The potential role of Corporate Governance in promoting worker participation in Companies

The relationship between the employer and employee in South Africa is inherently adversarial. In addition to the adversarial nature of the relationship, the bargaining power between employer and employee is inherently unequal. An employer wields greater bargaining power over the employee. The adversarial nature of the employeremployee relationship creates a possibility of exploitation of the weaker party, and that is the employee. Various statutory measures have been put in place to improve the plight of the employee who, without such interventions, is left at the employer's mercy. Labour law-related legislation is an intervention meant to level the playing field between employer and employee. This research seeks to establish that even with these largely effective interventions, the employer or worker, in general, remains vulnerable. This research will show that these detrimental outcomes for the employee are present due to a failure in stakeholder relations in the corporate governance of organisations. The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which employees may participate meaningfully as internal stakeholders of organisations, particularly in profit companies. The study acknowledges, as aforesaid, that there is extensive protection granted to employees through separate legislation, i.e. labour laws. Moreso, labour laws enable worker participation as well. The research will establish whether employees' protection and worker participation initiatives through labour laws exclusively are not adequate. The study further examines whether corporate governance could (and should) not cover the regulatory gap left by labour laws in advancing workers' welfare. In other words, from a company law or corporate governance vantage point, the question is whether corporate governance takes into account the interests of other stakeholders, particularly the employees and if so, the extent to which it could and should play a broader role in facilitating employee voice and participation in corporate operations.

Grantor

Department of Commercial Law

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Nyathi, Frank

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Fergus, Emma

• Commercial Law

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/39913

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/39913