The author reviews the only essay in Italian labour law which deals specifically with the relationship between technology and labour law, written in 1986 by Gaetano Vardaro. While conceding that the historical aspect of Vardaro’s work has now been superseded by the recent rediscovery of Philipp Lotmar’s thinking, he argues that the part of the 1986 essay which deals with the impact of technological evolution on people’s lives is very current. Specifically, Vardaro foresaw the growing tyranny by which the so-called second machine age prevents people from dedicating part of their natural need for self-realisation to work.
Keywords: Subordination; Technologies and employment law; Life time and employment law; History of employment law; Time and law.