The Taff Vale Railway Company
In 1900 the Amalgamated Association of Railway Servants went on strike in defence of John Ewington. The company had punished him by transferring Ewington to a different station after his repeated requests for a raise. The company sacked the striking workers, evicted them from their homes and employed scab labour. The union, however, forced the company to negotiate through a campaign of sabotage. In revenge the company sued the union for damages. The company won the first case, lost at appeal but finally got their way through the House of Lords - the final court of appeal - deciding in their favour. Amongst the vested interests in this railway company were members of parliament, members of the House of Lords, judges, magistrates etc. It was not until 1918 that the majority of working men over the age of 21 were able to vote and 1928 before women had voting equality with men in Britain.
The disgust at this decision in the Taff Vale case among working people lead to a massive rise in the number of trade unionists affiliated to the Labour Representation Committee. Membership more than doubled from 350,000 members in 1901 to 850,00 in 1903. This lead to the formation of the Labour Party and in 1906 the passing of the Trade Disputes Act which overrode the ruling in the Taff Vale case: now no course of action could be brought against a trade union for economic loss, if a strike was "in contemplation of a trade dispute."
No comments:
Post a Comment