Documents: The Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1974: Introduction

Elected as a minority government in February 1974 and winning a majority of three in the subsequent October general election, the Labour government’s Trade Union and Labour Relations Act (TULRA) 1974, as amended in 1976, was designed to replace the Conservative government’s Industrial Relations Act 1971. Bill Wedderburn, as the TUC’s standing counsel, led the discussions to remodel the Trades Disputes Act 1906 to eliminate the ambiguities and gaps seized upon by employers and their legal advisors, and accepted by the courts in the 1960s when formulating torts that restricted the 1906 Act’s protections for unions and workers taking industrial action. By January 1974 Wedderburn had prepared a draft of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Bill. The papers and correspondence published here illustrate some of the principal issues raised in formulating the 1974 Act and the role of the courts.