentleman: How the Conception of Remuneration Figures in our Understanding of a Right to Work and Be Paid
- 6. The Right to Work in International Human Rights Law
- 7. The Right to (Decent) Work in a European Comparative Perspective
- 8. Giving Up on the Human Right to Work
- 9. Only Fools and Horses: Some Sceptical Reflections on the Right to Work
- 10. The Right to Work and the Duty to Work
- 11. The French Approach to the Right to Work: The Potential of a Constitutional Right in Ordinary Courts
- 12. The Development of Right to Work Theories of Labour Law in Japan: A Comparative Perspective
- 13. Progress Towards the Right to Work in the United Kingdom
- 14. Why Do So Few Employees Return to their Jobs? In Pursuit of a Right to Work Following Unfair Dismissal
- 15. A Right to Work in the United States: Historical Antecedents and Contemporary Possibilities
- 16. Working Out the Right to Work in a Global Labour Market
- 17. The Right to Work and Labour Market Flexibility: Labour Market Governance Norms in the International Order

Virginia Mantouvalou is a Reader in Human Rights and Labour Law, and Co-Director of the Institute for Human Rights at University College London (UCL).