What happened to the strikers after they were charged with conspiracy?

The printers appeared in court on April 18, 1872. Their defence lawyer pleaded that the union had existed for 25 years and had been accepted by the community. The prosecutor said that combinations of labour were illegal at common law. The magistrate ruled for the prosecution that the men were guilty of belonging to an illegal body, a combination.

That same day, however, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald introduced a bill into Parliament, modeled on the British law, which freed unions from charges of conspiracy for combining to increase wages or lower hours. This bill became the Trade Union Act, 1872.

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