TUC Day of Action - 20^th November 2013

No more Blacklisting. Make the culprits Own Up! Pay Up! Clean Up!

For over 20 years employers in the construction industry used secret files to vet new recruits and keep out of employment trade union and health and safety activists.
This blacklisting came to light when in March 2009 when the Information Commissioner's Office raided the offices of the Consulting Association and exposed the existence of a blacklist containing the details of 3,213 construction workers. They also found that the blacklist had been used by over 40 UK construction companies.

It is four and a half years since 44 construction workers were exposed as blacklisters following a raid on the Consulting Association by the Information Commissioner. The raid followed a tip off two years earlier than the company had been keeping secret files illegally for over 16 years. Yet even now, most of the 3,213 blacklisted construction workers and environmentalists are still unaware they have been blacklisted as they have not been contacted. Nor has a penny been paid to any of the victims.
That is why the TUC, along with the GMB, UCATT and Unite unions, and the Blacklist Support Group, is calling for a Day of Action against Blacklisting. This will be held on 20^th November.
The aim is to get the industry to "Own Up, Clean Up, Pay Up"!
The companies involved need to Own Up and accept responsibility for what they have done in the past,
They also need to Clean UP and ensure that it does not happen again by having transparent recruitment procedures that are agreed with tread unions and properly monitored
Then they must Pay Up and compensate all those who have suffered as a result of their actions. Many of those who were blacklisted were unable to work in the industry again had years of unemployment. They deserve compensation.
The TUC and the unions working in construction want a full public inquiry into the blacklisting scandal along the lines of the Leveson Inquiry into press behaviour.
Only by taking strong action now can we ensure that there is no repeat of this disgraceful affair and that no further lives are ruined by the unscrupulous behaviour of unprincipled employers.

As part of the day of Action there will be a Lobby of Parliament on 20 November 2013, to put pressure on MPs to hold an inquiry. Assemble on Old Palace Yard opposite the Houses of Parliament at 13:00.
For details of other activities and news around blacklisting see:

GMB http://www.gmb.org.uk/campaigns/blacklisting
UCATT https://www.ucatt.org.uk/blacklisting
Unite http://www.unitetheunion.org/how-we-help/list-of-sectors/construction/constructionblacklisting
Blacklist support group blog http://www.hazards.org/blacklistblog

Case studies and projects (500 words) issued 1 Oct 2013

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The blacklist first came to light when in 2009, the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) seized a Consulting Association database of 3,213* construction workers which was used by 44 companies to vet new recruits and keep out of employment trade union and health and safety activists. The ICO never contacted anyone on the list to let them know they were blacklisted.

*When alias names and duplicates are excluded there are 3,213 individuals on the blacklist. The map shows where 2,554 lived or worked. There are an additional 12 unmapped in Wales and 8 unmapped in Scotland. For 639, or 20%, no proper addresses are given. The ICO using NI details could, with help of DWP, find current addresses for most of 3,213 but they have not done so.

By autumn 2012 only 194 of the 3,213 people on the blacklist knew three years later that they were on the list as these had contacted the ICO directly.

After GMB representation ICO finally agreed to supply names, date of birth, trade and town to enable a check against our own membership records to find our members on the blacklist. We found nearly 200 exact matches and we are in contact with these members to get their files from ICO. Leigh Day is preparing litigation to get them compensation at no cost to these members.

There were a further 300 GMB members who may have been on the list but we need more information to assess this.

We publish the map below, based on the locations supplied by ICO to GMB, to prompt responses. If you were a construction worker from one of these areas and you as a trade union and health and safety activist were denied work for reasons you could not explain get in touch with us and we can cross check the records. Let your construction friend see it too.

GMB priority now is to step up the campaign to get each and every GMB members blacklisted proper compensation. GMB is also still pushing ICO for proactive action to inform all builders on the list that they are on the blacklist.

A GMB report on blacklisting showed that it was not something isolated or rare. The report estimated, that in one quarter, that Carillion for example checked 2,776 names with the Consulting Association and in the period from October 1999 to April 2004 it estimates that Carillion checked at least 14,724 names.

Did you work for any Carillion company like Crown House, Schal International, SkyBlue Employment Agency, Tarmac, John Mowlem or Carillion itself or one of the other blacklisting employers?

Paul Kenny, GMB General Secretary, said "people have been deprived of an honest living through these illegal tactics which has blighted their families’ lives. They have been the victims of injustice over many years by

multi- national companies- now seeking to live off public sector contracts.

Not a single company has yet been punished nor have any of them paid compensation. GMB is calling on local councils not to award any new public work to the companies that operated the blacklist till they compensate those they damaged”

If you can help the GMB identify more names on the blacklist call Phil Whitehurst GMB Construction Officer on 07968 338810 or email him at phil.whitehurst@gmb.org.uk or write to him at GMB, 22 Stephenson Way London NW1 2HD. Call Justin Bowden on 07710 631351 or email him at justin.bowden@gmb.org.uk if you can help your local council put pressure on to get compensation.