Evolution du pouvoir normatif des partenaires sociaux dans la réglementation du temps de travail : approche comparative Luxembourg, France et Allemagne

The purpose of the PhD project research is to study the evolution of the normative power of social partners in France, Germany and Luxembourg in the field of working time.
There are two main actors involved in the regulation of working time - excluding the relationship employer/ employee through the work contract - : the State, through legislative and executive powers and social partners, through collective agreements. We have witnessed for a while the decentralization of regulation, from the State to the social partners and from the sector level to the enterprise level. At the same time, the objective of the regulation on working time has changed. From a protection of individuals in terms of safety and health, the regulation tends to have now an effect on the economic crisis by reducing the working time duration and developing working time flexibility.
One of the objectives of the PhD is to analyze the reasons of the decentralization of the collective bargaining and its consequences, as for example, the individualization of the labor law rules. Thus, the role of the State will be analyzed and its evolution through the legislation concerning the employment policies and the “frame” given by the law on collective bargaining (for example the legal obligation to negotiate for social partners in France and in Luxembourg).
Another objective of the PhD is to analyze the evolution of the collective agreement as a norm which is potentially less favorable than the law. In France, for example, for more than twenty years, the collective agreement has not necessarily been more favorable than the law. This phenomenon seems to be developing at present in Luxembourg.
Hence, we will study the empowerment of social partners in the management of the economic crisis through negotiated regulation of the working time.