Wages Councils Act 1945
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
Wages Councils Act, 1945
(8 & 9 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 17.
An Act to provide for the establishment of wages councils, and otherwise for the regulation of the remuneration and conditions of employment of workers in certain circumstances.
[28th March 1945]
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I.
Establishment of Wages Councils.
1 Power of Minister to establish wages councils.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, the Minister of Labour and National Service (hereafter in this Act referred to as ‘the Minister’) may by order establish a wages council to perform, in relation to the workers described in the order and their employers, the functions specified in the subsequent provisions of this Act.
(2) An order establishing a wages council (hereafter in this Act referred to as a ‘wages council order’) may be made by the Minister either—
(a ) if he is of opinion that no adequate machinery exists for the effective regulation of the remuneration of the workers described in the order and that, having regard to the remuneration existing amongst those workers, or any of them, it is expedient that such a council should be established; or
(b ) in the circumstances hereinafter specified, in pursuance of a wages council recommendation made in accordance with the subsequent provisions of this Part of this Act.
2 Applications for wages council orders and reference to commission of inquiry.
(1) An application for the establishment of a wages council with respect to any workers and their employers may be made to the Minister either—
(a ) by a joint industrial council, conciliation board or other similar body constituted by organisations representative respectively of those workers and their employers; or
(b ) jointly by any organisation of workers and any organisation of employers which claim to be organisations that habitually take part in the settlement of remuneration and conditions of employment for those workers,
on the ground, in either case, that the existing machinery for the settlement of remuneration and conditions of employment for those workers is likely to cease to exist or be adequate for that purpose.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this and the next succeeding subsection, where such an application as aforesaid is made to the Minister, the Minister shall—
(a ) if he is satisfied, in the case of an application under paragraph (b ) of the preceding subsection, that the claim of the organisations habitually to take part in the settlement of remuneration and conditions of employment for those workers is well-founded and, in any case, that there are sufficient grounds to justify the reference of the application to a commission of inquiry, refer the application to such a commission to inquire into and report on the application;
(b ) if he is not so satisfied, notify the applicants to that effect, in which case no further steps shall be taken on the application unless and until he is so satisfied by fresh facts brought to his notice:
Provided that before taking either of the said courses, the Minister may require the applicants to furnish such information, if any, in relation to the application as he considers necessary.
(3) If, on considering an application under subsection (1) of this section, it appears to the Minister either—
(a ) that there is a joint industrial council, conciliation board or other similar body constituted by organisations of workers and organisations of employers, being a council, board or body which would or might be affected by the establishment of a wages council in pursuance of the application; or
(b ) that there are organisations of workers and organisations of employers representative respectively of workers other than workers to whom the application relates and their employers, who would or might be affected by the establishment of a wages council as aforesaid.
being a council, board or body, or, as the case may be, organisations, which are parties to joint voluntary machinery for the settlement of remuneration and conditions of employment but are not parties to the application for a wages council, the Minister shall, before deciding to refer the application to a commission of inquiry, give notice of the application to that council, board or body or, as the case may be, to those organisations, shall consider any observations in writing which may be submitted to him by them within such period as he may direct, not being less them one month from the date of the notice, and, if he decides to refer the application to a commission of inquiry, shall transmit a copy of the observations to the commission.
(4) If, before an application is referred to a commission of inquiry, it is withdrawn by the applicants, no further proceedings shall be had thereon.
3 References to commission of inquiry without application for wages council order.
3. Without prejudice to the provisions of the last preceding section, the Minister, if, in his opinion, no adequate machinery exists for the effective regulation of the remuneration of any workers or the existing machinery is likely to cease to exist or be adequate for that purpose and a reasonable standard of remuneration amongst those workers will not be maintained, may, without any such application as is mentioned in that section, refer to a commission of inquiry the question whether a wages council should be established with respect to any of those workers and their employers.
4 Proceedings on references to commission of inquiry.
(1) Where the Minister makes a reference to a commission of inquiry under either of the two last preceding sections, it shall be the duty of the commission to consider not only the subject matter of the reference but also any other question or matter which, in the opinion of the commission, is relevant thereto, and in particular to consider whether there are any other workers (being workers who, in the opinion of the commission, are engaged in work which is complementary, subsidiary or closely allied to the work performed by the workers specified in the reference or any of them) whose position should be dealt with together with that of the workers, or some of the workers, specified as aforesaid; and, in relation to any such reference to a commission of inquiry, any reference in this Part of this Act to the workers with whom the commission is concerned shall be construed as a reference to the workers specified as aforesaid and any such other workers as aforesaid.
(2) If the commission is of opinion with respect to the workers with whom it is concerned or any of those workers whose position should, in the opinion of the commission, be separately dealt with—
(a ) that there exists machinery set up by agreement between organisations representing workers and employers respectively which is, or which can, by improvements which it is practicable to secure, be made, adequate for regulating the remuneration and conditions of employment of those workers; and
(b ) that there is no reason to believe that that machinery is likely to cease to exist or be adequate for that purpose,
the commission shall report to the Minister accordingly and may include in its report any suggestions which it may think fit to make as to the improvement of that machinery.
(3) Where any such suggestions are so included, the Minister shall take such steps as appear to him to be expedient and practicable to secure the improvements in question.
(4) If the commission is of opinion with respect to the workers with whom it is concerned or any of those workers whose position should, in the opinion of the commission, be separately dealt with—
(a ) that machinery for regulating the remuneration and conditions of employment of those workers is not, and cannot, by any improvements which it is practicable to secure, he made, adequate for that purpose, or does not exist; or
(b ) that the existing machinery is likely to cease to exist or be adequate for that purpose,
and that as a result a reasonable standard of remuneration amongst those workers is not being or will not be maintained, the commission may make a report to the Minister embodying a recommendation (in this Act referred to as a ‘wages council recommendation’) for the establishment of a wages council in respect of those workers and their employers.
(5) Where the Minister receives a wages council recommendation, he may, subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, if he thinks fit, make a wages council order giving effect to the recommendation.
(6) In considering for the purposes of this section whether any machinery is, or is likely to remain, adequate for regulating the remuneration and conditions of employment of any workers, the commission shall consider not only what matters are capable of being dealt with by that machinery, but also to what extent those matters are covered by the agreements or awards arrived at or given thereunder, and to what extent the practice is, or is likely to be, in accordance with those agreements or awards.
5 Making of wages council orders.
(1) Before making a wages council order, whether in pursuance of a wages council recommendation or not, the Minister shall publish, in the prescribed manner, notice of his intention to make the order, specifying a place where copies of a draft thereof may be obtained and the time, which shall not be...
To continue reading
Request your trial