Combinations of Workmen Act 1825

The Combinations of Workmen Act 1825 (6 Geo 4 c 129) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom, which prohibited trade unions from attempting to collectively bargain for better terms and conditions at work, and suppressed the right to strike.

Background

The 1825 Act followed on from the Combination Act 1799 and the Combination of Workmen Act 1824 (5 Geo. 4 c. 95). The 1824 Act repealed the Acts of 1799 and 1800, but this led to a wave of strikes. Accordingly, the Combinations of Workmen Act 1825 was passed to reimpose criminal sanctions for picketing and other methods of persuading workers not to work.[1]

Content

This law made illegal any combinations not for the purposes of pressing for wage increases or for a change in working hours.[2]

Repeal

The 1825 Act was recommended for amendment by the majority report of the Eleventh and Final Report of the Royal Commissioners appointed to Inquire into the Organisation and Rules of Trade Unions and Other Associations.[3] It was wholly displaced by the Trade Union Act 1871.

See also

Notes
  1. JV Orth, Combination and conspiracy: a legal history of trade unionism, 1721-1906 (1992) ch 5
  2. Frank, Christopher (January 2005). ""Let But One of Them Come before Me, and I'll Commit Him": Trade Unions, Magistrates, and the Law in Mid‐Nineteenth‐Century Staffordshire". Journal of British Studies. 44 (1): 76–77. doi:10.1086/426157. JSTOR 10.1086/426157.
  3. (1868-1869) Parliamentary Papers vol xxxi, page xxiii
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