Police called as blacklist workers occupy head office of employment agency
Police were called to the UK head office of the Danish owned employment agency Atlanco Rimec today (Friday 23rd may 2014) when it was occupied by campaigners from the Blacklist Support Group and members of the UCATT and UNITE trade unions. The employment agency that operates in the UK and Ireland construction industry is centre of a storm after it was exposed on Danish TV that it kept a secret blacklist of workers who joined a union and denied them work. The revelations were made by an ex-manager of the firm in a documentary broadcast on the DR1 TV channel last week.
The
Labour MP Ian Davidson, who chaired the parliamentary Select Committee
investigation into blacklisting issued a statement saying:
“What
we have seen shows clearly that the use of agency workers is a weak
spot in eradicating blacklisting and we therefore recommended that
direct employment and transparent recruitment practices should be
standard for all public-sector contracts in the construction industry,”
"Blacklisting
of workers for demanding basic human rights such as safe working
conditions or unpaid wages is a national disgrace. For decades my family
has suffered because of this evil conspiracy and for decades the major
construction companies lied about the existence of a blacklist. For from
being a thing of the past, we now have evidence from Danish TV that the
practice is still going strong among employment agencies. If the
government wont do anything to stamp out this disease, then rank and
file workers themselves will take direct action to stop it reoccurring."
The
Northampton blacklist protest was part of a national day of action
against the umbrella company tax scams and abuses by employment agencies
in the building industry which saw building sites occupied and
blockaded in London, Newcastle, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff hitting
projects such as Crossrail and Manchester City training ground.
Reel News video of the Whitechapel protest: Umbrella Scam: Sparks lead the fightback
Among
the blacklist protesters was Northampton grandfather and blacklisted
bricklayer Brian Higgins
who has suffered decades of unemployment after his name appeared on the illegal Consulting Association blacklist. Higgins 49 page blacklist file is the largest file kept on the covert database and records when he stood up for his fellow workers as a UCATT shop steward and elected convener on building sites in London area during the 1980 and 90s.
who has suffered decades of unemployment after his name appeared on the illegal Consulting Association blacklist. Higgins 49 page blacklist file is the largest file kept on the covert database and records when he stood up for his fellow workers as a UCATT shop steward and elected convener on building sites in London area during the 1980 and 90s.
Higgins, branch secretary of Northampton UCATT and told the occupation:
"Blacklisting
of workers for demanding basic human rights such as safe working
conditions or unpaid wages is a national disgrace. For decades my family
has suffered because of this evil conspiracy and for decades the major
construction companies lied about the existence of a blacklist. For from
being a thing of the past, we now have evidence from Danish TV that the
practice is still going strong among employment agencies. If the
government wont do anything to stamp out this disease, then rank and
file workers themselves will take direct action to stop it reoccurring." The
Northampton blacklist protest was part of a national day of action
against the umbrella company tax scams and abuses by employment agencies
in the building industry which saw building sites occupied and
blockaded in London, Newcastle, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff hitting
projects such as Crossrail and Manchester City training ground. Reel News video of the Whitechapel protest: Umbrella Scam: Sparks lead the fightback
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