The Genesis of Arbitration in Western Australia

The use of compulsory arbitration for the determination of the conditions of employment has a long history in Australia. This paper covers the events leading up to the introduction of legislation for conciliation and for the compulsory arbitration of industrial disputes in Western Australia. After two bruising strikes and the experience of successful voluntary arbitration, the union movement came to the view that compulsory arbitration would be to their advantage. The development of political links between the unions and some members of the Legislative Assembly, coupled with certain fortuitous circumstances in the Parliament, resulted in arbitration legislation being passed in 1900—despite the dominance of the political scene by conservative forces and the opposition of the employers. Early experiences with the legislation showed that conciliation was not successful when arbitration was readily available and that the Act was not the answer to all the problems of the trade union movement.