The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-04-01 00:00:00

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE
TRADE UNIONS.

Trade unions have become too numerous and
too important to be either ignored by legislation,
as they were till the year 18'25, t be 11.1 t with
by ins l plate and onfalr ‘et: of Part:lntent, as
they have subs.lneutly men. But in attempt.
lug to modify and improve the existing law, the
Government Ins undertskeu a most olfheuit
task, and, however much the Trade Union Bill
may please those who ere unconnected wi Ii tr ale
unions, it has failed to obtain the approval of
trade unionists generally, if we may take the re-
so! utious passed at meetings of t he Trade Unions'
Congress as fairly expressing the prevailing
opinion of the trade union party. It may he
well to refer to the main provisiona of the l•ii!
how before the House of Colony-ma, before allud.
hug to the emirs, on which the outlier of the
mefularr, Mr. Brace, his deci.ied
One &chicly goal pant in the bid is Ibiltit
. .

clears away some existi ag thas
playing the law on the subject. It is intended
to repeal the Trade Combination Act of 1825,
together with its amending Act, 22 Victoria,
cap. 84; the penal elause of the Offences agaiost
Persons Act, under which two years imprison-
ment may be awarded for all assault committed
in pursuance of unlawful combination ; and the
Trade Unions Fund Protection Act of 1869.
The ground being thus cleared, the following
are the main features of the proposed legislation.
Trade unions per se are daclared lawful, the
term " trade union,- including casual or tem-
porary combinations; thus non-unionists who
may temporarily join in a strike, or trade com-
bination being so far protected, and masters as
well as workmen, having the right of combinatioi.
legally allowed. As i.e I.w now stands, Cotirt..
of J !sties cannat entor Sa 'y wgre -m nt truaL
re: .tire to tra .8 unions, °Ain; to sail agree-
ments being regarded as " in restraint of trade ;-
but this legal bar is to be removed, the purposes
of a trade union being declared not iliegal from
the fact that they are in restraint of trade.
Trade unions will thus, if the bill be passed, ob-
tain a recognised legal statue by existing restric-
tiolie being removed ; but they will fur her secure
this status by the newly proposed s) stem of re-
gistration, and connected with this will be the
enforcement of conditions dependant on regis-
tration. The registration itself is voluntary,
but if a trade union is registered this will involve
the depositing a copy of its rules and an abstract
of its accounts with the registrar. The regis-
tration system will procure several advantagett
that we need not here specify. Thus far the
bill must meet the pretty general approval of
trade-unionists and the support of all who,
whether connected or unconnected with trade
unions, have studied it: provisions; bat there m
01). important feature in the original bill which
may be said to have aroused the indignation of
trade unionists and at the same time to have
secured the approval of the country at large
The reason of this contlict of opinion will be at
once apparent on the criminal provisions of the
bill being examined. Tilere are provisions
against violence, threats, intimidation, mole,,R-
tisn, and obstruction, and these terms are strictly
de hued. For any of these acts done with a view
to coerce any employ r er workman in I. s trade
or empliliaew, three months' imprismiumat
my be awarded. These provisions, as we have
said, have aroused the inoignation of the trade
union party. The Trades I.7bien Congre,s anti
the Conference of the Amalgam ateo Trades nia3-
be supposed to expre:s the opinions of the trad,..•
union party, thongli the trade-unions through-
out the country have necessarily beeu but parti-
ally represented. But supposing that the trades
unionists are thus represented with sufficient
fairness to demand respectful consideration,
their protest agninat the bill is important. Thn y
protest against the criminal clause of the bill b.-
cause it m based. they say, "ou the assumption
that acts contrary to law and order are done an ;
sanctioned by the trades unions of this country.
-
And we maihtuiu that this assuniption is pet'.
feetly just, as eertein too w.ll known facts cell_
. . _

nected uith Sheffield traiks uni.ms will prov
It would be mere quibbling to say that the of.
(micas against which this clause of the bill is
directed are not done by trades unions, but by
members of trades unions, and moreover it must
be remembered that the Home Secretary's bid
is directed against personal and individual of-
fence, and provides for personal punishment, so
that a trades union as such is no more hgislated
against than is a company whose officials are by
the common law liable to punishment for embez-
zlement. The trades uniouists do not generally
object to the other provisions of this bill, but it
would seem that these criminal provisions are
quite enough to condemn the whole measure in
their eyes. The Trades Union Congress au'
the Amalgamated Trades '• refuse to sanction in
any way a bid that in its proviaions pre-suppose.-
criminal intentions UT Vol(lynch,. on the paxs of
working men as a class." The bill does nothing
of the sort; it does not deal with " working men
a. a class" at all, but individual actsjof outrage,
and this hi the interest of working men theft,
selves. The Home Secretary has consented t
divide the hill into tun parts, separating th.
criminal and civic portions of the bill ; but w.•
hope this i not preliminary to tamp(
former. Workb,g oe,i are no.: ..i:
but they ali levy rig,lt to the protect..
of the law, and air. It ,V.-% ii c.r y

those offences agsinsL ,xhica protection i offao.
to those who citouse to take their stand on the
principle of free labonr.