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6 J. Corp. L. Stud. 361 (2006)
Labour and the Corporation

handle is hein.journals/corplstd6 and id is 361 raw text is: Journal of Corporate Law Studies LABOUR AND THE CORPORATION SALLY WHEELER* This paper engages with two theories of thefirm those provided by law and economics and stakeholding from the standpoint of how they engage with the labour interest. The paper then moves on to look at the nature of work and worklife in the modem corporation. The suggestion is that the realio of worklife is not captured by the theories of thefirm as they currently standfor the reasons the paper gives. An alternative theoy is posited which builds on the idea of ethical dialogue inspired by the work of Levinas. A. INTRODUCTION In some of my recent work1 I have focused on constructing an ethical grounding for corporate social involvement in society. The ethical model that I put forward centres on Aristotelian virtue ethics. This, I suggest, is a way of clothing corporate interventions in sustainability; practicality and ultimately legitimacy In this way ethical or fair-trade branding, monetary donations and support of third sector activities, and cause-related marketing can become something more than the temporary provision of Coca-Cola and Starbuckstopia2 on as grand a scale as possible. In this paper I want to build on that work by focusing my attention on the concept of labour/waged employment/work (call it what you will), as it is described in the discourses of corporate law. My intention is to provide a critique of current theoretical models of the corporation. My stance is that they are drawing on outdated models of political economy and as such are ill-equipped to deal with developments in the relationship between the corporation and labour. I offer instead a reading of labour and corporate interaction which draws on the ideas of Levinas. This reading, based around notions of ethical dialogue, has a much closer resonance with recent legislative interventions into the environment of the employment relationship. In Section B of the paper I sketch out the way in which labour is described in the law and economics literature the mouthpiece * Professor of Law, Queens Belfast. I S Wheeler, Corporations and the Third Way (Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2002). 2 I have borrowed this term directly from V Fournier, Utopianism and the Cultivation of Possibilities: Grassroots Movements of Hope in M Parker (ed), Utopia and Organization (Oxford, Blackwell, 2002), 189, 190. October 2006

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