Sub-series consists of records relate to various Conciliation Boards appointed to assist the parties in negotiations for the renewal of working agreements between the non-operating railway employees and the interprovincial railway companies including the CNR and the CPR in matters such as the application of wage increases, statutory holidays and health and welfare plans. Railway Conciliation Boards are created under the Industrial Relations and Disputes Investigations Act (1948). Where negotiations failed in a dispute the Minister of Labour is empowered by the Act to appoint a Conciliation Board to try and effect an agreement and should it fail, to report its findings and recommendations to the Minister.
The material is arranged chronologically from 1949 to 1962. Volume one includes the following records: two statements of the Railways, along with exhibits, in relation to the employees' requests of 16 June 1949; statement of railways before the arbitrator, 1950; railway exhibits in relation to the employees' request served on 3 July 1952; a statement of award by Mr. Justice Gordon McG. Sloan, Arbitrator, 1954; and a report by Mr. P.S. Smith, Railway nominee, to the Minister of Labour concerning hearings before the Board, 1956. The records from the 1958 Board of Conciliation chaired by the Honourable H.F. Thompson are found in volumes 2-11 and include 38 bound reports on proceedings, traffic memoranda submitted by the CPR and CNR, and Mr. Thompson's papers relating to wage rates. Volumes 12-15 contain 22 bound volumes of hearings from the 1960 Board of Conciliation, chaired by Mr. Justice J.V. Milvain (originally there were 25 volumes of hearings but 22-24 are missing). Finally, volumes 16-17 contain eight bound volumes of proceedings from the 1962 Board of Conciliation chaired by the Hon. F. Craig Munroe.
