AGY-4885 | Trade Union Section [Industrial Registrar's Office]

Full description

On 8 July 1936 the responsibility for registering trade unions was transferred from the Registrar of Friendly Societies to the Industrial Registrar.(1) The records that had supported that function were required to be forwarded in order to facilitate the function. (2) The responsibilities included receiving applications for registration from trade unions together with a copy of the rules and names and designations of office holders; and if the Union had been in existence for some time a copy of its current balance sheet. On approval of the application the Registrar issued a certificate to the Union which was conclusive evidence that the Union had complied with registration requirements. The registrar was responsible for monitoring applications including ensuring that the name was not identical or similar enough to that of an existing Union to cause confusion. Certificates of registration could be withdrawn at the request of the Union concerned or if shown to have been issued in error. Each trade union was to have a registered office and it was the responsibility of the union to advise the registrar when the location of this office was altered. Each trade union was to submit a copy of its annual balance sheet to the Registrar together with any amendments to its rules and any other return that the Registrar requested. Unions were also required to advise the Registrar if the name of the union was altered, if it amalgamated with another union or it was dissolved. Any offences under the Act could be tried by a Court of Petty Sessions and appeal against the ruling on a particular case could be forwarded to a Court of Quarter Sessions. (3) It appears that a section of the Industrial Registrar's Office was established to deal with these additional responsibilities. The Trade Union Registry also presented statistics annually concerning the number of employer and employee unions, registered, amalgamated or re-named annually, the number of members and the financial situation of the unions. Endnotes
(1) NSW Government Gazette No. 110 8 July, 1936 p. 2851
(2) Trade Unions (Amendment) Act 1936 (Act No. 23 1936 s. 2(3)
(3) An Act to amend the law relating to Trades Unions, 1881 (45 Victoria Act No 12) s. 14- 29