The campaign for justice for blacklisted workers

The Blacklist Support Group (BSG) and trade unions have continued to campaign for justice for blacklisted workers and action to prevent further blacklisting. The main developments over the past few years include:

In January 2013, unions and campaigners called for a major inquiry into blacklisting, on a par with the Leveson inquiry into phone hacking. Also in January the issue was debated in Parliament.

In a major campaign victory, in September 2013 Unite secured the reinstatement of Crossrail engineer and Unite shop steward Frank Morris, who lost his position after raising health and safety concerns.

In March 2013, the BSG named and shamed company directors that chaired The Consulting Association (TCA) and the human resources and industrial relations directors identified as the “main contact” between the construction companies and TCA.

In April 2013, the Scottish Affairs Select Committee published its interim report described by the BSG as a big step forward in the campaign and welcomed by construction unions. The Unite union said the committee had “begun to shine a light on the dark side of the construction industry”.

In October 2013, a number of firms announced a proposal for The Construction Workers Compensation Scheme (TCWCS) funded by construction firms Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Costain, Kier, Laing O’Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine, Skanska and Vinci said that they “all apologise” for their involvement with The Consulting Association “and the impact its database may have had on any individual construction worker.”

Talks between the TCWCS and unions subsequently broke down.

In November 2013, the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) began to start writing to all of the 1,200 blacklisted individuals that they were aware of, to provide a copy of the information held by the TCA and further information on what they could do about being blacklisted.

On 12 March 2014, the Scottish Affairs Committee published its second interim report on its investigation into the blacklisting scandal, Blacklisting in employment, addressing the crimes of the past: moving towards best practice. It said that firms caught blacklisting should go through a process of “self–cleaning” including an admission of guilt. The Scottish Affairs Committee also paid tribute to the “to the activists of the Blacklist Support Group who have fought over a long number of years to maintain this issue in the public eye.”

The BSG added: “This report vindicates the years of tireless campaigning that many trade unionist and supporters have carried out. The report barely lifts the lid on this evil conspiracy. We will not stop our campaign until all aspects of blacklisting are exposed and brought to justice.”

On 4 July 2014, TCWCS was launched unilaterally by the construction firms. UCATT and GMB both slammed the scheme after negotiations between them and the construction companies broke down. One of the main reasons that the unions ended their negotiations was because of the very low figure of compensation being offered to blacklisting victims, with the final cost representing less than 2% of the combined profits of the eight construction companies.

The Scottish Affairs Select Committee which had reported on a public inquiry in March this year had advised against a unilateral scheme for blacklisted workers. The chair of the Committee, Ian Davidson MP, said: “Restitution must be made. It must not be left just to the companies themselves to determine what this should be, but it must be agreed after negotiations with the trade unions and representatives of blacklisted workers.

There are a number of blacklisting claims currently going through the Courts. Solicitors Guney, Clark and Ryan are acting on behalf of more than 79 construction worker members from the Blacklisting Support Group who are claiming compensation from construction firm Sir Robert McAlpine in the High Court using the law on “tort of unlawful conspiracy”. Other blacklisting claims have also been brought on behalf of Unite, UCATT and GMB union members at the first ever high court hearing on blacklisting on 29 November 2013.

There has since been a procedural hearing in July 2014 where all the blacklisting claims have been joined together. The next stage is for the legal and factual issues to be clarified at the next hearing in October 2014.