ABSTRACT
International regulation of employment derives from ILO Conventions, e.g. the Minimum Wage Fixing Convention (1928) is one of the most widely accepted instruments of the ILO (Lucas, 1986). The way in which this had been implemented as legislation and/or collective agreements varies considerably (LPC, 2003: 251-8; also Chapter 5), reflecting the differences in national employment systems, institutional arrangements and cultures outlined in Chapter 1. Although we can discern varying extents of regulation, suggesting that the US is less regulated than Europe, this is over-simplistic as the US has substantially more employment law than Britain. Similarly a European model, if it exists, is highly diverse (Taylor, 2001a,b). Because of huge national variations, this chapter focuses mainly on UK law and practice within the context of the EU, supplemented by examples from Europe and the rest of the world.
