The European Social Charter and the Employment Relation

This collection addresses the potential of the European Social Charter to promote and safeguard social rights in Europe as a whole and, in particular, in the European Union. Drawing on the expertise of Transnational Trade Union Rights experts network from across Europe, it provides a comprehensive commentary on these fundamental rights. Taking a two-part approach, it offers an in-depth legal analysis of the European Social Charter as a new social constitution for Europe, investigating first the potential of the general framework in which the Charter is embedded. In a second phase, a series of social rights are examined in light of the case law of the European Committee of Social Rights, to demonstrate the crucial but difficult role of the Charter’s supervisory bodies to secure the respect and promotion of social and workers’ rights at national level, bearing in mind the reciprocal influence of other international social rights instruments. This