Right to Work

The expression “right to work” may have several different meanings according to the context, a fact supported by a long and complex history of social struggles and also by its close connection with current economic and legal models in different countries. Under its aspect of effective chances to [Page 1409]obtain employment, the right to work is mostly associated with state intervention via economic policies actively seeking to ensure full employment. On the other hand, as to its aspect of ­freedom of access to different professions, it is predominantly based on a free-marketer logic that assumes the capacity of unimpeded markets to ensure employment.

The very idea of a right to work is grounded simultaneously on the notions that each human being should have the conditions to ...