Combinations of Workmen Act 1825

The act followed on from the Combination Act 1799 (39 Geo. 3. c. 81) 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 The 1824 act repealed the acts of 1799 and 1800, but this led to a wave of strikes.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. == Provisions ==

This law made illegal any combinations not for the purposes of pressing for wage increases or for a change in working hours. Nonetheless, it represented a step forward for the labour movement, inasmuch as it recognized the right of trade unions to engage in collective bargaining, then illegal across much of the Continent. Repealed enactments Section 1 of the act repealed the Combination of Workmen Act 1824 (5 Geo. 4. c. 95). Section 2 of the act repealed 35 enactments, listed in that section, as well as all acts relative to combinations of workmen or of masters as to wages, time of working, quantity of work, etc. == Repeal ==

The 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 in 1869. It was wholly displaced by the Trade Union Act 1871 (34 & 35 Vict. c. 31). The whole act was repealed by section 7 of, and the schedule to, the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1871 (34 & 35 Vict. c. 32). == See also ==