| The New South Wales (NSW) State archives collection administered by State Records comprises records from all areas of government administration from 1788 until the present. The collection encompasses the key documents that have established our system of government and justice and the records that have been created in response to legislative and administrative developments and changes. |
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The Industrial Arbitration Act 1901 (NSW) is a milestone in the history of industrial relations in New South Wales. The transcripts of hearings that were generated by it and later amending legislation are an important part of the collection. They document changing practices and conditions in the workplace, the workers' struggles for better pay, conditions, rights and entitlements, and the attitudes and policies of employers and workers and those who represented them. This research report looks at what records are available, which agencies1 created these records and how they can be accessed using State Record's online and other finding aids for the period between 1902 and 1991. |
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For researchers to better understand the transcripts and related records and the context in which they were created, I give below a brief history of the relevant agencies. This will help when using the State Records' main finding aid, Archives Investigator – the online archives information and access system at <www.records.nsw.gov.au>. The number assigned to the agencies in Archives Investigator is also provided. |
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The Trade Disputes Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1892 | |
| The Industrial Arbitration Act 1901 was not the first legislation for the arbitration of industrial disputes in New South Wales. The first NSW legislation specifically providing for the conciliation and arbitration of industrial disputes was the Trade Disputes Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1892 (NSW). It provided for the establishment of Councils of Conciliation to consist of equal members of representatives of employers and employees. (In fact a single Council of Conciliation for the whole of New South Wales was established.) It also provided for the establishment of a Council of Arbitration. This Council consisted of an employee representative, an employer representative and a President who was to be a person agreed upon by the other two or, in default of agreement, appointed by the Governor on the basis of being unbiased. The President was not to engage in any other employment |
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Under the Act it was not necessary for the disputing parties to agree that the matter should go before a Council of Conciliation or the Council of Arbitration. This could be achieved unilaterally by either party to a dispute lodging an application, in the case of arbitration only after conciliation had failed. An award by the Council of Arbitration was not binding however, unless the parties agreed to be bound by it before it was made. |
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A Clerk of Awards was appointed under the Act and the appointee was to keep the records generated under the Act's provisions. The Act was to continue in force for four years from its commencement 'and no longer'. When its time was up in 1896 it was not replaced but the bodies and personnel constituted under the Act disappeared after Parliament had rejected supply for them on 11 December 1894 (see Hansard). The general consensus appears to be that it was ineffective in settling industrial disputes, perhaps at least partly because in any dispute where the parties were not disposed ultimately to agree, or to agree to be bound, no binding decision could be made. |
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