Trade Unions, the Right to Strike and the Political Economy of Labour: The Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1974

The law of trade unions and industrial action remains a focus of debate and conflict between contrasting norms and values as to how the economy and society function or how they should do so. This is articulated in a conflict between the political economy of capital and the political economy of labour. This paper explores this theme in an analysis of the struggle to create a right to strike against the legacy of the Combination Acts and the vitality of the common law. This culminated in the Trade Disputes Act (TDA) 1906, which, after the failure of the Industrial Relations Act 1971, was restated in wider language by the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1974 (as amended in 1976). Judicial opposition to this Act helped to pave the way for the legislation enacted after 1979 by a Conservative government committed to restricting and regulating the right to strike and union government.