History
North West Employers was formed on Tuesday, 8 May 1917, when representatives from 22 boroughs in Lancashire and Cheshire decided that, when dealing with various applications for wage increases, they could operate more effectively if they acted together. At the meeting Alderman Thomas Smethurst, the Lord Mayor of Manchester, said: "That brings us now to the position of asking ourselves whether each town should or should not work out its own problems and its own salvation as in the past, or is it desirable to proceed on a uniform basis."
The decision was to act together. As a result the Conference of Lancashire and Cheshire authorities, the forerunner to today's North West Employers was formed. The first formal meeting with the trade unions took place on 2 January 1920. The first agreement was that the normal working week should consist of 47 hours. Pay at the time was two shillings an hour for a labourer or four pounds fourteen shillings (£4.70 in today’s money!).
In partnership with the Trade Unions, North West Employers was instrumental in the re-establishment of national negotiating machinery covering professional, technical, administrative, clerical and manual workers. Indeed, when the National Council was re-established in 1936, Ernest Bishop, the Employers’ Secretary in the North West, was appointed Employers’ Secretary to the National Council.
In 1974 the Organisation was declared an Employers' Organisation under the Terms of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1974 and as such is required to submit its annual reports and accounts to the Certification Officer each year.
Since 1974, the Organisation has continued to enhance the services it provides to its constituent authorities. We achieved Investors in People in 1997 and were reassessed and re-awarded the standard in 2000, 2003 and 2006.
2001 saw the restructuring of North West Employers to meet the new demands arising from changes in local authorities' political decision-making structures. To see the structure, click below:
Organisational Structure