Trade Unionism: A New Workers' Paradise?

AQA GCSE History lesson as part of the Reform and Reformers Section of the Power and the People unit. The lesson is roughly one hour long. In the lesson we introduce the concpet of a trade union. We then look at opposition to technology in the early 1800’s such as the Luddites and the ‘Swing Rioters’. We then look at the Combination Act of 1825, why this law was passed and what restrictions it placed on trade unions. We then look at the early attempts to organise trade unions before looking at another source extract taken from the Warwickshire Agricultural Labourers Union handbook. Included is:

Starter actvity around Luddite Source
Source task on the Luddites and Swing Rioters
Annoatation task on the Combination Act 1825
Speech bubble actvitity on the early attempts to form trade unions
Source question task on Warwickshire Agricultural Labourers Union handbook.
Plenary.

Hope this helps.

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