| Description | Minute volumes indexed. The minutes are printed and signed by the committee chairman. Minute volumes BCC/1/BU/1/1/1 - 3 pre-date the uniformly titled and dated sequence, and are entitled 'Labour Committee', with dates on the spines, although the minutes relate to earlier, unofficial joint committees, in operation during the period 1900 - 1915. Minute volumes BCC/1/BU/1/1/4 - 5 also pre-date the uniformly titled and dated sequence, and are entitled 'Labour Committee' on the spine and 'Salaries, Wages & Labour Committee' on the cover, with dates on the spines. Minute volumes BCC/1/BU/1/1/6 - 18 are entitled 'Salaries, Wages & Labour Committee', with dates on the spines. Minute volumes BCC/1/BU/1/1/19 onwards are entitled 'Establishment Committee', with dates on the spines. Although the series contains joint committee minutes that predate the formation of the Salaries, Wages and Labour Committee in 1915, the position of this series in the catalogue reflects the date of origin of the official committee. The chronological arrangement of each series of committee minutes in sub-collection BCC/1 reflects the order in which these official committees were established (bar committee minutes 'discovered' later), hence this series being placed amongst records that began around 1915 rather than 1900. The minutes include general reports on staffing across Council departments, including details of numbers employed, pay and grading, pensions, holidays, staff welfare and the like; reports of the various sub-committees that reported to the main committee; some information relating to wage rates of equivalent grades in other local authorities; schedules of information obtained from questionnaires sent out to departments relating to labour issues; reviews of wages; petitions on behalf of Council staff from other departments regarding pay and conditions; the transfer of officials (particularly Poor Law Officers) to other departments; copies of job descriptions for vacant posts; and related correspondence and papers. The minutes dated around the year 1913 include a good deal of reports, correspondence and other information concerning the employment of building labourers and navvies by the Corporation (see BCC/1/BU/1/1/1). The minutes covering the First World War (1914 - 1918) include information relating to the impact of the war on Council staff, including applications fo 'War Wages' (see BCC/1/BU/1/1/2). The minutes covering the 1920s and 1930s include information relating to the operations of Unemployment Relief Works during the economic difficulties of those years (for example, see minutes of 22 January 1930, minute 3217, in BCC/1/BU/1/1/8). The minutes covering the Second World War (1939 - 1945) include further information relating to the impact of the war on Council staff, including details of employees engaged in fire watching and other civil defence roles, the War Bonus Scheme and the like (see BCC/1/BU/1/1/12 - 16). |