Blacklist Support Group
PRESS RELEASE: Electricians picket against the blacklist
On the 27th, August 2009; the Greater Manchester ‘Campaign against the Blacklist’ is organising a protest picket on the Rock Project in Bury, Lancashire, to take place at the end of The Rock at the gate opposite the department store WILKINSONS, 111, The Rock, Bury. Media coverage is expected between 10am & 11am. The Secretary of the Unite/ EPIU Manchester Contracting Branch NW 6/1400, blacklisted electrician, Steven Acheson, will be there together with other blacklisted electricians and activists in the building trade. Brian Bamford, Secretary of Bury Unite Branch NW 6/353 will also be present. The protest is open to all trade unionists & their supporters.
The reason for this protest, at this the biggest project in Europe, is that the main contractor Lange O’Rourke has been identified by the Information Commissioner as an affiliate to Ian Kerr’s ‘The Consulting Association’ that last month pleaded guilty in the Knutsford Crown Court to illegitimately managing a data base: Blacklist. Also another company operating on this site – NG Bailey – was another affiliate of The Consulting Association. The government is now considering a change in the law to make blackilisting of trade unionists specifically illegal. Another reason for the protest is that Brian Bamford as Secretary of Bury Unite Branch wrote to Mark Sanders, the Chief Executive of Bury Council on the 18th, May seeking reassurance that he would use his influence to ensure that there would be no blacklisting on the Bury building sites. As yet there has been no reply from Mr Sanders despite a further appeal in July of this year. Brian Bamford, Secretary of Bury Unite the Union, declared: ‘In all these circumstances local trade unionists and all fair minded people connected with our campaign, feel that it is necessary to protest to draw the public attention to a dispicable practice in the British building trade that has gone unchecked for many years.’
Electricians Protest Picket against the blacklist: to be held Thursday 27th August 2009. Start time will be 8am, however, media coverage required for between 10-11am. Protest will take place at the nearest gate opposite Wilkinsons, 111 The Rock, Bury.
For further details contact Brian Bamford Secretary, Bury Unite Branch – contact tel no. 01706 861793. Email northernvoices@hotmail.com