The Framework Agreement on Telework (2002) was the first of the non-legally binding (soft law) agreements concluded by the European Social Partners. The employer organisations UNICE, CEEP, and UEAPME, and the trade union organisation ETUC. Although the forum on which this book is based focused on the telework agreement, the subject matter of the papers and discussion centred on the nature of the framework agreements themselves, on the role of the social partners, and on implications for the future of European labour law. The forum took place in Brussels with the support of the Royal Flemish Academy in September 2006. The book prints sixteen papers by distinguished labour law authorities representing legal academic, managerial and policy dimensions either originally presented at the forum or emerging from it. Among the far-reaching questions raised are the following:

• Do the framework agreements constitute a ‘new way’ of developing European employment law?
• Under what circumstances will a teleworker be able to act to obtain social protection under a framework agreement?
• Are we heading for a social Europe where mere recommendations, rather than labour market rules, are the norm?
• Where is the line between ‘regular’ and ‘non-regular’ telework?

A consensus seems to emerge that the framework agreements, in their support of the transition from ‘job security’ to ‘employability,’ are leading soft law into what may aptly be called ‘liquid law.’ The papers include reports on implementation and development of framework agreements in individual countries including Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, as well as a report on the United States. For the important and urgent questions it raises about telework and the ‘new world of work’ that telework so clearly represents, this book will engage the committed attention of everyone involved in the fields and activities shaped by labour and employment law in Europe and throughout the world.