L'orario di lavoro nel quadro della politica sociale. Le regole europee su «taluni aspetti dell’organizzazione dell’orario di lavoro»

The dissertation concerns the working time: one of the most important issues of European social law. It begins with an historical excursus, taking into consideration the evolution of the relevant secondary legislation, to arrive to an analysis of the major features of the current legal order. The directive 2003/88/Ce is considered in all its aspects, but it is studied particularly in the light of the recent (in 2009 and in 2013) failures of the repeated review processes, the main points at stake being: the opt out from the 48 hours maximum weekly limit, the qualification as working time of the inactive periods of duty on call and the reconciliation of time of work with time of life. The case law of the European Court of Justice has always had, in this matter, a crucial role, and its systematic analysis constitutes an important section of the dissertation. In an ideal modern society, flexibility of working time should be conceived not only in the interest of the production but also in the interest of the worker as a person, at the point that, under certain circumstances, the latter should prevail over the former (pregnancy and parenthood in general, training and retraining programs etc.). This assumption is fundamental in the perspective of rebalancing the relationship between the employer and the employee; the principle of «the adaptation of the work to the worker» (article 13 of the WTD) should be more deeply respected and not only used «to alleviating» monotonous work or shift work. The ratio of the protection of health and safety should be as important as the aim to improve – in the text of the directive – the flexibility in favour of the worker. The central part of the thesis is dedicated to the study of working time in connection with the so called “Fiat case”: the very disputed collective agreements have imposed a seriously “questionable” aggravation of time patterns. These agreements were negotiated by the “Italian-American” automobile company with several unions and the opposition of the most representative one. The study is carried on with an especial attention to the industrial relations context, particularly in Italy. Keywords: working time social policy rules Europe orario lavoro socialità regole Europa