Great Britain 1871

Synopsis

The British government appointed a royal commission in 1867 to hear evidence from employers and leading trade unionists on the question of trades (labor) unions and to make recommendations. The outcome was legalization of such organizations so that they had a recognized status and could protect their funds. Three of the commission's eleven members signed a minority report that was more favorable to the unions than the majority one; the law was based on the minority report. The Liberal government of Prime Minister William Gladstone brought in the Trades Union bill in February 1871. It included "criminal provisions" that prescribed penalties for any form of picketing; those clauses were eventually embodied in a separate measure, the Criminal Law Amendment Act. Both this and the Trades Union Act became law in June of the same year. The existence of a second act made it...