by The Legislative Ban on Company Scrip and Forced Store Purchases
This nomination for the British Parliament that passed the first effective Truck Act in 1831, prohibiting the “truck system”the practice of paying workers in kind or with company scrip (tokens) redeemable only at the company store, where prices were inflated. This system trapped workers in debt and effectively reduced their real wages. The Truck Act mandated that wages be paid in the lawful coin of the realm. This was a landmark in labor law, asserting the principle of monetary sovereignty for workers and protecting them from a predatory form of employer control. It proved that government regulation was necessary to ensure fair wage payment and to prevent businesses from exploiting their monopsony power over a captive workforce, establishing a basic right to be paid in cash that underpins modern employment law.
