Study on the legal theory of collective autonomy from the view of Article 28 of the Constitution in Japan

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K03403
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Social law
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Kuwamura Yumiko 東北大学, 法学研究科, 准教授 (70376391)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 協約自治 / 規範的効力 / 非雇用型就業 / 労働者類似の者 / 労組法上の労働者 / 労働協約法理 / 憲法28条の主体

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project aims to clarify the legal status of a person who are not an employee in the meaning of the Labor Standard Act but a worker in the meaning of the Trade Union Act (TUA) in regard with collective agreements. After the three-years’ comparative analysis between German and Japanese Law, it concludes that a person who has the right to organize a union should be able to enjoy the normative effect of collective agreements under the current collective bargaining system in the TUA. Also, the legal theory on the so-called “favorable principle” should be applied to such persons. On the other hand, a person who are not a worker in the meaning of the TUA is outside of the protection of the current TUA. From the view of legal policy, it is an important issue whether a new specific collective bargaining system should be introduced to them. In this case, it is necessary as the next step to analyze the boundary between collective labor law and competition law.

Free Research Field

労働法

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

使用者の指示を受けて働く従来の労働者ではなく独立して働く個人事業主は、最高裁判例により、一定の条件下で労働組合を結成し不当労働行為救済制度の適用を受けることが示されたが、労働協約を締結した場合の効果など労働協約法理における位置づけはいまだ未解明であった。本研究は、憲法28条から導かれるあるべき解釈として、労働協約の規範的効力の人的適用範囲などの労組法上の解釈問題について取り組んだ。目下フリーランスの法的保護のあり方が立法論として議論されているが、本研究はその不可欠の前提である、解釈論による現行労組法の妥当範囲とその限界を明らかにしており、学術的にも社会的にも大きな意義がある。