The Right to Work in the European Union Law

Among the second generation rights of man--social and economic rights--one is the right to work which have been emphasized in international and regional documents and also in the constitutions of several states. From 1919 with the establishment of International Labour Organization different aspects of this right (like the right to have a job, prohibition against discrimination while employing and occupation, the right to have job security …) were internationally emphasized and from this angel it found its place in different legal systems in a way that today first generation rights (the right to life and prohibition of torture etc.) is not the focus of attention of human rights activists. On the other hand other rights like right to, prohibition of discrimination and other related rights have become the center of workers expectations and the subject of legal cases. In this regard the judgments of human rights courts and the European Court of Justice is an indication to this point. With the establishment of European Union in the continent of Europe as a regional organization, gradually a new legal system got shaped which today is called the European Union law system. This comprehensive and developed legal system includes a wide range of legal rules including human rights rules. Social and economic rights are in the center of attention of European institutions like Commission of Europe and Council of Europe. The council has approved different directives in which they have paid attention to right to work. For instance the directive on prohibition of discrimination in employing and occupation (2006), directive related to collective dismissal of workers in 1998, directive related to working hours (2006) are some of the examples of obligatory rules of European Union regarding the right to work. In the present article examining the legal rules of European Union regarding work, different issues are discussed in three parts. In the first part the concept of right to work and right to have access to work specially the right to set up a business and also access to job training opportunities have been discussed. In the second part prohibition of discrimination while employing and occupation and working condition and payments are discussed and different directives of the Union are explained and illustrated. In this way a comparison has been made between the system of prohibition of discrimination at European level and international level. In the third part the job security and issues like dismissal of workers and fixed period employment contracts in Europe have been discussed. In each part it has been tried to tally the European Union rules and international law rules to compare the level of European standards and international law.