Loyalist Association of Workers

The Loyalist Association of Workers (LAW) was a militant unionist organisation in Northern Ireland that sought to mobilise trade union members in support of the loyalist cause. It became notorious for a one-day strike in 1973 that ended in widespread violence.

The LAW was formed in 1971 from an earlier, more minor group, the Workers' Committee for the Defence of the Constitution, and was initially led by Billy Hull, a heavyweight shop steward from Belfast. The LAW first came to prominence in 1972, with the abolition of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, when it became a leading force for the campaign against this move, ultimately coming to work closely with both the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party (for which Hull stood as a candidate after the Sunningdale Agreement) and the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). The group took part in a number of joint protests with the Vanguard. At its peak it claimed some 100,000 members.

The LAW organised a "Day of Action" on 7 February 1973 when its members ensured that electricity supplies were halted in Belfast and other areas and forced the closure of many shops through intimidation. Protests were also organised outside Royal Ulster Constabulary stations, some of which turned violent, whilst a number of fires were lit, with a fire-fighter killed by a loyalist sniper in Sandy Row. A gun battle with the army ended with two loyalists killed, a Protestant and a Catholic were found murdered in separate attacks, whilst a Catholic church in Belfast's Newtownards Road and a Catholic children's home in Newtownabbey were attacked by loyalist mobs in what proved to be a night of violence. Hull nonetheless congratulated his members and declared the Day of Action a success despite five deaths.

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