Résumés
Abstract
One response to the employer’s search for “flexibility” (most evident in the “platform economy”) may be “institutional experimentation,” i.e., changes to institutions and how they relate to organizations and labour standards. Our question: “What form of institutional arrangement can best enable the lessons of policy experimentation to be learned and disseminated?”
Under directed devolution, as proposed here, legal entitlements or obligations would be set at a higher level (say, a national jurisdiction). A lower level (“subsidiary bodies”) would be required to work out detailed implementation of those standards, with a view to protecting the affected workers’ interests. The subsidiary bodies might cover specific industries or groups of industries. They may need to be quite innovative. Results would be evaluated and ideas generated. By emphasizing flexibility and learning, directed devolution enables actors to learn from the experiments of other actors. One such example is the regulation of New York’s road passenger transport industry in 2019, a highly innovative attempt to convert a high-level time-based minimum standard into a practical, local solution.
Directed devolution is a form of multi-level policy-making, with some similarities to the concept of subsidiarity, but more tightly integrated. Other relevant but distinct forms of multi-level bargaining include the ILO Conventions, the Bangladesh Accord and several forms of regulation adopted in Australia. Actors and policy-makers should have long-term strategies, be careful in their processes of selecting institutional members, and be prepared to deal with powerful opposition.
Directed devolution can be useful wherever establishing enforceable general principles is important and can make a real difference, but there are complications with implementation if circumstances vary considerably among organizations or industries. Devolution can be achieved without losing enforceability, and this can be done without shifting power away from those with less power. Directed devolution is a complement to, not a substitute for, specific regulatory interventions.
Keywords:
- directed devolution,
- platform economy,
- regulation,
- flexibility,
- institutional experimentation,
- disruption
Résumé
Une réponse à la recherche de ‘flexibilité’ par l’employeur (plus évidente dans l’économie des plateformes numériques) peut être ‘l’expérimentation institutionnelle’, c’est-à-dire les changements apportés aux institutions et à leurs relations avec les organisations et les normes de travail. Notre question est la suivante : « Quelle forme d’arrangement institutionnel peut le mieux permettre de tirer et de diffuser les leçons de l’expérimentation politique ? »
Dans le cadre de la « décentralisation dirigée » (directed devolution en anglais), telle que proposée ici, les droits ou les obligations juridiques seraient fixés à un niveau supérieur (par exemple, une juridiction nationale). Toutefois, un niveau inférieur (« organes subsidiaires ») devrait élaborer la mise en oeuvre détaillée de ces normes, notamment en vue de protéger les intérêts des travailleurs concernés. Les organes subsidiaires pourraient couvrir des industries ou des groupes d’industries spécifiques. Ils pourraient devoir être assez innovants. Les résultats seraient évalués et des idées seraient générées. En mettant l’accent sur la flexibilité et l’apprentissage, cette « décentralisation dirigée » permettrait aux acteurs de tirer des enseignements des expériences des autres acteurs. Un exemple en est la réglementation du secteur du transport routier de passagers à New York effectuée en 2019, qui fut une tentative très innovante de convertir une norme nationale minimale relative au temps en une solution pratique et locale.
La « décentralisation dirigée », qui est une forme d’élaboration de politiques à plusieurs niveaux, présente certaines similitudes avec le concept de subsidiarité, mais elle s’avère plus étroitement intégrée. Parmi les autres formes pertinentes, mais distinctes, de négociation à plusieurs niveaux figurent les Conventions de l’OIT, l’Accorddu Bangladesh et plusieurs formes de réglementation adoptées en Australie. Les acteurs et les décideurs politiques doivent avoir des stratégies à long terme, être prudents dans leurs processus de sélection des membres institutionnels, ainsi qu’être prêts à faire face à une opposition puissante.
La « décentralisation dirigée » peut être utile chaque fois qu’il est important d’établir des principes généraux applicables et elle peut faire une réelle différence. Toutefois, sa mise en oeuvre se complique lorsque les circonstances varient considérablement d’une organisation ou d’un secteur à l’autre. La décentralisation peut être réalisée sans perdre son caractère exécutoire, et ce sans enlever le pouvoir à ceux qui en ont moins. La « décentralisation dirigée » constitue donc un complément, et non un substitut, aux interventions réglementaires spécifiques.
Mots-clés:
- décentralisation dirigée,
- économie de plate-forme,
- réglementation,
- flexibilité,
- expérimentation institutionnelle,
- perturbation
Parties annexes
Parties annexes
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