Introduction

For generations the independent and neutral third party has played a vital but sometimes misunderstood role in keeping the industrial peace. Neutrality doesn’t just take the present, well-known form of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) or of arbitral bodies like the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC). Important responsibilities are also discharged by members of commissions and courts of inquiry (relatively rare these days), by members of pay review bodies and the independent members of wages councils (now a threatened species). Trade unions and employers’ associations, in addition to their representational role, sometimes play the part of conciliators in the operation of their grievance and negotiating procedures, and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) itself provides independent conciliation and arbitration for handling inter-union disputes that often have to be settled quickly if the public reputation and credibility of the trade union movement is not to be harmed.