The Trade Boards Act 1909 (
9 Edw. 7. c. 22) was a piece of social legislation passed in the United Kingdom in 1909. It provided for the creation of boards which could set minimum wage criteria that were legally enforceable. It was expanded and updated in the
Trade Boards Act 1918. The main provision was to set minimum wages in certain trades with historically low wages, often due to a surplus of available workers due to the widespread employment of workers or lack of skills needed for employment.
At first it applied to four industries: chain-making, ready-made tailoring, paper-box making, machine-made lace making, and finishing trades. It was later expanded in 1912: mining and then to other industries with a preponderance of unskilled manual labour.
Debates
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
, MP then
President of the Board of Trade
The president of the Board of Trade is head of the Board of Trade. A committee of the His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Privy Council of the United Kingdom, it was first established as a temporary committee of inquiry in the 17th centur ...
, put the argument for the legislation as follows:
See also
*
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. ...
*
Trade Boards Act 1918
*
Wages Councils Act 1945
*
National Minimum Wage Act 1998
The National Minimum Wage Act 1998 (c. 39) creates a minimum wage across the United Kingdom.. E McGaughey, ''A Casebook on Labour Law'' (Hart 2019) ch 6(1) From 1 April 2025, the minimum wage is £12.21 per hour for people aged 21 and over, £10. ...
*
S Webb and
B Webb, ''
Industrial Democracy'' (1898)
*
Liberal reforms
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History of the welfare state in the United Kingdom
Notes
Further reading
* Bean, Jessica S., and George R. Boyer. "The Trade Boards Act of 1909 and the alleviation of household poverty." ''British journal of industrial relations'' 47.2 (2009): 240-264
online* Blackburn, Sheila C. "Curse or cure? Why was the enactment of Britain's 1909 Trade Boards Act so controversial?." ''British Journal of Industrial Relations'' 47.2 (2009): 214-239
online* Blackburn, Sheila. "Ideology and social policy: the origins of the Trade Boards Act." ''The Historical Journal'' 34#1 (1991): 43-64.
*S Webb and B Webb, ''
Industrial Democracy'' (Longmans 1902)
External links
Trade Boards Act 1909 on Wikisource
{{Authority control
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1909
United Kingdom labour law
1909 in labor relations