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In 1906, the Trade Disputes Act created for the first time protection for trade unions promoting industrial action to further the interests of their members in a trade dispute.
It is ironic that, 100 years later, the legal restrictions on trade unions' freedom in this area are not only some of the most severe in the West - but significantly greater than those Parliament imposed a century ago.
Last April, the TUC General Council published proposals for a Trade Union Freedom Bill.
Nationwide consultation
Meetings to discuss the Bill are being held around the country and aim to provide information as well as drum up support.
The Bill does not propose a radical return to what the right wing press has always characterised as the 'bad old days' of unruly trade unions. The proposed 'freedoms' are more akin to relaxations of the restrictions that currently apply.
In particular it does not propose that unions should have power to call for industrial action without the support of a democratic ballot. Such a ballot - a proper mandate from the workers concerned - will remain a necessary pre-requisite for trade unions that wish to call for industrial action.
Law to be simplified
However, the Bill does suggest that the minefield of legal requirements ought to be simplified.
The oft-cited fear of 'flying pickets' is not justified by the Bill's proposals.
It modestly suggests that in limited circumstances a set of employees might take lawful industrial action to support another set of employees taking lawful industrial action.
There are other, minor, relaxations proposed by the promoters of the Trade Union Freedom Bill. They do not amount to a 'strikers' charter' - they will not make UK law more (or even as) union-friendly than is seen elsewhere in the EU.
They will not, in fact, return us to 1906, in that the law will remain more restrictive than it was then.
International standards
If the UK implements the Bill in its entirety, it will almost certainly still remain in breach of the standards set by the International Labour Organisation - a
