Blacklisting Update May 2012
1. Consulting Association blacklist
The Consulting Association blacklist was exposed in
2009 – 3200 building workers personal details were kept of a secret database –
it is mainly union members who have dared to raise concerns about safety issues
or unpaid wages. The blacklist was used by major contractors to sack stewards
and stop them getting jobs on their projects..............
Originally, Ian Kerr (Chief Executive of the blacklisting
operation) got fined a derisory £5,000 – Five Grand for destroying peoples
working lives!! The Labour Government introduced the new Blacklisting Regs in
April 2010 (the law isn’t retrospective, so none of the blacklisted building
workers got any justice from it). And then finally UNITE and UCATT took a load
of Employment Tribunals. Virtually every case got thrown out before it got to
court or lost because we worked for subbies or agencies rather than the major
contractors that did the actual blacklisting. To this day only 3 fellas have
actually won their tribunals – well done lads.
The Blacklist Support Group was set up in 2009 to fight our
corner. We stood shoulder to shoulder with the sparks in the BESNA dispute –
many of the rank and file leaders are already blacklisted. BESNA has put
blacklisting centre stage in the industry negotiations. After 3 years of
campaigning, things are finally beginning to hot up.
If you want to check whether you are on the blacklist -:
Contact the ICO
on 0303 123 1113 and ask for the "building industry blacklist"
2. Demand a Public Inquiry
As documents continue to be disclosed by the Information
Commissioners Office as evidence in Employment Tribunals, it has emerged that
the following unions have blacklisted members on the Consulting Association
blacklist: UNITE, UCATT, GMB (all construction), RMT (rail industry), OILC
(off-shore industry), NUJ (journalists who wrote pro-union articles), UCU
(academics were blacklisted for carrying out research into safety), NUT (some
teachers were blacklisted for participating in anti-racist demonstrations)
In addition, The Observer recently ran a front page
story about police collusion in the blacklist. John McDonnell MP and Michael
Meacher MP have both called for a full Public Inquiry into blacklisting. UNITE,
UCATT, GMB, NUJ, TSSA all have motions calling for a public inquiry at their
conferences whilst the NUT is discussing the issue at the National Executive
Committee.
Blacklist Support Group at Fringe meetings at Union
Conferences:
UCATT Conf - Scarborough: Steve Acheson & Roy Bentham
(Tues & Wed)
GMB Conf - Brighton: Dave Smith (Wed)
UNITE Conf - Brighton: Steve Kelly, Steve Acheson & Dave
Smith (Mon & Wed).
3. Parliamentary Select Committee
It may not be a full Public Inquiry but the Scottish Affairs
Select Committee in the Westminster parliament has started running an
investigation into blacklisting which will run over the next few months. Their
remit is fairly tight - it has to involve Scottish firms or Scottish projects
etc... Ian Davidson MP is the chair and along with other MPs on the Select
Committee will be calling witnesses to give evidence.
On Tuesday 22nd May, the committee interviewed Maria Fyfe
(ex-Glasgow MP) who used to speak at early Construction Safety Campaign
meetings and played a leading role in parliament on the Economic League. Most
of her evidence was historical about what went on in the 1980s.
Blacklisted workers and members of the Blacklist Support
Group have been asked to provide evidence. The MPs have also asked the BSG and
others to come up with some stories that they can feed to the Daily Record.
Scottish blacklisted building workers whose lives have been ruined because of
the Consulting Association blacklist. Hopefully UNITE, UCATT, GMB and OILC
should definitely have a formal input into the Select Committee investigation.
At the end of the investigation the Committee will produce a
Report that is presented to parliament (The present government are unlikely to
take any notice but it might feed into the Labour Party manifesto process).
Hopefully, this is just the parliamentary breakthrough we've been waiting for.
4. High Court claim
Blacklist Support Group has been working with Guney Clark
& Ryan Solicitors to bring a "class action" style claim directly
to the High Court for Tort of illegal conspiracy relating to breaches of
the Data Protection Act. The lead counsel in the case is Hugh Tomlinson QC -
one of the leading human rights & privacy barristers in the UK (He is the
main barrister for celebrities in the super-injunction cases and in the News of the World phone-tapping cases).
The High Court claim may be the last chance for the majority
of blacklisted workers to get any kind of legal redress or financial
compensation. Any blacklisted worker with a Consulting association file who is
not part of this claim should contact Liam Dunne of Guney Clark & Ryan
Solicitors directly on 020-7275-7788.
We appeal to UCATT, UNITE, GMB and RMT (as the unions with
members with blacklist files) to support the High Court claim by circulating
the details to their blacklisted members and encouraging them to participate in
the claim.
The High Court claims will get lots of publicity once they
go public – watch out for stories in the press, cos it might be some time soon.
5. Blacklist Support Group
Email:blacklistsg@gmail.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistSG/
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