Truck Acts Research Articles

Cash Wages, the Truck Acts, and the 1960 Payment of Wages Act

From the mid-1950s until the early 1960s, there was an ongoing tussle between British employers and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) over whether to repeal the (1831-96) Truck Acts which established the right of manual workers to be paid in cash (‘coin of the realm’) and regulated employers’ ability to fine them or take deductions from their wages. Many employers advocated repeal, insisting that truck legislation was ill-suited to the modern economy, interfered with freedom to contract, and impeded more efficient forms of paying wages. Organized labour, through the TUC, countered that these laws protected workers from arbitrary deductions and prevented employers from imposing unpopular methods of paying wages (such as by cheque or bank transfer). This dispute resulted in the minor reform of the 1960 Payment of Wages Act. The (1959-61) Karmel Committee, which studied the contemporary operation of the Truck Acts, recommended repeal, though keeping some protection, but there was disagreement about who should be covered and what should be protected. The TUC, near the apex of its power, had proved the efficacy of the law and, given the inability to reach consensus, the government eventually dropped the subject for a generation.

‘Cashless pay, deductions from wages, and the repeal of the Truck Acts in Great Britain, 1945-1986’

ABSTRACT This article examines the public debate between 1945 and 1986 in Great Britain over repealing the Truck Acts. Advocates of repeal hoped that it might encourage workers to accept wage payment by cheque or electronic transfer, which most manual workers opposed. This article will evaluate the arguments that the Truck Acts, which protected employees’ right to be paid in the current coin of the realm and defended them against unfair deductions from wages, had become ‘obsolete’ and hindered contractual arrangements that could be beneficial. The 1986 Wages Act, which repealed all of the Truck Acts and the 1960 Payment of Wages Act, passed over the strong objections of the TUC and a number of organizations that provided legal advice to the poor. The 1986 Act was introduced to allow employers to impose convenient cashless pay. Like much of the legislation under the Thatcher government, this Act was sold as the repeal of outdated and burdensome regulations, which would allow businesses to lower costs and become more competitive. However, I will argue that the repeal of the Truck Acts removed some very real protections for workers, and left employees more exposed to unfair deductions from wages than before.

TRUCK ACTS

TRUCK ACTS

Truck Acts – The End of the Road?

Truck Acts – The End of the Road?

Arbitrary Deductions from Pay and the Proposed Repeal of the Truck Acts

Arbitrary Deductions from Pay and the Proposed Repeal of the Truck Acts

No Truck with the unions

A recent case in the High Court has drawn attention to some legislation which, whilst it has been in force for a very long time, is rarely invoked in the courts today: the Truck Acts, particularly that of 1831. The author examines some facets of this area of the law but stresses that this article is not advisory but informative and, if problems arise in practice, legal advice should be sought.

TRUCK ACTS

TRUCK ACTS: Legality of Check-off Agreements M. R. F. M. R. F. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Industrial Law Journal, Volume 4, Issue 1, 1975, Pages 241–243, https://doi.org/10.1093/ilj/4.1.241 Published: 01 June 1975

The Truck System: Including a History of the British Truck Acts, 1465-1960.

The Truck System: Including a History of the British Truck Acts, 1465-1960.

Reviews

Book Review in this ArticlesR. Welldon Finn, The Domesday Inquest and the Making of Domesday Book.A. W. B. Simpson. An Introduction to the History of the Land Law.R. F. Hunnisett (Ed.). Bedfordshire Coroners' Rolls. Miscellany I. Calendar of the Patent Rolls: Elizabeth I, vol. iii. F. J. Fisher (Ed.). Essays in the Economic and Social History of Tudor and Stuart England.Acts of the Privy Council of England. May 1629 to May 1630.Christopher Hill. The Century of Revolution, 1603‐1714.Richard Pares: The Historian's Business and other Essays.Elizabeth Boody Schumpeter. English Overseas Trade Statistics 1697‐1808.P. M. G. Dickson. The Sun Insurance Office 1710‐1960. The History of Two and a half Centuries of British Insurance.C. Stella Davies, The Agricultural History of Cheshire 1750‐1850.G. W. Hilton. The Truck System, including a history of the British Truck Acts, 1465‐1960.J. D. Chambers. The Workshop of the World: British Economic History from 1820 to 1880.H. P. White. A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain.P. L. Payne. Rubber and Railways in the Nineteenth Century.R. Robinson and J. Gallagher, with A. Denny. Africa and the Victorians.S. Maccoby. English Radicalism: the End?Gino Luzzatto. An Economic History of Italy from the Fall of the Roman Empire to the beginning of the Sixteenth Century.Istituto di storia economica e sociale dell'Università di Napoli, AnnaliG. Quazza, L'industria laniera e cotoniera in Piemonte dal 1831 al 1861M. Abrate. L'industria siderurgica e meccanica in Piemonte dal 1831 al 1861P. Norsa and M. Da Pozzo. Imposte e tasse in Piemonte durante il periodo cavouriano.A. Caracciolo. Stato e società civile. Problemi dell'Unificazione italianaM. Monaco. La situazione della Reverenda Camera Apostolica nell'anno 1525.A. Sapori. Attività manifatturiera in Lombardia dal 1600 al 1914J. Nadal and E. Giralt. La Population Catalane de 1553 à 1717.V. Vasquez de Prada. Lettres marchandes d'Anvers.Edward C. Kirkland. Industry Comes of Age. Business, Labor, and Public Policy, 1860‐97. The Economic History of the United StatesM. A. Jones. American Immigration.Joseph Rayback. A History of American Labor.Paul W. Gates. The Farmer's Age: Agriculture, 1815‐60 (The Economic History of the United States.James Don Edwards. History of Public Accounting in the United States. Trends in the American Economy in the Nineteenth Century. Studies in Income and Wealth. John A. Garraty. Right‐Hand Man: The Life of George W. Perkins.E. Ray Canterbery. The President's Council of Economic Advisers: A Study of its Functions and its Influence on the Chief Executive's Decisions.Douglass C. North. The Economic Growth of the United States, 1790‐1860.Robert Latouche. The Birth of Western Economy.Robert L. Reynolds. Europe Emerges. Transition toward an Industrial World‐Wide Society, 600‐1750.Alan Conway (Ed.). The Welsh in America: Letters from the Immigrants.Gerhard Bry. Wages in Germany 1871‐1945.James Hogan (Ed.). Historical Studies.M. H. Gopal. The Finances of Mysore State, 1799‐1831.

The Truck System, Including a History of the British Truck Acts, 1465-1960.

The Truck System, Including a History of the British Truck Acts, 1465-1960.

Book Review: Labor Economics: The Truck System, Including a History of the British Truck Acts, 1465–1960

Book Review: Labor Economics: The Truck System, Including a History of the British Truck Acts, 1465–1960

The Truck System, Including a History of the British Truck Acts, 1465-1960.

The Truck System, Including a History of the British Truck Acts, 1465-1960.

The Truck Acts and Industry. By F. E. Mostyn, ll.b., with a foreword by W. Tudor Davies, Barrister-at-Law, f.r.econ.s., f.i.i.a. [London: The Thames Bank Publishing Company, Ltd. 1950. xi and 140 pp. 10s. net.

The Truck Acts and Industry. By F. E. Mostyn, ll.b., with a foreword by W. Tudor Davies, Barrister-at-Law, f.r.econ.s., f.i.i.a. [London: The Thames Bank Publishing Company, Ltd. 1950. xi and 140 pp. 10s. net.

Report of the Departmental Committee on the Truck Acts

Report of the Departmental Committee on the Truck Acts