Chief Industrial Commissioner's Department IC

The records of the Chief Industrial Commissioner's Department contain an enormous amount of material on industrial disputes before and during the war. Under Awards particular cases are listed by industry. The awards of the Committee on Production including those after May 1917 are listed under 'Committees'.

(LAB 7/2-4):

(LAB 7/17-21):

For later papers see WA LAB 7/284-294:

For earlier papers on conciliation and arbitration see C LAB 7/2-4 and CL&S/L LAB 7/17-21:

This department was formed as part of the Board of Trade in 1911. It was responsible for conciliation work under the Conciliation Act of 1896.

In February 1915 a Committee on Production was formed under the chairman the Chief Industrial Commissioner, Sir George Askwith, with representatives of the Admiralty and War Office. Its terms of reference were 'to inquire and report forthwith, after consultation with representatives of employers and workmen, as to the best steps to be taken to ensure that the productive power of the employees in engineering and shipbuilding establishments working for Government purposes shall be made fully available so as to meet the needs of the nation in the present emergency'.

The Committee worked in close conjunction with the Chief Industrial Commissioner's Department. A Treasury conference in March was held to obtain the support of the unions for this policy which was given statutory force by the Munitions of War Act, 1915. Industrial differences in controlled and government establishments were to be referred through the Board of Trade to the Committee on Production, or to a single arbitrator, or to a special court. In January 1917 the Chief Industrial Commissioner's Department was transferred to the Ministry of Labour. In May 1917 the Committee on Production was reconstituted to include representatives of employers and employees, and Askwith resigned. Cases could thenceforth be referred directly to the Committee on Production instead of going through the Chief Industrial Commissioner's Department.

Differences had frequently arisen between Askwith and his political chiefs particularly over the responsibility which should be allowed to the Ministry of Munitions to do its own conciliation work. They came to a head in November 1918. The Wages and Arbitration Department was formed, taking over most of the powers of the Chief Industrial Commissioner's Department which ended early in 1919 with Askwith's resignation. The Committee on Production ended in November 1918 when the Wages (Temporary Regulation) Act was passed. Its place was taken by an Interim Court of Arbitration and then the Industrial Court, for which the Wages and Arbitration Department was responsible.