Labour law for the worker? An examination of the effectiveness of post-war and contemporary labour law in protecting hospitality workers

This thesis examines and compares the protection afforded to hospitality workers by labour law in the years following the Second World War and today. The primary issue addressed throughout the thesis is the effectiveness of labour law in these two time periods in providing hospitality workers with decent terms and conditions of employment. When compared to other industries and sectors, work in hospitality has traditionally been unstable and unpredictable, due in part to fluctuating demand across working weeks and seasons, and reliance on customers for tips. Today, the high prevalence of precarious employment relationships, such as zero-hours contracts, compound these problems, placing many workers in a vulnerable position and making it especially difficult for them to access and enforce employment rights. The investigation of the effectiveness of labour law proceeds in four stages. First, the general organisation of labour law in the two periods is discussed. Second, the legal implications of work on a zero-hours contract, as well as some wider implications for workers, are examined. Third, labour law specifically relating to hospitality workers in the two periods is examined, as well as the way in which the nature of work in hospitality can exacerbate precarious employment. Finally, there is an examination of data and literature relating to employer non- compliance with employment law in the two periods. The thesis concludes that the catering wages boards that existed in the post-war years provided hospitality workers with a more effective model for ensuring employer compliance with employment law, and worker involvement in setting terms and conditions of employment. It is suggested that for labour law today to effectively provide hospitality workers with decent terms and conditions of employment, a similar model to the wages boards could be adopted