Description

Subject file containing the Secretary's typed copy minutes of the Board Meetings of the Directors of Scottish Oils Limited. Minutes of meetings from 24th September 1919 to 18th December 1934.

The meeting dated 24th September 1919 was the first meeting of the Directors of Scottish Oils Limited and deals with the appointment of Directors, Company Secretaries, Auditors, Bankers, Incorporation and Registered Office, Company Seal and various Agreements. The early Minutes also deal with the development at Middleton Hall of the Company's proposed central offices, workshops and housing. The meeting dated 12 November 1920 deals with the subject of a proposed new refinery at Grangemouth. Subsequent meetings deal with this development. They also deal with wages of shaleminers and oilworkers and a future basis for determining and agreeing wages taking into consideration the corresponding rates paid in the coalmining industry and the ability of the Company to afford wage rises. Minutes for 1921 deal with the crisis resulting from Industrial action in the coalfields and the resulting effect on works throughout. A further problem arose in the employment of bricklayers and rates of pay and the refusal of the Company to recognise The Amalgamated Union of Building Trades. Following this coalfield strike, unemployment increased and rates of pay within the Company were reduced. The Minutes from 11 November 1921 are not as detailed and refer to reports submitted and noted although development at Grangemouth Refinery are detailed. Board Meetings throughout 1924 - 27 deal with the position of the shale industry and meetings held with The Board of Trade and The Admiralty on help for the industry. Further meetings were held with The Ministry of Labour and representatives of the National Union of Shale Miners and Oil Workers and the Shale Oil Companies. The report to the Board Meeting of 22nd December 1925 details agreed Terms of Reference.