Arbitration in the British Civil Service
| Author | S. J. Frankel |
| Published date | 01 September 1960 |
| Date | 01 September 1960 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1960.tb01261.x |
Arbitration
in
the
British Civil Service
By
S.
J.
FRANKEL
Professor Frankel, who is Assistant Professor
in
the Department
of
Economics and Political Science at McGill University, has recently been
studying the British Civil Service Arbitration Tribunal with a view
to
its
possible adaptation to Canadian conditions. This research was made
possible
by
a Canada Council Senior Fellowship.
HE
Civil Service National Whitley Council Arbitration Agreement has
T
been in force for thirty-five years. More than 600 cases have been brought
before the Arbitration Tribunal during this period. The primary purpose
of this article is to present a factual summary
of
these cases. An exercise
of this kind cannot possibly do justice to the underlying problems of principle
and practice involved in the process of arbitrating disagreements between a
government and its servants. These must wait for more extensive treatment.
But the analysis of actual experience which is projected here should contribute
to an understanding of arbitration in practice.
It
may also provide those
on the Official and Staff Sides who are directly concerned with staff relations
with a tentative answer to the question
:
How has arbitration worked
?
The history
of
arbitration actually goes back to 1916. The Government
decided in November of that year to establish a standing arbitration tribunal
to
deal with disputes concerning conditions of work in the Civil Service.
This was in keeping with a general policy which favoured arbitration as
a
device for maintaining the continuity of production during the war emergency.
The tribunal, which was called the Conciliation and Arbitration Board for
Government Employees (better known as the Civil Service Arbitration Board),
was abolished by the unilateral decision of the Government in February
1922. First, that the conditions which
had given birth to the tribunal no longer obtained. Secondly, that the
practice of joint consultation under the Whitley Council scheme would
not only make arbitration unnecessary but would find it an obstacle to its
proper development. And thirdly, that the long-run effect
of
arbitration
would be to weaken Treasury control of expenditure. The Staff Side did
not agree with this action. There followed a year during which the staff
associations made strong representations for the re-establishment
of
arbitration.
They also carried out an intensive campaign
of
lobbying among Members
of Parliament.
It
was a period
of
relative instability of Government and
this made for the particular effectiveness of the pressure tactics. In March
1923 the Government announced that they were now ready to accept again
the principle of arbitration. A joint committee
of
the National Whitley
Council was set up to work out the details of an agreement.
The National Whitley Council Agreement
on
arbitration for the non-
industrial Civil Service was signed in February
1925.
It
was implemented
under Treasury Circular 6/25 of the 14th March 1925. In it the Government
affirmed their undertaking to give effect to arbitration awards
"
subject to
197
The reasons given were several.
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