A brief history of the Council on Industrial Relations is necessary at this juncture. Founded as a result of meetings between Contractor L. K. Comstock and International Secretary Charles Ford, for the purpose of setting up a national labor agreement for the electrical industry. After several meetings it was decided that a Council on Industrial Relations to settle differences between themselves and living in peace, uncomplicated by strikes was what was necessary, not a national agreement. The C.I.R. was established in 1920, it consisted of a panel of six representatives of the National Electrical Contractors Association (N.E.C.A.) and six representatives of the IBEW Cases before the C.I.R., which meets quarterly, consist of matters in dispute, and interpretations of existing agreements. Both sides are heard and a unanimous decision is rendered. Both submitting parties agree to abide by the C.I.R. decision before submittal. The cost of C.I.R. records and meetings to be paid equally by both parties. When the members of the C.I.R. are in session they represent the contracting industry, not the IBEW or N.E.C.A.

I want to get deeper into the C.I.R. later, but for now it is sufficient to understand Local 103's entry into the "Strikeless Industry".

 John Cole represented Cole Electric Company of Newton Highlands and Frank L. Kelley, President of Local 103 and member of the International Executive Council, were early members of the C.I.R. and were quickly made knowledgeable of the submitted methods and hearing outcomes (only 45 cases were heard between 1921 and 1945). The most significant and immediate reason for submittal by the electrical employers association of Boston and Local 103, was that they were for the past 25 years, members of the Employers Building Trades Council, E.B.T.C., who negotiated for all 23 trades in construction and established one rate for all trades. With still bitter memories of the stonewall attitude of the E.B.T.C., which led to the year and a half strike of the Building Trades in 1921. And, in 1925, the Mayor of Boston could not succeed himself so, Labors' ally, James M. Curley, was not at City Hall to mediate. Armed with a wage scale reported by the new research department of the IBEW, Local 103 and the electrical employers entered into a three year agreement on April 1, 1925, wages were increased to $1.25 per hour (the E.B.T.C. granted a voluntary increase to $1.25 per hour six months later than when our members received their increase.) More importantly though was the break from the building trades. They seldom got all the tradesmen to agree to strike or continue negotiating and skilled craftsmen were paid on a level with unskilled day labor. The ramifications of this "strikeless industry agreement" were to reverberate through the next 50 years, although of the other trades, the exception being the elevator constructors, Local 4, who also adhered to a strikeless industry, (they average to wages of the top four building trades wage-earners semi-annually, and avoid negotiations as well as strikes.) Monday morning quarterbacking of the other building trades laid claim to the theory of "strike while the iron is hot negotiations" were best, and would belittle the electrical industry. The C.I.R. agreements made by Local 103 would result in the highest wages and in the future, fringe benefits, paid in the Construction Industry and would not cost the member one lost day on the picket line.