Conciliation and Arbitration Boards (formerly known as Wages Boards 1896-1981)

Full description

The Factories and Shops Act 1896 first provided for the appointment of special Boards which came to be known as Wages Boards.

Originally four Boards were established and subsequently there were over two hundred in operation. Each Board was appointed for a specific trade, a branch of a trade, or a related group of trades.

When established in 1896 the Boards consisted of equal numbers of employers and employees, with the qualification that each should be actively engaged in the trade concerned. The Factories and Shops Act 1934 modified this to permit a paid officer of any corporation, public body, or association of employers being elected to represent employers. If such an officer was appointed then one of the employees' representatives was to be an officer of the Trade Union concerned.

Reconstitution as Conciliation and Arbitration Boards 1981

On 1 November 1981 the Industrial Relations Act 1979 (No.9365) came into operation. Wages Boards were replaced by the Industrial Relations Commission (VA 1009) and a system of Conciliation and Arbitration Boards.

Location of Records

See also List of Holdings 2nd edition 1985, section 3.9.7.