Munitions of War Act
Contents of the various sections of the Munitions of War Act, 1915.

Like the Defence of the Realm Act, the Munitions of War Act was a piece of emergency legislation designed to increase government control over the direction of the British war effort. Its main feature was to suspend trade union rights in the munitions industries for the duration of the war. Strikes in factories engaged on 'war work' were made illegal (Part I, Section 2) and all labour disputes were to be submitted to compulsory arbitration (Part I, Section 1). However, the impact of the Act on labour relations was questionable: apart from Russia, no other Great Power suffered as many wartime strikes as Britain.
Catalogue reference: MUN 5/19/221.1/2 (July 1915)

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