Government Agency entry Wages Boards

Summary

Wages Boards in Australia existed to regulate the hours and wages of workers in various specific industries. They operated in all States in various capacities before eventually being superseded, usually by other arbitration & conciliation Boards and Commissions.

The first introduction of Wages Boards was in Victoria in 1896, by the Factories and Shops Act, initially to regulate wages of women and children. It grew from this to cover adults of both sexes working in clothing and furniture trades, and the butchering and bread-making trades. In 1900 the Act was extended to include anyone working inside or outside a “factory” or “workroom”. The 1907 Act went further, incorporating businesses not connected with factories. The Boards principally regulated wages and hours of work. Decisions made by a wages board could be challenged in the Victorian Court of Appeal.

In 1907 there were 49 Victorian Wages Boards in existence, and by 1910 that had grown to over 90. By 1980, 218 Wages Boards had been established, soon to be superseded by the Conciliation and Arbitration Boards. Except in the period 1953 to 1956 (when an amendment to the Factories and Shops Act required Wages Boards to provide for automatic quarterly adjustments with respect to retail price index numbers), the Wages Boards adopted Commonwealth wage rates.

South Australia instituted the Wages Board system 1900, but it was rendered inoperative due to Parliament disallowing the regulations required to bring it into effect. In 1904 it was revived in similar form to the Victorian Acts, in fact overtaking it by in 1906 extending the Act to cover a larger of group industries than Victoria did a year later.

In Tasmania Wages Boards began operation in 1911, and by 1970 about 70 were in existence. The boards consisted of employer and employee representatives and they were charged with the task of determining minimum wages and ordinary hours of work for employees. They also determined which adult employees were tradesmen and whether and to what extent a proportion of junior workers was limited.