Tag: The Consulting Association

from the Blacklist Support Group:

The Blacklist Support Group (a network of building workers blacklisted in the Consulting Association scandal) has filed a submission to the consultation process for the proposed new Blacklisting Regulations.

 The full consultation closes on Tues 18th August (it is being fast-tracked, as the Regulations have been “on the books” since 1999 but were never turned into law by the Secretary of State because of intense business lobbying during a 2003 consultation process).

 John McDonnell MP (who has been championing the cause of the blacklisted construction workers in parliament) said:   

 “Only the strongest legislation will be able to protect workers from the scandal of blacklisting. That is why we are calling on the government for tough action.”
Continue reading “Blacklisted workers demand ‘strongest legislation’”

When a private investigator was fined £5,000 for running an illegal  blacklist of over 3,000 construction workers, the real villains escaped  justice. The construction industry’s major names had bankrolled and directed The Consulting Association, which in turn told them to steer clear of union activists – particularly those like Dave Smith who had made a stand on safety.

Dave Smith believes construction sites should be safe. He’s been fired several times and has faced years of hardship for saying so. Dave is one of the 3,213 construction workers the Information Commissioner disclosed in March 2009 were listed on an illegal blacklisting database.

 He knows he was listed for safety reasons. That’s made crystal clear in the 36-page dossier bearing his name seized by the Information Commissioner in a February 2009 raid on blacklisting outfit The Consulting Association.

“Everything in my file relates to safety – page after page of concerns about asbestos, near fatal accidents, god awful toilet facilities,” Dave told Hazards. “If I discussed it with a site agent, it ended up in my file. Even my UCATT safety reps’ credentials were on the file.” Raise safety concerns and “you were sacked and then hounded out of the industry,” he said.

This wasn’t a minor inconvenience, it was a fast track to poverty. “My kids were on milk tokens. I am a qualified and experienced engineer but during one of the biggest building booms this country has ever known, with the industry crying out for skilled workers, I couldn’t get a start.”

 Read the full Hazards magazine story and Dave Smith interview.

When the Information Commissioner discovered a Droitwich company held a blacklist on over 3,000 construction workers, it acted promptly.

The Consulting Association was shut down, key figure Ian Kerr was prosecuted and fined £5,000, workers who believed they had been blacklisted could apply to receive their files and the government promised a new law.

 Two other things soon became apparent, though. The major construction firms that bankrolled the covert blacklisting operation on trade unionists would escape prosecution. And The Consulting Association had been operating in one guise or another for decades before Kerr faced the courts.

Hazards magazine’s ‘blacklist blog’ is tracking developments on the story – it’s a health and safety story because union health and safety activity or even concern appears to be a fast track to blacklisting, with union safety rep credentials a regular feature in blacklist dossiers.

 Hazards is also concerned that other seemingly legitimate outfits – management consultants and law firms, for example – may be providing blacklisting advice as part of “union avoidance” services. And it believes that while the emphasis has been on victimisation of trade unionists in the construction sector, blacklisting is almost certainly prevalent in other sectors.

The blacklist blog tracks legal and campaign developments – so you can see what his happening and see why it is crucial to make a stand.

Statement from the Blacklist Support Group

Major construction firms face deluge of blacklisting scandal legal cases

The Blacklist Support Group (a cross-union network representing blacklisted workers) issued a statement: “fullying supporting the actions of the Information Commissioner for today launching legal proceedings against 14 of the UK’s leading construction companies because of their involvement in illegal blacklisting of building workers because of their trade union membership and for raising safety concerns.”

 6 of the 14 companies are divisions of Balfour Beatty. Continue reading “Britain: Major construction firms face deluge of blacklisting scandal legal cases”