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Labor in Hard Times: Workers' Legal Mobilization at the European Court of Human Rights

New Arrival Labor in Hard Times: Workers' Legal Mobilization at the European Court of Human Rights

Labor in Hard Times: Workers' Legal Mobilization at the European Court of Human Rights

Author: Filiz Kahraman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781009732376
Published In: March 2026
Format: Paperback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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Description
Contents

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Labor in Hard Times examines how organized labor in Turkey and the United Kingdom turned to international human rights law in response to domestic repression and neoliberal restructuring. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and a unique database of labor rights cases, the book traces how workers used litigation at the European Court of Human Rights not just to win legal victories, but to build political pressure, assert legitimacy, and reclaim space for collective action. Focusing on public sector unionists in Turkey and blacklisted construction workers in the UK, it offers a rare view of how grassroots activists and lawyers mobilized international law as a tactical resource: Workers engaged rights discourse strategically to pursue concrete goals, while remaining rooted in class-based solidarity. With vivid case studies, this book speaks to readers interested in international courts, human rights, and the evolving strategies of labor movements in an era of democratic backsliding and global inequality.

1. Introduction

2. Theorizing workers' legal mobilization at the international level

Part I. Why Did Workers Turn to the European Court of Human Rights?:

3. Domestic drivers of human rights litigation: unraveling trade union power under two variants of neoliberalism

4. A new avenue for workers at the international level: The European Court of Human Rights

5. Lawyers as strategists: between the local and the international

Part II. What is the Impact of Litigation at The European Court of Human Rights?

6. Direct remedies: limits of compliance with European Court of Human Rights rulings

7. On-stage and off-stage mobilization: blacklisted workers in the United Kingdom

8. Mobilizing to unionize: public sector workers in Turkey

Chapter 9. Litigating in Hard times: fragile gains, enduring struggles

Appendix I. Strasbourg Labor Cases Database (StrasLab)