The MUA Affair: The Role of Law vs. The Rule of Law
- 1 December 1998
- journal article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in The Economic and Labour Relations Review
- Vol. 9 (2), 188-221
- https://doi.org/10.1177/103530469800900202
Abstract
This paper focusses on what the judicial battles in the waterfront dispute tell us about the role of law and what implications this has for labour relations and corporate law. For labour law, the significance is that reliance on liberal law has limited potential for workers seeking to pursue their causes through the courts. For corporate law, the Court's decision makes it plain that, when there is an overt conflict between wealth owners and workers, the courts will try to obfuscate this, while ensuring the security of property owners. To this end, the High Court-despite scolarly criticism-treated each corporation in the Patrick group as if it were an independent atom. This ruling will be a green light to other anti-union employers and will disadvantage workers in a system which increasingly makes their rights dependent on the legal identity of their employer.Keywords
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