Month: May 2016

Eight of the country’s biggest construction firms have agreed to pay an estimated £50m in compensation to blacklisted workers, equating to an average payout of £65,000 to each of the 771 workers.

Some of the agreed payments to workers victimised for their union and safety activities are thought to be in excess of 200,000. Legal fees are estimated to run to around £25m for the long-running legal case, scheduled to go before the high court as the 9 May settlement deal was finalised.

Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Costain, Kier, Laing O’Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine, Skanska UK and Vinci settled the outstanding 256 cases with the union Unite for £10,435,000. Construction union UCATT then revealed it had secured £8.9m on behalf of the 156 cases it took for its blacklisted members. GMB said it settled at £5.4m for 116 blacklisted workers, plus £3m of legal costs under a deal struck last month.

And law firm Guney, Clark and Ryan is understood to have secured £6.6m for 167 victims it represented.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: “The massive scale of the agreed damages – more than £10 million – shows the gravity of the misdeeds of these major construction companies which created and used the Consulting Group [Association] as a vehicle to enable them to blacklist trade unionists on behalf of more than 30 construction companies. The sums to be paid out go a considerable way to acknowledge the hurt, suffering and loss of income our members and their families have been through over many years.”

Dave Smith, secretary of the Blacklist Support Group, said: “Despite all of the denials and attempts to cover up their secret conspiracy, the largest multinationals in the construction sector have been forced to pay out millions in compensation. Make no mistake, the High Court action is a historic victory for the trade union movement against the vicious face of free market capitalism.”

TUC head of safety, Hugh Robertson, noted: “Without the support that of GMB, Unite, UCATT and of course the Blacklist Support Group, the workers would have either received nothing, or, at the very least, some token amount. That in itself is clear evidence of the importance of strong independent trade unions.”

The settlement came as industry leaders including Sir Robert McAlpine’s Cullum McAlpine – the man named as behind the most recent reinvention of the blacklister The Consulting Association – faced the prospect of questions in open court about their role in the victimisation of thousands of workers and activists.

Media coverage: Construction Enquirer. The Guardian. Personnel Today. BBC News Online.

Hundreds of workers who were blacklisted by large firms in an illegal conspiracy have won compensation following a long-running lawsuit.

Last week approximately 420 trade unionists secured damages from major construction firms after launching legal action four years ago. The out of course settlement was reached by lawyers acting for the Blacklist Support Group and the unions GMB and UCATT. It brings to more than 600 the number of workers who have received compensation after their names appeared on a construction industry financed and run Consulting Association blacklist.

The amount of compensation has not been disclosed but, according to campaigners, could exceed £50m. It has been previously disclosed that some blacklisted workers have been awarded damages ranging from £25,000 to £200,000.

Steve Acheson, a blacklisted electrician from Manchester who chairs the union-backed Blacklist Support Group, commented: “Seven years ago when the files were discovered these firms denied everything and offered us nothing. Two years ago, their misnamed compensation scheme offered most people £1,000. These wretches have now been forced to pay out millions in compensation, as well as legal bills for four sets of lawyers. That’s a big kick in the profit margin.”

He added: “The construction firms may ‘wish to draw a line under this matter’ but for blacklisted workers this is still unfinished business. Until such time that the full conspiracy is exposed and those responsible for the human rights abuse are called to account in a court of law, we will never stop fighting.”

The claims were brought against Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Costain, Kier, Laing O’Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine, Skanska UK and Vinci, who all paid for and used the blacklisting services provided by the Consulting Association.

Unite is continuing its High Court blacklisting case against the construction firms on behalf of 90 members.

• Coverage: The Guardian. BBC News Online. Construction Enquirer. Morning Star.