Bridging the Gap Between Labour Law and Company Law: Wedderburn’s Legacy: An Appreciation
本文评述韦德伯恩教授的著作，探讨公司法与劳动法的互动，指出公司法基本原则赋予企业自由而劳动法保护薄弱，需根本改革以增强工人话语权。
Abstract The paper surveys the extensive writings of the late Professor Lord Wedderburn and explores the interactions between company law and labour law. A set of case studies illustrates labour law’s relative weakness in the contemporary corporate law context. Whilst it does change over time, company law has largely remained consistent with its two fundamental principles of separate legal personality and limited liability and its complementary prioritisation of the shareholders’ interests. These stable features provide a foundation that grants powerful corporate actors considerable freedom to pursue their interests and to organise their corporations however they please with little regard for those providing labour. Labour law finds itself constantly having to adapt to changing economic (and connected political) realities, fraying further the already threadbare protections for workers, especially in the context of global trade. With modern globalisation and financialization, a variety of “shareholders” and increasingly byzantine corporate structural arrangements have emerged presenting few opportunities to mitigate the impacts of their harmful activities. Investors and managers extract value with exploitative and detrimental consequences for the workers and other stakeholders. Fundamental reforms to company law are required for more effective workers’ voice and protection.