A union is an organized association of workers formed to protect and further their rights and interests such as fair wages, working hours, and working conditions. During the Industrial Revolution, workers were subjected to long hours, poor wages, and dangerous conditions. Unionized workers striked, or refused to work. During the 18th century, when the Industrial Revolution prompted a wave of disputes between workers and factory owners, the government introduced measures to prevent unionization and striking. The Combination Acts, passed in 1799 and 1800, during the Napoleonic wars, made any sort of strike action illegal - and workmen could receive up to three months' imprisonment or two months' hard labor if they broke these new laws.

Despite the Combination Acts, workers continued to press for better pay and working conditions during the early part of the 19th century, and trade unions grew rapidly in London and elsewhere. Parliament repealed the Combination Acts in 1824 and 1825. Trade unions could now no longer be ignored as a political force, though employers remained reluctant to treat workers' representatives as their equals. During the 1830s, labor unrest and trade union activity reached new levels.
In the improved economic conditions of the 1850s and 1860s, the foundations of a powerful trade union movement were established and membership rose from approximately 100,000 in the early 1850s to around a million by 1874.

The economic slump of the 1870s and 1880s presented new challenges. Labor leaders such as Thomas Mann, one of the chief organizers of the successful London dock strike (1889), argued that the trade union movement needed to become far more open and inclusive. 'New unionism' reached out to the many unskilled workers in Britain who lacked union representation. The first women's 'trade societies' also began to emerge during this period. The strike by the female workers at the Bryant & May match factory, in the East End of London, in July 1888 highlighted the expanding boundaries of trade union activity in Britain.

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Why did this reform movement begin?
What were the goals of this reform movement?
What opposition did this reform movement face?
What were the tactics of this reform movement?
What impact did this reform movement have?