The third aspect concerns the question of arbitration machinery. Whilst improved consultative machinery would help to reduce the possible areas of conflict between staff and management, and thereby minimise the risk of confrontation, the creation of an additional central consultative council for junior civil servants would probably increase the pressures upon the Government to provide some form of mediation and/or arbitration machinery to deal with intractable disputes.
12
The Standing Commission in considering its own role in the consultative process has expressed the view that it should not take up the role of "Arbitrator", "Adjudicator" or "Mediator" in a dispute between staff and management. Whilst it is understandable that the Commission should not wish to be involved in any dispute between staff and management, a number of staff associations, in their submissions to the Standing Commission and to the Administration, have advocated the establishment of some form of arbitration machinery to deal with matters in dispute. Although at present there does not appear to be any strong pressure from staff on this issue, the situation might change if there was ever a serious prolonged dispute.
13
In the light of the Commission's expressed stand on this issue, the Administration has given careful consideration to the proposal put forward by some staff associations to set up an arbitration body independent of the Commission and with representatives or nominees of staff and management on it to deal with matters in dispute. The Administration has come to the view that there are fundamental objections in both theory and practice to the proposal. In the first place, if the matter in dispute is related to pay, a matter which the Government is dependent upon the Standing Commission for advice, no other independent body will possess the necessary knowledge and expertise to be in a position to pass judgement on the advice offered by the Commission. In any case, it is not possible to look at the pay scale of any one grade in isolation, since the Commission's advice on the pay scale of any particular grade is arrived at having regard to internal relativities among other grades in the Civil Service. The setting up of a separate arbitration machinery would undermine both the authority of the Commission and the logic of the system it has established, thus placing the Commission in an impossible position. Moreover, there are other problems associated with independent arbitra - tion. Generally speaking, arbitration awards tend towards a compromise between the positions of two sides and this has not been notably successful elsewhere. On many of the issues considered by the Commission, compromise is not possible, either because it upsets internal relativities within the Civil Service or because the issue is not amenable to compromise. The Administration has accordingly concluded that it would be undesirable to consider setting up an independent body to deal with appeals against the Commission's recommendations. In any case, the Commission being a standing body is able to review its own recommendations and given time
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