About the event

Triangular work arrangements such as 'labour hire' or 'agency work' are part of a broader set of work organisation models, which typify the modern fissured workplace. The current development of state-based labour hire licensing schemes in Australia calls for a broader understanding of how other regulatory systems have sought to keep pace with the fragmentation of the standard employment relationship and the dispersal of employer functions across firm boundaries. In this respect, continental European countries, such as Italy, provide an interesting model for comparison, given that they have experimented with a range of protective measures which are yet to be fully tested in Australia. In particular, agency work has long been the subject of detailed and restrictive regulation in Italy. However, this may come at the expense of effectively protecting workers in other organisational forms, such as subcontracting chains. The strengths and weaknesses of the Italian framework  may prove instructive when considering the future direction of labour hire regulation in Australia.

About the speakers

Emanuele Menegatti is Professor of Labour Law at the University of Bologna. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Illinois (USA), Curtin University (Australia) and Lund University (Sweden). He is Director of the Bachelor Degree in Management at the School of Economics, Management and Statistics, University of Bologna. Emanuele’s main fields of specialisation are comparative and EU labour law. He has published in top international journals, such as the Comparative Labor Law and Policy Journal and the International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations.

Azzurra Tranfaglia is undertaking a PhD in comparative labour law at the University of Melbourne, focusing on the protection of agency workers involved in triangular employment arrangements in Australia and in Italy. She is a former employment law practitioner and currently a Research Fellow and Teaching Fellow in Employment Law at Melbourne Law School. Azzurra is also a member of the Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law.