Iron and Steel Act 1967

The Iron and Steel Act 1967 (c. 17) was an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom, which regulated corporate governance in the iron and steel industries. It required that employees had voting rights for the board of directors.

Iron and Steel Act 1967

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to provide for the establishment of a National Steel Corporation and the transfer thereto of the securities of certain companies engaged in the production of steel and, in connection therewith, to revive certain provisions of the Iron and Steel Act 1949 and continue others in force and to amend certain of the revived provisions; to make fresh provision for the control of the provision of iron and steel production facilities; to dissolve the Iron and Steel Board and amend the provisions of the Iron and Steel Act 1953 concerning the Iron and Steel Holding and Realisation Agency; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
Citation	1967 c. 17
Dates
Royal assent	22 March 1967

Contents

Schedule 4, Part V, stated that the corporation was required to participate in discussions with the workforce. Under this provision, worker directors were introduced in 1969.

Background

The Iron and Steel Act 1949 had been enacted by the post-war Labour government to nationalized elements of the British iron and steel industry. It established the Iron and Steel Corporation to acquire certain companies.

Nationalisation of iron and steel production had been strongly opposed by the Conservative opposition. On returning to power in October 1951 they planned to denationalise and return the industry to the private sector. This policy was enacted through the Iron and Steel Act 1953 which repealed the Iron and Steel Act 1949 and dissolved the Iron and Steel Corporation.

The 1953 act remained in force until the Labour government re-nationalised the iron and steel industry in 1967 through the Iron and Steel Act 1967.

See also

• UK labour law
• UK company law

References

• Labour Party, Industrial Democracy (1967) §92
• E Ganguin, ‘B.S.C.’s worker directors take stock of their first year’ (25 June 1969) Financial Times
• Bacot, ‘Blue Collars in the Boardroom’ (May 1972) Bus Ad 88
• P Brannen, ‘Worker directors: an approach to analysis. The case of the British Steel Corporation’ in C Crouch and FA Heller, Organizational Democracy and Political Processes (Wiley 1983) vol I, ch 6