Sustainable Labour Regulation: What Does a Feminist Perspective Offer?

The need to develop more ecologically and socially sustainable work systems has been widely acknowledged in European Union (EU) policy, as well as by key transnational policy-setting bodies such as the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Whether such systems can be compatible with the current organization of economic activities, including the Fordist and post-Fordist production and consumption models dominant in Europe and globally, is a contested issue. Adopting a constructivist perspective and blending insights from feminist political economy, ethic of care, and political ecology, this paper conceptualizes what a sustainable work system (one that is defined as care- and nature-centric) would entail. Then, drawing on the debate on transformation of labour law on the one hand, and on a range of examples from European labour law and employment policy on the other, the paper considers whether contemporary European employment regimes could support such a model or how they might be transformed for the interests of ‘caring’ and ‘nature’, or the objectives of social and ecological sustainability, to be meaningfully supported.