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October 24, 2024

TRADE UNIONS

A history of unionism: The bicentenary of the Combination Acts

This year marks the bicentenary of the repeal of the Combination Acts, which had outlawed trade unions. Two hundred years on, has the function of unionism changed and are they still in pursuit of the same parameters of good work? IOSH’s Duncan Spencer and Dr. Christopher Davis explore these questions.

Dr. Christopher Davis

Duncan Spencer

There is a characteristically lyrical French phase that often gets aired during times of transformation: plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Recent developments in the world of work provide another opportunity to use it.

For much of the global workforce, comparing working life in 2024 and 1824 might feel fanciful. This was still the early age of industrialism in Europe. In Britain, factory work was growing quickly, and workers moved in large numbers to urban areas where living and working conditions were often dire. Low wages and long hours were common.

But one needn’t go back two hundred years for such a jarring comparison with the present day. For many, working life will have changed beyond recognition during the span of their own career. Consider this. Someone now approaching state retirement age in Britain will, since entering work in the 1970s, have worked through multiple recessions, the decline of heavy industry, and, perhaps most importantly of all, the arrival of the internet and the digital revolution. AI, robotics, and automation was the stuff of science fiction until relatively recently.

And yet, while there has been a tremendous rate of change over the last two hundred years, many of the forces and power dynamics at play in the working landscape remain constant. The impulses that drove the desire for better work among handicraftsmen in the early 1800s, transport workers in the 1920s, and coal miners throughout the twentieth century, are arguably no different to the impulses that energise worker movements today. Each mobilises around a similar – and simple – belief in the right to good work.

Equally, just as the historical movements mentioned above were met with resistance and invariably became deeply politicised, so too do their modern-day equivalents. Debates in recent times about the labour rights of platform workers or fulfilment centre pickers are a case in point.

This begs several questions. Firstly, how influential have collective trade unions been in driving meaningful change? Secondly, how influential can unions be in the modern world of work? And thirdly, how meaningfully has occupational health and safety been included on the union agenda over time?

Repeal of the Combination Acts

This year marks two centuries since the repeal of the Combination Acts of 1799 and 1800, two pieces of legislation that effectively outlawed unionism in Britain in the early nineteenth century. Falling foul of the acts, by combining with other workers to seek an increase in wages or a decrease in working hours, carried severe consequences. Imprisonment. Hard labour.

In essence, the Combination Acts served to suppress worker empowerment – both symbolically and practically. The law made it virtually impossible for workers to band together in the interests securing better work for themselves. It was far easier just to accept their lot.

The repeal of the legislation, therefore, was a cause for celebration. Two hundred years on, it still is. It is difficult to overstate the contribution that trade unions specifically – and the more general ability for workers to organise themselves – have had on modern-day labour rights and working conditions.

Yet on the question of how strongly unions have influenced occupational health and safety (OHS) – as opposed to other matters such as pay – is not clear cut, especially in the context of worker health.

The spirit of trade unionism sculpture       Credit: Alex Segre/Alamy Stock Photo

The role of trade unions

As Arthur McIvor points out astutely, historically “it was easier to mobilise public support for effective statutory reform when acute injury and mortality was tangible and visible. Occupational disease was frequently invisible, slowly encroaching upon and damaging tissue, organs and bones by stealth1.” To an extent, when one considers the workplace stress epidemic, the same is true even now.

The role of unions in the control of OHS in the workplace has evolved over time. It was bolstered substantively by the introduction of the Safety Representatives and Safety Committee Regulations in 1977. In unionised workplaces, it empowered local representatives to negotiate the elimination and control of OHS risk. Unions provided OHS information to workers. Indeed, the popularity and quality of the OHS training delivered by the Trades Union Congress since 1974 has been credited by some with being a catalyst for improvement and culture shift in the UK.

It is well known that the 1960s and 1970s were the heyday of unions in the UK, during which time they became very powerful. Legislation introduced in the 1980s to curb that power. The defeat of the miners’ strike in 1984-85 also heralded a decline in union power. By extension, the transition from heavy industry to a service economy also saw a decline in union membership. In essence, the structure which gave unions the power of influence in the workplace and on the national political stage was degraded.

Today, many workplaces do not recognise unions. Many office workers and employees in less risky environments see little value in membership. The fundamental principle of consulting with workers over OHS risk has been significantly eroded. While many organisations value worker influence on improving OHS – regardless of the presence of a union – not all do. The Consultation Regulations 1996 arguably did little to supplement the influence of workers, as it only provides an option for organisations to adopt OHS worker representatives. It isn’t compulsory.

Influence

So, what influence might unions and worker collectives have in the modern world of work? Arguably, there is an opportunity for them to maintain, or even grow, their influence in coming years. There are many emerging challenges where worker representation could be influential.

The workplace stress epidemic requires urgent attention. While less physically hazardous, modern work, management regimes and precarious work patterns often create unhealthy employment conditions. More broadly, technology is moving workers into jobs where they may not be fully competent or where roles are poorly paid or poorly regulated.

A significant consequence of the move away from heavy industry is that today’s most vulnerable workers are not the same as their historical counterparts. It is vital, therefore, that new cohorts of vulnerable workers – be they migrant workers, informal workers, gig economy workers, or others – are recognised and given opportunity to find strength in numbers.

The International Labour Organisation champions the formation, recognition and influence that unions can have in improving OHS standards and performance. As McIvor suggests, “Globally, where there are strong independent trade unions, fatality rates on the job tend to be considerably lower than where union densities are low or no independent trade union exists.2

The ILO also make the link between union activity and social sustainability – and it is certainly true that unionisation can have a broader social impact.

While exciting change lies ahead in the world of work, progress on workers’ safety and health is not guaranteed. In fact, there is a distinct possibility that it could find itself under threat where checks, balances, and challenges are not offered. In countries such as the UK that rely on a self-regulation (and where routine inspections are a thing of the past), unions and their representatives have a key role to play in promoting and achieving OHS standards and performance. In short, the principles of good work that were being fought for two centuries ago still require fighting for. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

References
1 Alan McIvor, Guardians of Workers’ Bodies? Trade Unions and the History of Occupational Health and Safety. Labour History, 119, November 2020, pp. 1-30 (p.8). Available here:
2 McIvor, 2020. p. 11.

SHP is collaborating with IOSH’s new research department, Advice and Practice (A&P), to bring you a series of articles focused on thought leadership.

Read the first article here, introducing IOSH’s goals for its new department

Read the second article here which analyses the Government’s return to work policy.

Read the third article here which analyses the importance of trust in technology adoption.

Read the third article here which outlines a practical approach to working with AI.

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Shonagh Methven
Shonagh Methven
3 months ago

As someone who started their 30 year journey through H&S activism, via TUC training and the Hazards movement, I owe my competence, confidence…and career.to that wonderful foundation provided b y the unions in the UK. Long may they thrive. people wellbeing and indeed lives depend on it.