TLI Book Launch: The Rise of the Working Class Shareholder: Labor’s Last Best Weapon

To mark the release of the pathbreaking book by Professor David Webber, The Rise of the Working Class Shareholder: Labor’s Last Best Weapon (Harvard University Press 2018), The Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London, will host a talk by Prof Webber, and an open discussion, on the use of labour’s capital, in pensions, in the stock market, and corporate boardrooms.

Whether in the City of London or on Wall Street, most of the money in the world’s stock exchanges ultimately comes from workers saving for retirement. But from London to Los Angeles, asset managers tend to monopolise the votes on shares, all with other people’s money. Professor Webber’s book explains how, against all the odds, public pension funds, union funds, and funds that are collectively bargained in the United States have made their voice heard in corporate governance.

What can the experience of the United States teach us in the UK, Europe and the Commonwealth? What strategies can trade unions, governance experts, government and share activists learn from? What can be done to ensure corporations become socially responsible, uphold labour rights, protect pensions, stop climate damage, and promote the long-term success of enterprise? What legal reforms could be made to ensure that corporations are accountable to their real investors? Join in for the evening’s discussion on what promises to be one of the defining issues of economic governance in the 21st century.