The Trade Union Freedom Bill proposes relaxing restrictions on union activities – 100 years after they were first provided legal protection In 1906 the Trade Disputes Act created, for the first time, protection for trade unions promoting industrial action to further the interests of their members in a trade dispute.
It is ironic that, 100 years later, the legal restrictions upon trade unions’ freedom in this area are not only some of the most severe in the West – but significantly greater than those Parliament saw fit to impose back in 1906.
