I've got a buddy who runs a record label. Going to send him this article and see what he says.
I know here in the states I think the label can do that. In many ways it's a work for hire. About the only way you can stop them as an artist is buy the masters, and there's not many who can afford to do that. I know Tim McGraw got pissed off at Curb for releasing a greatest hits package when he had an album that was almost ready. Problem is it wasn't finished before the quarter and the label needed to put out a revenue stream to try and make some money. I'm curious if he recorded any of those tracks before his contract ended.
On first look I'd say the label didn't really do anything wrong, but I'll wait and see what my friend says since he knows quite a bit about overseas rights.