Abstract

The essay proposes a rereading of the relationship between labour law and citizenship by developing some methodological indications of Umberto Romagnoli, to whom this essay is dedicated. Labour law has always seen citizenship as a consequence of the protection provided by labour law: citizenship comes from the recognition of social rights. This means centering the system on the notion of subordination and making citizenship depend on the qualification of the employment relationship. The contractual dimension prevails over citizenship status. The trend has now reversed this relationship: it is citizenship that offers the guarantees, no longer centered on the figure of the employee, but on that of the human person. The movement therefore goes from contract to status and labour law becomes the right of the person and not simply of the employee.