GMB Crocodile Protest in Manchester

YESTERDAY the GMB union held a demo outside G-Mex in Manchester at the conference of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development.  The protest was against the Institute's lack of action in relation to those of its members who have been named in Parliament for their part in blacklisting 3,213 building site workers.

In 2013 the Chartered Institute admitted to Parliament that they were investigating some 19 of its members as being linked to blacklisting.  In Autumn if this year academic members of the Institute asked that action be taken against those proven to have participated in blackilisting and named in Parliament.  Only last week the Institute responded by saying that no action would be taken until after the High Court proceedings for damages were finished.

Yesterday the GMB issued a leaflet saying:
'That is why we are here today with the crocodile suit.  Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development members that organized the blacklist might have thought they had got away with it scot-free, so shedding crocodile tears won't wash and neither will the Nuremberg Defence of "just following superior orders".'

The leaflet continued:
'On October 16th there was hearing in the High Court on compensation for 122 GMB members blacklisted by Carillion and other construction employers.  The next hearing is 17th, December.'

The leaflet concluded:
'The Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development wants to be taken seriously as the voice of Human Resources professionals but has been cowardly and ineffective in its efforts to remove the rot from its own ranks.  After five years of inaction the Chartered Institute now appears to be little more than a self-serving organisation happy to take its members affiliations without question about who they are are and what they have done.'

About 50 or more people turned out for the Manchester protest outside G-Mex, and several electricians were interviewed for the GMB website, including some activists from the EPIU union like Colin Trousdale.