Loyalist Association of Workers

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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.

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.

The lack of a fully formalized structure meant that the LAW lost the vast majority of its membership following the formation of the Ulster Workers Council and ceased to exist in the middle of 1974. However the LAW was notable because it pioneered the idea of using industrial action to advance the demands of Unionism, which reached fruition with the Ulster Workers Council Strike.