Reflexive deregulation of labour market policies and labour law

Labour market deregulation is a policy pushed at the global level by main stream economic monitoring institutions such as the OECD, the IMF and the World Bank. The labour market is viewed by these international organisations as performing optimally if cleared of dismissal protection, wage determination through collective bargaining and regulations on working time. Linked closely to a neoliberal understanding of the functioning of the economy, this employer-oriented and employer-supported labour market policy is sold as the only successful solution for the emerging world society. Not surprisingly, it is resisted worldwide by trade unions and to some extent by the international organisation dealing with labour policy, the International Labour Organization (ILO).