| AdminHistory | The growth of trade unionism and collective bargaining had in fact resulted in the new Salaries, Wages and Labour Committee of 1915 being preceded by an unofficial joint committee made up of representatives from the various Council committees. The Corporation was the biggest single employer of labour in the city. This joint committee was called the Workmen’s Wages Committee, later, in May 1906, became the Joint Committee on Labour. The Council felt that this system was too cumbersome for the task of dealing with Corporation labour, so it appointed a recognised committee, the Labour Committee, which was established by an order of the Birmingham City Council in November 1915, after a recommendation by the General Purposes Committee.
This new Labour Committee included not only Corporation Departmental representatives, but also a representative from the Labour Party, which was emerging as a political force and would soon have their first cabinet member in Lloyd-George’s coalition government. Its purpose was to fight for the standardising the pay and conditions of service for all employees. The aspect of pay was one where the committee could only recommend to departments, with each department retaining its autonomy on the issue. On service issues, the committee did act as arbitrators in cases where changes in conditions by one department could impact directly on another department, where employees could be transferred from one department to another, incurring a change in service conditions, as well as in cases between the department and their employees.
It was not long before the committee was involved with the issue of a twelve and a half per cent pay bonus being paid to munitions workers, discussing the degree to which it should be extended into other areas of war work. However, in January 1918, it was decided to extend the powers of the committee to cover wages for all Departments in the Corporation; to reflect this, the name of the committee was changed to the Salaries, Wages and Labour Committee. The committee had no department of its own, as each Department implemented any committee decision; however it was supported by an Establishment Officer, who reported to the committee.
By the 1930s, the committee were looking at training, apprenticeships and further education for staff, holidays, sick pay and what would be considered health and safety issues. In January 1949, the committee changed its name to the Establishment Committee. This was in response to the scheme of conditions of service laid down by the National Joint Council for Local Authorities’ Administrative, Professional, Technical and Clerical Staff, in January 1946, to bring all Councils in line on pay, conditions, and the like. The new committee was in fact little different to its predecessor, as the Council operated on much the same guidelines as set down in their report, and was a part of a wider change in the structure of the Welfare Department and its various committees that occurred at the same time.
By 1974 departments would, through the Establishment Officer, need to seek the approval of the Establishment Committee for the creation of new jobs or the amendment to existing positions. The committee would receive a form detailing the amendments or the reasons for the creation of a new post, along with grade, pay band, qualifications needed and overall duties and responsibilities. |