Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 October 2017
The right to work was until recently under-explored in academic literature and judicial decision-making. Classified often as a social right, it was viewed as a non-justiciable entitlement. Today, as the right to work is sometimes used as a slogan in favour of deregulation of the labour market, as well as a slogan against immigration and unionisation, the analysis of the right to work as part of a labour law agenda is crucial. Against this background, this chapter examines the right to work in the European Convention on Human Rights. Even though the right to work is not explicitly protected in the ECHR, the chapter identifies in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights certain principles that underpin the right to work, which can serve as guidance in the interpretation of existing provisions of the Convention.
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38 See, for instance, Siliadin v France, App No 73316/01, Judgment of 26 July 2005, discussed below.
39 See, for instance, Niemietz v Germany, App No 13710/88, Judgment of 16 December 1992, discussed below (text to nn 88–89).
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53 See further, KVW Stone, ‘A Right to Work in the United States: Historical Antecedents and Contemporary Possibilities’ in The Right to Work, n 2 above.
54 Sidabras and Dziautas v Lithuania, App Nos 55480/00 and 59330/00, Judgment of 27 July 2004. For analysis of the case, see V Mantouvalou, ‘Work and Private Life: Sidabras and Dziautas v Lithuania’ (2005) European Law Review 573.
55 Sidabras, ibid, para 48.
56 Ibid, para 47.
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64 Joint partly dissenting opinion of Judges Tulkens, Kovler, Gyulumyan, Spielmann, Popovic, Malinverni and Pardalos, para 10.
65 I develop this further in V Mantouvalou, ‘The Right to Non-Exploitative Work’ in The Right to Work (n 2 above).
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102 See above n 14.
103 See G Letsas, A Theory of Interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights, above n 41.
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