Trade Union Act Amendment Act, 1876

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TRADE UNION ACT AMENDMENT ACT 1876

CHAPTER XXII.

An Act to amend the Trade Union Act, 1871. [30th June 1876.]

[Preamble recites 34 & 35 Vict. c. 31.]

Construction and short title.

34 & 35 Vict. c. 31.

1. This Act and the Trade Union Act, 1871, herein-after termed the principal Act, shall be construed as one Act, and may be cited together as the Trade Union Acts, 1871 and 1876, and this Act may be cited separately as the Trade Union Act Amendment Act, 1876.

Insurance of children.

35 & 36 Vict. c. 60. s. 28.

2. Notwithstanding anything in section five of the principal Act contained, a trade union, whether registered or unregistered, which insures or pays money on the death of a child under ten years of age shall be deemed to be within the provisions of section twenty-eight of the Friendly Societies Act, 1875.

[S. 3 inserts words in 34 & 35 Vict. c. 31. s. 8. See that Act.]

Provision in case of absence, &c., of trustee.

4. When any person, being or having been a trustee of a trade union or of any branch of a trade union, and whether appointed before or after the legal establishment thereof, in whose name any stock belonging to such union or branch transferable at the Bank of England or Bank of Ireland is standing, either jointly with another or others, or solely, is absent from Great Britain or Ireland respectively, or becomes bankrupt, or files any petition, or executes any deed for liquidation of his affairs by assignment or arrangement, or for composition with his creditors, or becomes a lunatic, or is dead, or has been removed from his office of trustee, or if it be unknown whether such person is living or dead, the registrar, on application in writing from the secretary and three members of the union or branch, and on proof satisfactory to him, may direct the transfer of the stock into the names of any other persons as trustees for the union or branch; and such transfer shall be made by the surviving or continuing trustees, and if there be no such trustee, or if such trustees refuse or be unable to make such transfer, and the registrar so direct, then by the Accountant-General or Deputy or Assistant Accountant-General of the Bank of England or Bank of Ireland, as the case may be; and the Bank of England and Bank of Ireland respectively are hereby indemnified for anything done by them or any of their officers in pursuance of this provision against any claim or demand of any person injuriously affected thereby.

Jurisdiction in case of offences.

5. The jurisdiction conferred in the case of certain offences by section twelve of the principal Act upon the court of summary jurisdiction for the place in which the registered office of a trade union is situate may be exercised either by that court or by the court of summary jurisdiction for the place where the offence has been committed.

Registry of unions doing business in more than one country.

6. Trade unions carrying or intending to carry on business in more than one country shall be registered in the country in which their registered office is situate; but copies of the rules of such unions, and of all amendments of the same, shall, when registered, be sent to the registrar of each of the other countries, to be recorded by him, and until such rules be so recorded the union shall not be entitled to any of the privileges of this Act or the principal Act, in the country in which such rules have not been recorded, and until such amendments of rules be recorded the same shall not take effect in such country.

In this section “country” means England, Scotland, or Ireland.

Life Assurance Companies Acts not to apply to registered unions.

33 & 34 Vict. c. 61.

7. Whereas by the Life Assurance Companies Act, 1870, it is provided that the said Act shall not apply to societies registered under the Acts relating to Friendly Societies: The said Act (or the amending Acts) shall not apply nor be deemed to have applied to trade unions registered or to be registered under the principal Act.

Withdrawal or cancelling of certificate.

34 & 35 Vict. c. 31.

8. No certificate of registration of a trade union shall be withdrawn or cancelled otherwise than by the chief registrar of Friendly Societies, or in the case of trade unions registered and doing business exclusively in Scotland or Ireland, by the assistant registrar for Scotland or Ireland, and in the following cases:

(1.) At the request of the trade union to be evidenced in such manner as such chief or assistant registrar shall from time to time direct:

(2.) On proof to his satisfaction that a certificate of registration has been obtained by fraud or mistake, or that the registration of the trade union has become void under section six of the Trade Union Act, 1871, or that such trade union has wilfully and after notice from a registrar whom it may concern, violated any of the provisions of the Trade Union Acts, or has ceased to exist.

Not less than two months previous notice in writing, specifying briefly the ground of any proposed withdrawal or cancelling of certificate (unless where the same is shown to have become void as aforesaid, in which case it shall be the duty of the chief or assistant registrar to cancel the same forthwith) shall be given by the chief or assistant registrar to a trade union before the certificate of registration of the same can be withdrawn or cancelled (except at its request).

A trade union whose certificate of registration has been withdrawn or cancelled shall, from the time of such withdrawal or cancelling, absolutely cease to enjoy as such the privileges of a registered trade union, but without prejudice to any liability actually incurred by such trade union, which may be enforced against the same as if such withdrawal or cancelling had not taken place.

Membership of minors.

9. A person under the age of twenty-one, but above the age of sixteen, may be a member of a trade union unless provision be made in the rules thereof to the contrary, and may, subject to the rules of the trade union, enjoy all the rights of a member except as herein provided, and execute all instruments and give all acquittances necessary to be executed or given under the rules, but shall not be a member of the committee of management, trustee, or treasurer of the trade union.

Nomination.

10. A member of a trade union not being under the age of sixteen years may, by writing under his hand, delivered at, or sent to, the registered office of the trade union, nominate any person not being an officer or servant of the trade union (unless such officer or servant is the husband, wife, father, mother, child, brother, sister, nephew, or niece of the nominator), to whom any moneys payable on the death of such member not exceeding [¹ one hundred] pounds shall be paid at his decease, and may from time to time revoke or vary such nomination by a writing under his hand similarly delivered or sent; and on receiving satisfactory proof of the death of a nominator, the trade union shall pay to the nominee the amount due to the deceased member not exceeding the sum aforesaid.

Change of name.

11. A trade union may, with the approval in writing of the chief registrar of Friendly Societies, or in the case of trade unions registered and doing business exclusively in Scotland or Ireland, of the assistant registrar for Scotland or Ireland respectively, change its name by the consent of not less than two thirds of the total number of members.

No change of name shall affect any right or obligation of the trade union or of any member thereof, and any pending legal proceedings may be continued by or against the trustees of the trade union or any other officer who may sue or be sued on behalf of such trade union notwithstanding its new name.

Amalgamation of unions.

12. Any two or more trade unions may, by the consent of not less than two thirds of the members of each or every such trade union, become amalgamated together as one trade union, with or without any dissolution or division of the funds of such trade unions, or either or any of them; but no amalgamation shall prejudice any right of a creditor of either or any union party thereto.

Registration of changes of names and amalgamations.

38 & 39 Vict. c. 60.

13. Notice in writing of every change of name or amalgamation signed, in the case of a change of name, by seven members, and countersigned by the secretary of the trade union changing its name, and accompanied by a statutory declaration by such secretary that the provisions of this Act in respect of changes of name have been complied with, and in the case of an amalgamation signed by seven members, and countersigned by the secretary of each or every union party thereto, and accompanied by a statutory declaration by each or every such secretary that the provisions of this Act in respect of amalgamations have been complied with, shall be sent to the central office established by the Friendly Societies Act, 1875, and registered there, and until such change of name or amalgamation is so registered the same shall not take effect.

Dissolution.

14. The rules of every trade union shall provide for the manner of dissolving the same, and notice of every dissolution of a trade union under the hand of the secretary and seven members of the same, shall be sent within fourteen days thereafter to the central office herein-before mentioned, or, in the case of trade unions registered and doing business exclusively in Scotland or Ireland, to the assistant registrar for Scotland or Ireland respectively, and shall be registered by them: Provided, that the rules of any trade union registered before the passing of this Act shall not be invalidated by the absence of a provision for dissolution.

Penalty for failure to give notice.

15. A trade union which fails to give any notice or send any document which it is required by this Act to give or send, and every officer or other person bound by the rules thereof to give or send the same, or if there be no such officer, then every member of the committee of management of the union, unless proved to have been ignorant of, or to have attempted to prevent the omission to give or send the same, is liable to a penalty of not less than one pound and not more than five pounds, recoverable at the suit of the chief or any assistant registrar of Friendly Societies, or of any person aggrieved, and to an additional penalty of the like amount for each week during which the omission continues.

Definition of “trade union.”

16. [Repeal of so much of 34 & 35 Vict. c. 31. s. 23, as defines “ trade union, ” except the qualifying proviso.] The term “trade union” means any combination, whether temporary or permanent, for regulating the relations between workmen and masters, or between workmen and workmen, or between masters and masters, or for imposing restrictive conditions on the conduct of any trade or business, whether such combination would or would not, if the principal Act had not been passed, have been deemed to have been an unlawful combination by reason of some one or more of its purposes being in restraint of trade.

[¹ Substituted for fifty, by 46 & 47 Vict. c. 47. s. 3.]