The ''Eleventh and Final Report of the Royal Commissioners appointed to Inquire into the Organization and Rules of Trades Unions and Other Associations'' (1868-1869) Parliamentary Papers vol xxxi (or the ''Report of the Royal Commission on Trade Unions'') was a landmark report to the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
Parliament, which led to the legalisation of trade unions. The Commissioners who wrote the Report were divided, and delivered a Majority Report, and a dissenting Minority Report. The Minority Report was preferred by the Liberal Government, and this led to the
Trade Union Act 1871.
Background
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Combinations of Workmen Act 1825
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Friendly Societies Act 1855
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Hilton v Eckersley'' (1855) 6 El & Bl 47
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Reform Act 1867
The Representation of the People Act 1867 ( 30 & 31 Vict. c. 102), known as the Reform Act 1867 or the Second Reform Act, is an act of the British Parliament that enfranchised part of the urban male working class in England and Wales for the ...
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Hornby v Close'' (1867) LR 2 QB 153
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Skinner v Kitch'' (1867) LR 2 QB 393
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K Marx, ''
Das Kapital
''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'' (), also known as ''Capital'' or (), is the most significant work by Karl Marx and the cornerstone of Marxian economics, published in three volumes in 1867, 1885, and 1894. The culmination of his ...
'' (1867)
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Trade Union Congress, first meeting in 1868
Content
Majority Report
The Majority Report recommended that trade union internal affairs should be regulated in a manner ‘resembling in some degree that of Corporations.’
[page xxiv] But little else. It wanted a system of registration, which would give immunity from criminal law. But union rules would be subject to approval by the Registrar of Friendly Societies, which would reject rules that restricted entry to trade, had a closed shop objective, or permitted sympathetic action on behalf of other workgroups.
Elcho and Herman Merivale dissented in part on the question of whether prosecutions for breach of contract should be allowed.
Minority Report
A combined dissent was written by the
Earl of Lichfield Thomas George Anson,
Thomas Hughes
Thomas Hughes (20 October 1822 – 22 March 1896) was an English lawyer, judge, politician and author. He is most famous for his novel ''Tom Brown's School Days'' (1857), a semi-autobiographical work set at Rugby School, which Hughes had atte ...
and
Frederic Harrison. Their Minority Report emphasised the work of unions in providing benefits to their members. It recommended they be given sufficient legal status to have immunity from criminal and restraint of trade laws, and to enable protection of their funds. It wanted rule registration, but no control for the Registrar, except where incomplete or fraudulent, and no legal process over union internal affairs.
See also
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UK labour law
United Kingdom labour law regulates the relations between workers, employers and trade unions. People at work in the UK have a minimum set of employment rights, from Acts of Parliament, Regulations, common law and equity (legal concept), equity. ...
Notes
{{Reflist, 2
United Kingdom labour law
Reports of the United Kingdom government
1868 in the United Kingdom
1869 in the United Kingdom
British trade unions history
1868 in labor relations
1869 in labor relations
1869 documents