1 From Widgets to Digits : Legal Regulation of the Changing Contract of Employment(From the Sub-sessions)
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概要
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In this article, Professor Katherine Stone describes how employers in the United States have built a new employment relationship-a "new deal at work"-that differs from that which pertained for the past one hundred years. In the past, employers organized their workforces into "internal labor markets" in which they encouraged employees to stay in their jobs long-term by implicitly promising them lifetime employment, orderly promotion opportunities, generous health insurance and reliable retirement benefits. In recent decades, employers have abandoned their commitment to long-term relationships, and have instead instituted fundamental reforms in order to gain flexibility in the face of heightened international competition. The "new deal at work" involves an emphasis on employability rather than job security, a flattening of hierarchy, an implicit promise of training and networking in lieu of promotions, and an expectation that employees will manage their own careers. Professor Stone argues that the new employment relationship shifts onto employees many risks that were previously borne by the firm. These risks include the possibility of job loss, wage uncertainty, loss of the value of labor market skills, loss of health insurance and pensions, loss of legal protections, and the undermining of labor unions. She shows that the U.S. labor and employment laws were built upon the assumption of a long-term employment relationship between employees and firms and thus they need to be revised to meet the needs of the new employment relationships. Professor Stone argues that the new workplace has created new types of problems for workers, including new types of employment discrimination, the dissolution of employee retirement and health benefits, and the deterioration of employee representation. In addition, she maintains that public policy needs to focus on the problems created by the career transitions that most people will experience several times in their working lives. Professor Stone offers proposals for revising our labor and employment laws in order to enable workers to survive and thrive in these new, boundary-less workplaces.
- 社会政策学会の論文
- 2007-03-31