Crawford, Benjamin
(2023)
Workers’ rights vs ‘owners’ rights: how structures of corporate law affect the realization of labour rights.
PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.
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Abstract
The thesis develops a systematic exposition of the relationship between corporate law and labour rights. The analysis explores the ways in which the legal structuring of the labour relationship through the corporate employer affects the realization of labour rights. The analysis moves beyond the traditional scope of labour law to consider the ways in which corporate, insolvency and competition law uphold hierarchical control over workers across the ‘corporate veil’ of formally independent legal entities. The study draws on perspectives in the Law and Political Economy (LPE) tradition. Katherina Pistor’s concept of the legal ‘coding’ of capital is adapted to the labour relationship. The coding of capital is analysed as a process through which private law rules are applied to the legal structuring of the social relations of the firm. The impacts of this legal structuring for workers claims to value, job security, and autonomy and voice at work are explored through a series of case examples. 1) The leveraged buyout and the effect of takeovers on rights to collective bargaining and workers share of value. 2) The structure of creditors rights in high yield credit instruments and workers exposure to risk, priority of claims, and rights to worker voice in insolvency. 3) The structuring of the labour relationship across franchise networks and supply chains. The analysis will explore the ways in which rights are shaped by the legal coding of capital: of the forms of corporate property; a process of capitalization which structures social relations through law.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Law and Social Justice |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 30 Jan 2024 08:47 |
| Last Modified: | 30 Jan 2024 08:47 |
| DOI: | 10.17638/03176684 |
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| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3176684 |
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