In keeping with previous LLRN conferences, we expect to structure panels and presentations on a wide variety of topics related to the law of work. LLRN7 is thus open to any contribution to labour law (as always, broadly conceived). Submissions focusing on one legal system should be framed so as to highlight their significance to scholars from other jurisdictions.

In all conference themes, and regardless of a paper’s geographic focus, we encourage papers that are interdisciplinary. They may be interdisciplinary in their research methodology, and/or in drawing on what is known in other disciplines. In many countries across the world there is little to no labour law literature, but there is nevertheless academic and policy-making knowledge of their labour markets and political economies. Likewise, we encourage papers that engage with – perhaps challenge – existing doctrinal and/or theoretical perspectives on labour law.

Papers from and about all parts of the world are welcome and we encourage papers that consider regions of the world relatively little considered to date in labour law scholarship. Examples include our host region, South-East Asia, together with the Caribbean, the Pacific, many parts of Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.

To stimulate an enriching conversation, we strongly encourage and particularly invite contributions that address the following themes. Nevertheless, there is no strict category of tracks or themes to which papers must be aligned. Proposals in all areas of labour law and from all parts of the world will be welcome and considered on merit.

1. Changing forms of work and labour law’s responses

The classical model of labour law co-evolved with economic and technological developments in the early industrializing countries. It is an open (or at least empirical) question what proportion of the world’s workers were ever fully covered by the laws reflecting this model. In many parts of the world, it was never the case – and it seems unlikely ever to be so.[1] In those parts of the world where the model emerged, new forms of work and engagement for work continue to evolve, including because of technological innovation. Gig work, platform work and the impact of AI are prominent current examples, although none is confined to developed economies. A new phase of co-evolution may be underway. At the same time, in certain countries, climate change is already having major effects on labour markets.

This stream seeks papers that critically examine how labour law is responding to the realities of how work is performed and how workers are engaged to perform it. It seeks papers that address whether and how workers are covered by laws regulating labour – whatever the forms of work and whatever the laws may be. Papers may address the putative new phase of co-evolution. They may explore forms of work that were never within the scope of the classical regulatory model. Papers may examine the differences in labour regulation for workers in different size enterprises or between those in standard and those in non-standard work. They may consider labour law in either or both of its individual and collective dimensions. They may explore the implications for and the responses of particular areas of labour regulation, including – for example – discrimination law, the need to protect workers’ private data, climate regulation and efforts to promote just transitions or the application and operation of social protection systems. We strongly encourage papers that go beyond the descriptive, and which draw attention to regulatory innovation. We also encourage papers that explore practical and theoretical challenges for labour law as a discipline.

[1]The ILO estimates that 61 per cent of workers are in the informal economy and that 64 per cent of them are self-employed.

2. Actors, institutions and processes in the governance of work

This stream seeks papers that consider different forms and sources of labour regulation, as well as different regulatory actors, and their interaction with each other. We encourage papers that explore the interaction of private and public labour regulation, whether nationally or trans-nationally. Private regulation could be taken to include the actions of firms; it could likewise be taken to include collective regulation of working conditions, whether through collective bargaining or otherwise.

Papers in this stream may consider the relationships between national and international labour regulation. Papers may be empirical or theoretical; again we encourage those that draw on literature in disciplines other than (labour) law. Authors may explore the implications for labour law of National Action Plans on business and human rights, and initiatives imposing requirements for environmental and social governance. We encourage papers that critically examine regulation of work in production for export in supply chains. In this respect, we particularly welcome papers that acknowledge and address the diversity of economic supply chain structures and industries, and the implications of this diversity for effective regulation of labour. Papers that explore the implications and operation of recently adopted transnational regulatory initiatives, such as mandatory human rights due diligence laws would be particularly welcome; so too those that consider the state of efforts to adopt global regulation in this area.  

3. Labour market composition and capacity

Who is allowed to work and where, and what they are able to do, are critical questions for the effective functioning of labour markets and national economies. Labour migration is a major policy and political issue. Other crucial issues include changing labour market demographics, and the imperative to ensure a sufficient supply of appropriately skilled workers.

Work is central to migration flows. According to ILO estimates, in 2019 there were approximately 169 million migrant workers worldwide. They accounted for 86.5 percent of working-age migrants. Some states have long depended on permanent immigration to continue to provide economic stimulus and job creation. Some have small citizen populations and fill gaps with labour migrants. Many countries rely on labour migrants to address skills shortages. States with an oversupply of workers often become senders of workers abroad, and sometimes enter into bilateral agreements with receiving states.

Labour migration can create policy challenges in both receiving and sending labour markets. Whether migrating formally or informally, labour migrants are often vulnerable to exploitation. At the same time, sending states may lose key cohorts of workers, while some become dependent on remittances. In recent years, popular support for some forms of formal labour migration has waned, while opposition to informal labour migration has become virulent. Populists from across the political spectrum have focused on fears about employment and income security. By pandering to beliefs that conflict with the universality of human rights and labour rights, they further complicate policy making in this field.

In many countries, the changing age structure of the population has potentially significant implications for economic development, labour markets and well-being in different development contexts. These may include possible shortages in labour supply and skills, productivity and innovation, and the provision of adequate social protection and other services for an increasingly ageing population. The challenges arise not only in industrialized economies where population ageing is already pronounced. Countries in the Global South face the task of preparing themselves for this transition, even while facing major deficits in decent and productive work opportunities. Policy issues include how to encourage workers to remain active longer in the workforce, and how to encourage greater labour market participation by under-represented groups, including women in particular. At the same time, in many countries young workers are either unemployed, underemployed, or not in employment or education.

This stream seeks papers that examine the policy and politics of regulating labour market composition and capacity. Papers on labour migration may consider these issues through many possible lenses, including economics, human rights or the imperative for just transitions. Authors may address changes in labour market regulation to address labour market demographics, including the imperative to stimulate sufficient job creation. In all cases, authors are encouraged to engage with both drivers and consequences of policy, and in particular to address the connection with efforts to match skills with labour market demands.

4. Methodological and theoretical issues in labour law

This stream seeks papers that draw on and critically examine methodological and theoretical issues in labour law. Papers may engage with comparative labour law: what it is; how it is best done; and to what end? They may draw on empirical research methods, while explicitly articulating the specific value they perceive in doing so. Authors may explore the variety of regulatory measures that may be deployed, including soft law, incentives, information disclosure and focussing on market reputation. Papers may consider interdisciplinarity in labour law scholarship, for example the use of anthropological or historical methods and perspectives. Authors may likewise draw on and/or articulate a wide variety of theoretical perspectives on labour law: developmental, feminist, human rights, Marxist, post-colonial, post-growth, post-productive work, and so on. We seek papers that are about the how and the why, not just the what; papers that engage with the difficult issues facing labour law in practice, including whether the assumptions underlying contemporary labour law systems (individual, collective as well as social protection) remain relevant (implying a more forward-looking approach).

5. Labour, law and development

While the traditional model of labour law faces challenges the world over, the scale and scope of the challenges in so-called “developing” economies are far greater. The empirical realities of the world of work are often fundamentally at odds with labour law’s imaginings. The regulatory traditions and institutions are also far removed from the archetypes presupposed by labour law. The gap between the law on the books and the law in action can be vast. A real understanding of labour, law, and their interactions with “development” projects – however defined – requires innovative and novel regulatory solutions. It requires attention to the contestability of the concept of “development.” It requires also that labour law scholarship give greater consideration to the experience in these labour markets.

Papers in this stream may examine any aspect of labour regulation in the Global South, by which we mean all tools and institutions that regulate work. We seek papers that consider labour regulation in practice from an analytical perspective. They may be concerned with the reach of labour law – or with the institutions and processes that regulate labour in practice. Authors may wish to consider the interaction of labour regulation and “sustainable development.” We strongly encourage papers that draw on other disciplines, and papers that engage directly with the question of whether and how labour regulation contributes to “development,” however defined. Similarly, we would welcome papers that consider whether there is scope – conceptual, intellectual or political – to imagine and to deploy a kind of labour law that is “development-oriented”, regardless of the state(s) considered.