| 释义 |
Social Chapter
The Maastricht Treaty on European Union 1992 included a Social Chapter that laid down EU policies on workers’ rights and other social issues. The objectives of the Social Chapter were to promote employment, improve living and working conditions, establish dialogue between management and workers by means of works councils, implement proper social protection, and develop human resources with a view to lasting high employment. The social provisions include unpaid parental leave for new parents and the principle of equal pay for male and female workers for equal work. It was not until 1997 that the UK government finally agreed to the incorporation of these social aims and objectives into the main body of the founding Community Treaty with the signing of the Amsterdam Treaty. This led to a number of changes to UK law, including the implementation of unpaid parental leave and European Works Councils and new rights for part-time workers. Although the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018 provides for the retention of most EU law in the UK (see retained EU law), it is now open to ministers of the Crown to take forward primary legislation that differs from the standards set by these directives. UK ministers may also make regulations to provide that specified courts or tribunals are no longer bound by retained EU case law in certain circumstances when interpreting retained EU law. |