Shrewsbury 24 are being prosecuted was drawn up with the active assistance of the TUC Parliamentary Committee and its acceptance by the government was considered to be the groutest victory of the TUC RECOGNITION AND RESPECTABILITY By the late 1860'% the British trade union movement had emerged from the half-clandestine existence it bad been forced to lead in its carly years. In 1825 the laws that had made combinations of workmen criminal were repealed. and in 1859 picketing was expressly legalised. as long as its aim was only to 'peacefully persuade workers to support a strike. Al the same time a new group of unions. and a new type of trade union leader, appeared on the scene. These were the "Amalgamated unions that organised the skilled workers in such trades as engineering and huilding. They were relatively centralised, sixed hieh dues, und maintained a wide range of benefits for their Red Weekly 29 June 1973 Page 4 Act left many cases of breach of contract by workers crimatal offences punishabie by Imprisonment, Employers, on the other hand, could break contracts without committing any crime, only being lable to a suit for damages under the civil law Second, in a case in which the Boilermakers' union was attempting to recover funds cobezzled by a branch treasurer, the courts ruled that trade unions, While no longer crimira!, were still agowfur orginisations Therefore their funds were not subject to the protection of the lay Finally, largely In response to an outbreak of violence in Sheffield connected will a trade dispute, the government decided to establish a Royal Commission to look into the trade union molestation to coerce an employer or his employees illegal, and stipulated that persistent following and watching or besetting' a premises (i e. standing outside then) were illegal under this provision. This took the legal position of pickets back to what it had been before 1859.
A series of cases served to ram this point home. In 1871, seven women in South Wales were jalled for saying "bah' to a group of scabs. In I872, a number of London pas-stokers were given 12 months in prison far 'conspiracy to coerce or molest their employer?, because they had gone on strike. And in 1475 five cahinet makers were jailed for picketing their work place during a strike, without there being any suggestion that violenoe or throats had been Lavolved Liberals to cooperate with the trade union leaders, At the end of April 1875, the Parliamentary Committee sent a deputation to visit the Tory Home Secretary, Richard Cross. They called for legal reforms to end criminal offences under the Master and Servant Act, to repcal the Criminal Law Amcodmient Act, and to limit the use of conspiracy charges against trade unionists Feeling among trade unionists had run high over the arrest of the striking cabinet makers On the release of the cabinet makers from prison in June, a mass demonstration sonne 50,000 strong took place to demorstrate the solidarity of the trade union movement with their cause and to protest against the Criminal Law Amendment Act.