The Negotiation of Wages and Conditions for Local Authority Employees in England and Wales
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1955.tb01457.x |
| Author | Marjorie McIntosh |
| Published date | 01 September 1955 |
| Date | 01 September 1955 |
?'he
Negotiation
oJ'
Wages
and
Conditions
for Local Authority EmpZoyees
in
England
and
Wales
PART
11- THE
PROCESS
OF
NEGOTIATION AND
SETTLEMENT
By MRS. MARJORIE MCINTOSH
This
is
rhe second
of
three ariicles surveying and critically examining the
great variety
of
negoriatiiig bodies dealing with rhe wages and conditions
of
the ewiployees
of
local authorities.
HE first task of the newly created or reconstituted negotiating bodies was
T
to
agree national wage and salary structures and conditions of service.
This
was a task
of
great complexity and required prolonged negotiation
because current rates of pay of many employees of the same category differed
in different parts of the country and because
it
was realised that once levels
of remuneration and differentials between groups were established they
were likely to be considered appropriate for some time. These schemes
were, in most cases, settled by voluntary agreement, but for some groups
of employees (e.g., Medical Officers of Health and Justices' Clerks) they were
the products of arbitration decisions.
Since these original conditions were agreed there has been some
recasting of wage and salary structures and some revaluation
of
particular
jobs in the light of experience1 but, in the main, negotiating bodies have
been concerned with adjusting remuneration to the changing value of money.
Full employment and rising industrial wage rates have conditioned the work
of these bodies. There has been a constant series
of
claims for increases,
in some cases twice a year, initiated by the tradz unions on the grounds
of
rises in the cost of living and changes in the remuneration of other similar
groups of workers. Employers' sides have been on the defensive, attempting
to keep inevitablc increases
as
low as possible because they could only be
met by increased local taxation.
It
is true that in this process differentials
between groups
of
employees have, in many cases, been reduced but
this
change in relative financial rewards has not been the result
of
deliberate
revaluation.
It
has been the consequence of an attempt to minlmise the
cost
of
maintaining real wages in
a
period of rising prices, and of a belief that
the better paid could stand a reduction in their standard of living more easily
than the others2.
Each Whitley Council negotiates independently but they have many
common problems to face,
and
ail of them have inherited practices from
earlier agreements. Local aurhorities differ gready in population, financial
resources and the functions they have to perhrm. Jobs with the same title,
therefore, may differ considerably in scope and responsibility as well as, in
manual occupations, in their degree of unpleasantness. This adds complexity
to the problem
of
defining and classifying occupations and fixing national
307
PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION
rates. For senior professional personnel, national scales are fixed on the
basis of size
of
population.
A
range of minimum salaries with a fixed number
of increments is laid down for each population group in order that employers
shall be able to select a scale appropriate to the responsibilities of their own
officers and their particular local conditions. For other professional,
administrative and clerical employees, agreements provide a series of grades
each with its own minimum and maximum salary and it is the responsibility
of the authority to grade each post. For some special classes of officers,
however, such as sanitary inspectors and mental health workers, grades or
special scales are laid down. For manual workers agreements provide for a
number
of
group rates3 and for
“
plus
”
rates for dirty, dangerous or arduous
work.
One of the practices which post-war negotiating bodies inherited and
have continued is that
of
varying the remuneration paid according to the
geographical area in which the work is done. For most professional and
administrative staff working in London an additional payment (London
weighting) is prescribed on the grounds that the cost of living is higher in
London than elsewhere.
It
is never really clear whether the case is argued
on grounds
of
equity or incentive and there appears to be a good deal
of
uncertainty about the place of such a differential in modern salary structures.
Authorities have steadfastly resisted both the extension of payment to
additional groups (successfully in the case of dentists) and an increase in its
amount as well as the inclusion of high-cost provincial areas, such as
Birmingham and Manchester, in the scheme. Geographical differentiation
for manual workers is applied through zoning. For the majority, three zones
are recognised with different rates of pay though some groups, such as
building and civil engineering workers, have a special zoning.
Handling
of
Claims
Since 1945 claims for changes in remuneration or conditions of service
have, almost without exception, been initiated by the employee side. The
secretary usually writes to the secretary of the employers’ side asking him
to place a claim on the agenda of the next meeting of the National Council.
The employees’ side will meet to discuss the presentation of its case, which
will be made by its spokesman and may be in general terms or may be a
demand for a specific increase. The employers’ side will usually agree to
consider the claim and reply at
a
later meeting. Then the employers’
secretary will endeavour to find out what the reactions of local authorities
are likely to be by asking the Provincial Councils’ employers’ sides, where
they exist, for their observations or by calling them together in conference.
After these consultations the National Councils’ employers’ side will make
counter-proposals and a long period of ’negotiation may follow, the two sides
breaking
off
for separate discussions and meeting together again to try to
come to an agreement. Eventually the point is reached when the applicants
must decide whether they will accept what has been offered or report a dispute
to the ivlinister of Labour hoping that they will find arbitrators more generous
than the employers. This is always a decision requiring the most careful
judgement, for if the arbitrators decide against the claim or award a very
small improvement, this may strengthen the resistance of employers to claims
308
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