Employee participation as an ethical issue

Catholic Social Thought (‘CST’) is often said to begin with Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical Rerum novarum. Written in response to the inhumane treatment of labour during the industrial revolution, it spelled out the fundamental rights of workers. While it stressed the importance of respect for private property rights for a well-ordered society it set out the ethical parameters within which these rights should be exercised. In a sense, the need for capital-labour relations to be governed by ethically legitimate rules is at the heart of CST. Rerum novarum does not mention employee participation specifically but the theme emerged several times in later magisterium (official teaching).

CST is used in this book to refer to the official teaching of the Catholic Church on social matters. It can be distinguished from the attempts of individual scholars either to critique CST or to apply their understanding of CST to particular issues. The first part of this book attempts an explanation and exposition of CST. It sometimes prays in aid non-CST sources (natural law theorists and moral theologians) with a view to providing a fuller explanation of CST. It attempts neither to critique CST nor to defend it from criticism, but simply to explain it. The second part of the book uses CST to carry out an ethical evaluation of the status of employee participation in UK (and EU) corporate governance law and practice.