Whitley Councils
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A joint industrial council (JIC) or national joint industrial council (NJIC), known as a Whitley council in some fields, especially white-collar and government, is a statutory council of employers and
trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...
s established in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. It is a workplace partnership, an institution that serves for a forum of consultation between employees and employers. Councils were established from 1919. They typically worked to determine
wage A wage is payment made by an employer to an employee for work done in a specific period of time. Some examples of wage payments include compensatory payments such as ''minimum wage'', '' prevailing wage'', and ''yearly bonuses,'' and remune ...
rates, terms and conditions in a specific industry. There were dozens of JICs, one for each industry. Most JICs were established between the 1920s and the 1940s. The larger JICs also had regional councils throughout the country and some industries had separate JICs for
England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...
,
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
and
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. The
Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...
had its own councils.


Background

During World War I, in 1917,
John Henry Whitley John Henry Whitley (8 February 1866 – 3 February 1935), often known as J. H. Whitley, was a British politician and Georgist. He was the final Liberal to serve as Speaker of the House of Commons, a role he held from 1921 to 1928. Family ...
was appointed to chair a committee, which soon produced a ''Report on the Relations of Employers and Employees'' in the wake of the establishment of the
Shop Stewards Movement The Shop Stewards Movement was a movement which brought together shop stewards from across the United Kingdom during the First World War. It originated with the Clyde Workers Committee, the first shop stewards committee in Britain, which organised a ...
and the widespread protest action against dilution. The smooth running of industry was vital to the war effort so maintaining good industrial relations was a priority. He proposed a system of regular formal consultative meetings between workers and employers, known to this day as "Whitley councils". These would be empowered to cover any issue related to pay and conditions of service, and to take matters through to arbitration if necessary. This was a strong model which was to influence industrial relations in Canada, Australia and elsewhere. The intention was to establish Whitley councils in the private sector, in particular in those industries most affected by the strike wave – to offset the demand for '
workers' control Workers' control is participation in the management of factories and other commercial enterprises by the people who work there. It has been variously advocated by anarchists, socialists, communists, social democrats, distributists and Christ ...
' – a demand which was rapidly gaining ground after the Russian revolution. However, the councils failed to gain ground in coal, cotton, engineering and other heavy industries, but succeeded only in the sphere of government employment where they remain a major feature of
public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, inf ...
industrial relations Industrial relations or employment relations is the multidisciplinary academic field that studies the employment relationship; that is, the complex interrelations between employers and employees, labor/trade unions, employer organizations, ...
to this day. The
Royal Institute of Public Administration The Royal Institute of Public Administration (RIPA) was a British professional public service institution and civil service training organisation that operated in the United Kingdom and overseas from its founding in 1922 to its closure in 1992.Shel ...
commissioned Henry Parris, then of Durham University, to write a history of Whitleyism, published in 1973, to mark the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the National Whitley Council. The Whitley council system was reviewed in detail by Lord McCarthy in 1976.


Membership

Whitley councils comprise employee representatives, often referred to as the "staff side" and employer representatives, also known as the "official side".


Constitution

Whitley councils usually have a formally agreed
constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...
. This typically includes: * General objectives and functions – generally to "seek co-operation and agreement" on any matters appropriate to the level of jurisdiction of the committee, including, for example, pay, conditions of service, training, equality of opportunity, staff ideas, office accommodation, machinery, organisation, processes, procedures and policies. * Membership – the composition of each side may be defined and limited in number, though it is normal that each side is responsible for deciding its membership. Often, either side may co-opt members to speak on specific areas of specialism. * Officers – the senior executive of the official side is usually the chair and a representative of the staff side nominated as vice-chair. Each side may have a secretary who may or may not be a full member of the council. In the UK, Whitley councils at government departmental level may be chaired by the permanent secretary. * Committees – the main committee may delegate responsibility to sub-committees e.g. to cover matters relating to pay and conditions of service,
health and safety Occupational safety and health (OSH), also commonly referred to as occupational health and safety (OHS), occupational health, or occupational safety, is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at wo ...
, etc. * Decisions – sometimes a constitution will contain an explicit directive that decisions taken will be executed within a reasonable time frame. * Disputes – sometimes the informal and formal stages of dispute resolution are specified. * Meetings – frequency, location, agenda, quorum etc. * Minutes – covering responsibility for drafting, agreeing, distributing and publishing minutes and the time scales for these. * Finance and facilities – typically each side is responsible for its own expenses. The employer normally provides reasonable paid time to prepare for and attend meetings. * Amendment – the manner in which amendments to the constitution can be made.


Organisation

Whitley councils may be organised in a hierarchical manner, reflecting the structure of the employing organisation. For example, within the UK civil service, Whitley councils exist at local, workplace level, then at departmental level and ultimately at national level. In other institutions a geographic hierarchy (local, area, regional, national) may be followed.


National Health Service

Functional Whitley councils were established in the NHS in 1948 to negotiate pay. In addition there was a Nurses and Midwives Whitley Council for Great Britain which negotiated conditions of service. It had 64 members, 41 for the staff side and 23 for the management side. The
National Union of Public Employees The National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) was a British trade union which existed between 1908 and 1993. It represented public sector workers in local government, the Health Service, universities, and water authorities. History The union w ...
and the
Confederation of Health Service Employees The Confederation of Health Service Employees (COHSE) was a United Kingdom trade union representing workers primarily in the National Health Service. History The union was founded in 1946 with the merger of the Mental Hospital and Institutional ...
each had four seats and the National Union of General and Municipal Workers had three. The
Royal College of Nursing The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is a registered trade union in the United Kingdom for those in the profession of nursing. It was founded in 1916, receiving its royal charter in 1928. Queen Elizabeth II was the patron until her death in 2022. ...
had twelve. In 1979 there were eight functional councils in the
National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
covering all NHS staff, except doctors and dentists, and a few other NHS workers who negotiated directly with the health departments.


See also

*
UK labour law United Kingdom labour law regulates the relations between workers, employers and trade unions. People at work in the UK can rely upon a minimum charter of employment rights, which are found in Acts of Parliament, Regulations, common law and equit ...
*Agenda for Change, replacement system in NHS which came into effect on 1 December 2004.


Notes


References

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External links

*{{Cite EB1922 , last=Wilson , first=Robert , wstitle=Industrial Councils, short=x United Kingdom labour law Labor relations organizations