Wednesday, 13 September 1876 - South Australia has become the first colony to legalise trade unions, three months after a similar Bill was rejected by the NSW Parliament.
The new SA law gives law gives unions the right to own property and protect their funds. Tile Act also removes the right of to employers to charge unions with conspiracy, which was possible under the previous law. The Trades Union Bill was based on the British Act passed in 1871 which deemed that unions should no longer be unlawful, the SA Attorney-General, Mr J. C, Bray, said yesterday. He said the Bill caters for both employer and employee groups, allowing employers to agree to carry out common trade objectives. The Attorney-General cited a case from ‘the olden days’ of a magistrate who disallowed such employer organisations, on the grounds that ‘as bakers might conspire to rob the whole population of nourishment, while the tailors might combine together to deprive men and women of their clothing.’
Mr Bray said legalising unions would act to protect their funds from charlatans within their organisation as well as those on the outside. He cited a recent case of a ‘friendly society’ which carried out some of the functions of a trade union. It had lent money to various people and was then forced to resort to the courts in an attempt to recover the funds. The court ruled that the society had carried out the functions of a union and, as unions were illegal, the money could not be recovered for an illegal organisation.
Mr Bray said two suggestions had been made in the press; one regarding compulsory registration, the other a provision to separate funds which benefit members from funds which support members while on strike, The Attorney-General said members in legal unions should be able to decide for themselves how they deal with their own funds. While the government would agree that funds be set aside for certain purposes, there was no way it could dictate how much money should be spent in one area and how much in another.