Osborne [1910] AC 87, political donations Trade Union Act 1913 Birch v National Union of Railwaymen [1950] Ch 602 Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 s 72–73 and 82 Paul v NALGO [1987] IRLR 413 Weaver v NATFHE [1988] ICR 599 EAT Subscriptions Members' subscriptions are often paid by DOCAS (Deduction of Contributions at Source) i.e. deduction from salary. Implementation of the draft Trade Union (Deduction of Union Subscriptions from Wages in the Public Sector) Regulations 2017 has been delayed until 2019. Union organisation Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, first elected in 1979, saw trade unions as an obstacle to economic growth and passed legislation of the sort the Conservatives had mostly long avoided. Membership declined steeply in the 1980s and 1990s, falling from 13 million in 1979 to around 7.3 million in 2000. In 2012, union membership dropped below 6 million for the first time since the 1940s. From 1980 to 1998, the proportion of employees who were union members fell from 52 per cent to 30 per cent. Union membership declined in parallel with the reduction in size of many traditional industries which had been highly unionised, such as steel, coal, printing, and the docks. In 2016, the Conservative government passed a new Trade Union Act, which proposes stricter ballot thresholds for industrial action, further restraints on picketing and a requirement that union members contributions to political funds would only be via an ‘opt-in’. International affiliations European Trade Union Confederation International Trade Union Confederation See also Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act 1875 Criminal Law Amendment Act 1871 Employers and Workmen Act 1875 GCHQ trade union ban History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom History of trade unions in the United Kingdom Labour Party (UK) affiliated trade union List of trade unions in the United Kingdom Student unionism in the United Kingdom Trade Union and Labour Party Liaison Organisation Trade Union Freedom Bill Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Trades Union Certification Officer Union Modernisation Fund Notes Further reading Adams, W. S. "Lloyd George and the Labour Movement." Past & Present 3 (1953): 55–64. Aldcroft, D. H. and Oliver, M. J., eds. Trade Unions and the Economy, 1870–2000. (2000). Campbell, A., Fishman, N., and McIlroy, J. eds. British Trade Unions and Industrial Politics: The Post-War Compromise 1945–64 (1999). Charlesworth, Andrew, Gilbert, David, Randall, Adrian, Southall, Humphrey and Wrigley, Chris. An Atlas of Industrial Protest in Britain,