Wages Councils Act 1979
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1979 c. 12 |
Wages Councils Act 1979
1979 CHAPTER 12
An Act to consolidate the enactments relating to wages councils and statutory joint industrial councils.
[22nd March 1979]
Be it enacted by the Queen'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
Wages Councils
1 Establishment of wages councils.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, the Secretary of State 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 relation to wages councils in the subsequent provisions of this Part of this Act.
(2) An order establishing a wages council may be made by the Secretary of State 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 among those workers, or any of them, it is expedient that such a council should be established; or
(b ) if he thinks fit, to give effect to a recommendation of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (‘the Service’) made on the reference to it, in accordance with section 2 below, of an application made in accordance therewith for the establishment of a wages council; or
(c ) if he thinks fit, to give effect to the recommendation of the Service made in a case where the Secretary of State, being of opinion that 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 among those workers will not be maintained, refers to the Service the question whether a wages council should be established with respect to any of those workers and their employers.
(3) Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the making of orders establishing wages councils.
(4) Schedule 2 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the constitution, officers and proceedings of wages councils.
2 Applications for wages council orders.
(1) An application for the establishment of a wages council with respect to any workers and their employers may be made to the Secretary of State 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) Where such an application as aforesaid is made to him, the Secretary of State—
(a ) subject to subsection (3) below, if he is satisfied that there are sufficient grounds to justify the reference of the application to the Service, and, in the case of an application under paragraph (b ) of subsection (1) above, 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, shall refer the application to the Service to inquire into and report on the application,
(b ) if he is not so satisfied shall 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 Secretary of State 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) above, it appears to the Secretary of State 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 Secretary of State shall, before deciding to refer the application to the Service 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 than one month from the date of the notice, and, if he decides to refer the application to the Service, shall transmit a copy of the observations to the Service.
(4) If, before an application is referred to the Service, it is withdrawn by the applicants, no further proceedings shall be had thereon.
3 Proceedings on references as to establishment of wages councils.
(1) Where the Secretary of State makes any such reference as is mentioned in paragraph (b ) or (c ) of subsection (2) of section 1 above, it shall be the duty of the Service to consider not only the subject matter of the reference but also any other question or matter which, in the opinion of the Service, is relevant thereto, and in particular to consider whether there are any other workers (being workers who, in the opinion of the Service, 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, any reference in this Part of this Act to the workers with whom the Service is concerned shall be construed as a reference to the workers specified as aforesaid and any such other workers as aforesaid.
(2) If the Service 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 Service be separately dealt with—
(a ) that there exists machinery set up by agreement between organisations representing workers and employers respectively which is, or can be made by improvements which it is practicable to secure, 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 Service shall report to the Secretary of State 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 Secretary of State shall take such steps as appear to him to be expedient and practicable to secure the improvements in question.
(4) If the Service 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 Service, be separately dealt with—
(a ) that machinery for regulating the remuneration and conditions of employment of those workers is not, and cannot be made by any improvements which it is practicable to secure, 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 among those workers is not being or will not be maintained, the Service may make a report to the Secretary of State embodying a recommendation for the establishment of a wages council in respect of those workers and their employers.
(5) In considering for the purposes of section 1 above whether any machinery is, or is likely to remain, adequate for regulating the remuneration and conditions of employment of any workers, the Service 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.
4 Abolition of, or variation of field of operation of, wages councils.
(1) The Secretary of State may at any time abolish a wages council by order made—
(a ) to give effect to an application in that behalf made to him in accordance with section 5 below, or
(b ) without any such application, subject however to the provisions of section 6 below.
(2) The Secretary of State may at any time by order vary the field of operation of a wages council.
(3) The power of the Secretary of State to make an order under this section varying the field of operation of a wages council shall include power to vary that field by excluding from it any employers to whom there for the time being applies, as members of an organisation named in the order, an agreement, to which the organisation or any other...
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