'Deep Throat' Delivers Rebuke

Who Knew What About Carillion?

Editor:  The observations below appeared in a post on the Alan Wainwright Blog yesterday.  It makes serious claims that the characters named were aware of the situation regarding Carillion.  Northern Voices is not in a position to judge the validity of what Alan Wainwright is saying.  But we believe Mr. Wainwright ought to be listened to.  In 2007, Mr. Wainwright performed the role of the 'Deep Throat' in the context of the blacklist in the British building trade.  Without the help of the whistle-blower Wainwright, the blacklist would very likely never have been exposed.

www.alanwainwright.blogspot.com/2017/03/capenhurst.html

www.alanwainwright.blogspot.com/

Thursday, 18 January 2018:

CARILLION LIES - WHO KNEW AND DID NOTHING?

Theresa May, Greg Clark, Margot James - Government

John McDonnell - Land of Make Believe

Aidan Kehoe - Chief Executive Liverpool Royal Hospital

Board of Directors - Liverpool Football Club

Steve Rotheram MP 

Philip Green, Keith Cochrane, Steve Mogford, Andrew Dougal, Alison Horner, Ceri Powell - All Carillion

& many others

******

I was National Labour Manager at Carillion for seven years, reporting directly to the managing directors. With responsibility for around 2,500 mechanical and electrical operatives and a £60 million annual labour bill, I had access to key financial personnel and the relevant financials.

This post should be read in conjunction with the other Carillion Lies posts HERE.

As you will see from the three letters to Philip Green, Keith Cochrane and the other Carillion non-execs, John McDonnell was also copied in the correspondence and I have alerted both him directly and his team on many occasions to my concerns about Carillion.

McDonnell ignores me, as I continue to campaign to expose the trade union officials involved in the blacklisting, and current senior trade union leaders such as McCluskey, Cartmail and Beckett who ignore all the evidence I've presented to them about this and Unites cover up of the blacklisting back in 2006 to protect the millions they were receiving from the construction companies at the time, which is detailed HERE.

As no one was responding to the very serious concerns I was raising about Carillion, I asked my MP David Hanson to get involved and set out all the correspondence between him and Theresa May, Greg Clark, Margot James. No 10 and John McDonnell below.

David Hanson to Theresa May - 18 October 2016 (download link)

David Hanson write to the PM, highlighting my correspondence to Philip Green (and the other Carillion non-execs) and questioning his suitability to advise the PM on Corporate Social Responsibility. Theresa May punts this off to Greg Clark on 28 October 2016.

David Hanson to Greg Clark - 10 January 2017 (download link)

David Hanson follows this up with Greg Clark on 10 January 2017, as no response had been received to date.

Margot James to David Hanson - 22 February 2017 (download link)

Margot James responds on behalf of Clark, stating that Mr Green was appointed by the previous PM, David Cameron and that she had been advised by No10 that he no longer held the position.

David Hanson to Theresa May - 17 March 2017 (download link)

David Hanson writes to Theresa May highlighting further questions from me about Mr Green and steps taken to ensure he was suitable for the role as Special Adviser on Corporate Social Responsibility.

David Hanson to John McDonnell - 17 March 2017 (download link)

David Hanson writes to John McDonnell, highlighting my letters to him from January, March and April 2016 and asking what steps he had taken in relation to the concerns raised about Carillion.

McDonnell ignores him for months, so I ask David to chase this up, which he did. McDonnell eventually responds by email on 2 August 2017 stating: 
'In response to the correspondence from your constituent Mr Wainwright, I was working on the basis from his past correspondence that Mr Wainwright had expressed such a virulent lack of confidence in me that he was continuing to pursue his concerns via yourself as his constituency MP.'

McDonnell had been aware of the fact that Carillion had blatantly lied to the City, their clients, shareholders and employees, and a parliamentary select committee since January 2016 and his first response 18 months later is that?

The response didn't even make sense, as I only contacted David Hanson for help as McDonnell had been ignoring me all this time.

10 Downing Street to David Hanson - 13 June 2017 (download link)

Andrew Paterson responds to the above 17 March 2017 letter to Theresa May, but does not provide the information requested.

So everyone knew about Carillion Lies and the fact that Howson & Co were prepared to lie to their clients, shareholders and employees, and a parliamentary select committee, but nobody did anything about it.

******

Alan Wainwtright: Carillion's 'Deep Throat'!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Blacklist Bosses Named!

Names named by Alan Wainwright before the Scottish Affairs Select Committee:

IN his evidence the 'deep throat of the blacklist' Alan Wainwright named the following people as involved in the operation of the blacklist:

• Frank Duggan: group personnel director for Carillion plc
• Kevin Gorman: former human resources manager for Carillion’s Crown House division, now human resources director for Bristow offshore helicopters
• Liz Keates: head of human resouces at Carillion
• Sandy Palmer: NCS (Carillion’s in-house employment agency)
• Dave Aspinall: NCS (Carillion’s in-house employment agency)
• John Ball: head of human resources at Carillion
• Roger Robinson and Brian Tock: two managing directors of Crown House, both of whom discussed the Consulting Association blacklist with Alan Wainwright
• Sheila Knight: Emcor Drake & Scull, who circulated lists of workers on Pfizers, Royal Opera House and Jubilee Line among senior managers with other firms
• Michael Aird: Balfour Kilpatrick
• Prue Jackson: personnel director of Hayden Young
• David Brinckley: Hayden Young 

Justice For The Blacklisted Workers

by Alan Wainwright

First published on his Blog: Friday, 6th, October 2017

VICARIOUS LIABILITY

"Vicarious liability refers to a situation where someone is held responsible for the actions or omissions of another person. In a workplace context, an employer can be liable for the acts or omissions of its employees, provided it can be shown that they took place in the course of their employment".

The Current Excuse

Mr McCluskey states the following in his correspondence to members dated 24 August 2017.

"Presently Unite have a further 70 plus cases being taken for victims of Blacklisting. It is vitally important that any review of documentation does not disrupt that litigation"

This can be downloaded HERE.

That may be, but I have raised a number of significant facts, complete with the evidence to support them that fall outside of this scope, which Mr McCluskey has completely disregarded.

                                                         Internal Documents

Further, I have been handed internal documents that provide an insight into the current status of these claims. They read:

"Legal Services represent 41 new Claimants in High Court proceedings against the same construction companies, and individual directors, as in the successful group litigation concluded last year. The claims are for conspiracy, breach of Data Protection Act, breach of privacy and confidence rights and, in may cases, defamation. Individual Particulars of Loss have been calculated and the claims are currently due to be served on the companies by 1 August. Legal Services is coordinating a further 17 new claims on behalf of former Ucatt members".

A Claimant in these proceedings has informed me that five figure offers have already been made by the construction companies and that they have been advised by the union to reject these.

These new claims have absolutely nothing to do with the matters raised by me to Mr McCluskey in MY REPORT dated 29 May 2017 and therefore should not hamper any investigation into such.

Legal Advice

Over the next few weeks I will be meeting blacklisted workers who feel they had a gun held to their head to discuss their experiences of the High Court settlements and hear their concerns. 

With their permission, I will be relaying this information to a team of solicitors who are assisting me with this matter.

The discussions will be held in complete confidence and on an individual basis. No information will be passed onto the solicitors or other blacklisted workers without the consent of the individual.

If you would like to discuss this with me you can email me direct at alanwainwright1963@gmail.com

Alternatively, you can call me on 07399 530323

It has now been eight years since we got our Consulting Association files. Eight years in which blacklisted workers have been raising their concerns about the involvement of trade union officials in the blacklisting. The unions could have launched an independent inquiry into all this over the last eight years.

They have not done so and have no intention of doing so. 

******

'Can of Worms' of TU collaboration in Blacklisting

 by Alan Wainwright (Whistle-blower)

Some blacklisted workers have made reference to a gun being held to their head last year by their union lawyers in relation to the High Court settlement figures.

More recently, blacklisted workers (including myself) have formally raised their concerns with their union about trade union officials and their involvement in the blacklisting.

If trade union officials were involved in the blacklisting, then why was the union not liable to pay any compensation to blacklisted workers?

Independent Inquiry

It is now over four months since my correspondence to the General Secretary raising my concerns about the union's cover up back in 2005/2006, and other matters relating to the involvement of senior trade union officials and politicians in the blacklisting. This can be downloaded HERE.

Mr McCluskey rejected my correspondence by email stating that I was not a member of the union, which is incorrect. I have advised him of such, but as yet have received no response.

For those holding out for this so called independent inquiry, I would say the following:-

Please wake up and smell the coffee!

This is not going to happen!

There will always be an excuse/reason to not conduct this!

And if one is eventually conducted, it will not be anywhere near the level of investigation needed if we (blacklisted workers) are to eventually get to the truth of this matter.

For if it is found that trade union officials were complicit in the blacklisting, then that could possibly lead to significant legal claims from blacklisted workers against their union.

For more go to

ALAN WAINWRIGHT & THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY BLACKLIST

www.alanwainwright.blogspot.com

'BENT UNION OFFICIALS'!

from Alan Wainwright's Blog

 Friday, 25 August 2017

IT is common knowledge to everyone involved in the blacklisting over the last twelve years that the current Unite area official, Mick Tuff and the then General Secretary, Derek Simpson buried all my blacklisting evidence in 2005/2006, leaving me (a current member of the Amicus union at the time) isolated and alone with this, and allowing Ian Kerr and The Consulting Association to continue functioning.
 

The evidence presented to them was the exact same evidence, no more or less than eventually enabled David Clancy from the ICO to trace and close down the Consulting Association some four years later.

I have raised this with many Unite officials over the years and many senior Labour politicians (funded by Unite), who have all turned a blind eye to this.  

On learning about Mr McCluskeys' election pledge (to hold an independent inquiry into trade union official complicity in the blacklisting),  I presented an extensive report to him on the evidence I’d collated on the cover up, trade union official collusion and other very important and relevant facts.  I put it to him that the scope of this inquiry needed to be widened much further than just officer collusion. 

The report can be downloaded here: REPORT

The appendices can be downloaded here: APPENDICES

Mr McCluskeys' email response dated 24 August 2017 simply states:  

“Please find enclosed a letter which has gone out to all of our construction NISC”.

"I am advised that you are not a member of Unite and this is just to advise that my dealings on this matter will be solely through the official organ of the union, i.e. the Construction NISC and the Executive Council”.

The letter referred to can be downloaded here: LETTER

My report had clearly stated that I am a member of Unite. It also detailed my membership and branch number at the top of the page. 

Mr McCluskeys’ comment therefore strongly suggests that he had not even read the report, let alone considered the very important facts contained.

alan wainwright & the construction industry blacklist - blogger

www.alanwainwright.blogspot.com 

http://www.unite4len.co.uk/len-mccluskey-vows-carry-fight-blacklisted-workers/

Building industry blacklist whistleblower sues for victimisation ...

https://www.theguardian.com › Business › Construction industry 

Carillion's Share Price & other comments

 N.V. Editor:  

  Yesterday, Construction News reported:  

' “Grisly” is how one analyst described Carillion’s profit warning this morning.  
Hargreaves Lansdown senior analyst Laith Khalef was speaking after the Wolverhampton-based contractor issued a profit warning on contracts worth £845m, which could cost the business up to £150m in 2017 and 2018. Chief executive Richard Howson has stepped down with immediate effect, Carillion Building managing director Phil Wakefield has left the company after more than a decade leading the division, and a “comprehensive review of the business” will be undertaken.'

Below also is yesterday's website response of the well-know whistle-blower, Alan Wainwright, on the now notorious Consulting Association blacklist in the British building trade:  Here is what he has to say about Carillion:

CARILLION LIES

As Carillion collapses and Howsen resigns, let us not forget all their lies in relation to the blacklisting.

It's all HERE

 PHILIP GREEN, CARILLION & THE PM

On 1 October 2016 Sky News reported that Carillion's Chief Executive, Philip Green had been in talks with Teresa May about a role advising her on 'responsible business'.

Sky News Report - 1 October 2016 
The report also revealed that Mr Green had been advising David Cameron on 'corporate social responsibility' during his tenure.
This beggars belief!
Now Carillion's position...
"Crown House, the only Carillion subsidiary to use the Consulting Association's database, stopped doing so back in 2004. The practice was proactively stopped because the HR manager responsible for checking the database believed it was wrong."
...is a total pack of lies.
I set out all the facts and evidence disproving their lies in my three letters to Philip Green and the other Carillion non-executive directors in January, March and April 2016.

You can view all three letters and the evidence HERE 
This was ignored by Mr Green, all the other Carillion non-execs, and the politicians who were copied in on this (see below).

This was recently highlighted to my MP, David Hanson in October 2016, who subsequently wrote to the Prime Minister highlighting the facts. The PM responded in late October 2016, stating that she had referred this to the business department.

Over three months has now passed and no further response has been received to date. David has therefore submitted a formal written question to the Secretary of State for Business, which can be viewed HERE 
Okay, so I expect nothing less from the Tories who are quite happy to turn a blind eye to Carillion's lies, but look who else was copied in on the correspondence over a year ago and did nothing about it.
Pete Wishart - Chairman of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee
Jim Eadie - Infrastructure and Capital Investments Committee
John McDonnell - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer

Steve Mogford - Carillion Non-exec
Andrew Dougal - Carillion Non-exec
Alison Horner - Carillion Non-exec
Ceri Powell - Carillion Non-exec
Keith Cochrane - Carillion Non-exec

Meanwhile, Sam Dean and Rhiannon Bury in the Daily Telegraph report::(10 July 2017):

Hedge funds pocketed huge windfalls yesterday after more than £300m was wiped off Carillion’s stock market value on Monday as the building contractor warned on profits, axed its dividend and parted company with its chief executive.

Carillion is the most shorted stock in the FTSE 250, with more than 25pc of its shares on loan to short-sellers. Its shares crashed 39.04pc at 117.1p, shedding £322.6m in value.

Short-sellers make one-way bets that a company’s share price will fall rather than rise, profiting when it does so.

***********

Union Bosses Who Blackballed Their Members!

 Why hasn't McCluskey probed bent officials before?

Why didn't Mrs. Cartmail interview Whistleblower Wainwright?

Why are blacklisted workers still waiting for justice?
by Brian Bamford
***

GUARDIAN journalist. Rob Evans last Monday wrote that  'blacklisted workers want an inquiry by a legal expert to interview trade union officials and victims, and see if information was handed over deliberately.'
Now Unite, the UK's biggest trade union, is facing calls to set up an inquiry into claims that union officials gave information to a clandestine blacklisting operation funded by major firms and enabling them to deny jobs to certain workers.
Long suspected details of the alleged complicity have emerged in documents prepared for a high court action following which construction firms apologised and paid compensation totalling around £75m to 771 blacklisted workers. The evidence of the complicity of trade union officials and managers has led to a group of 41 blacklisted workers to call on Unite to commission an independent inquiry into the claims.

  Why hasn't McCluskey probed bent officials before?

The election for the new Unite General Secretary closes on the 19th, April, and the existing general secretary Len McCluskey has said that he will  'set up an independent union inquiry to investigate all evidence made available' to him of collusion by union officers in blacklisting.  But Mr. McCluskey has been the general secretary of the Unite union for years, why has it taken so long for him to offer an inquiry?  Couldn't he have done this earlier?
Meanwhile, the Unite union's acting general secretary, Gail Cartmail has said: 'Only a full public inquiry with judicial authority will fully explain the depth to which the state and employers colluded to deny construction workers employment.'
'Unite has campaigned legally, industrially and politically to win justice for blacklisted workers and to ensure the disgusting practice of blacklisting is ended once and for all. Blacklisting is an industrial crime, the blame for which lays squarely at the door of the construction companies..'
Yet, Ms Cartmail herself conducted her own investigation in 2011 on behalf of the Unite union, and on the 2nd, November 2011, this Northern Voices Blog stated that her report 'cleared the union officer':
'THE Report and investigation into 'alleged Officer collusion in Blacklisting in the construction sector' conducted by an Assistant General Secretary of Unite, Gail Cartmail, has concluded that: 'Despite considerable effort I have not discovered evidence against officers' of the union. She writes that while 'I accept that this may disappoint some activists, who are justifiably angry and who have suffered ... great injustice arising from Blacklisting', she urges that 'workers officials of the union are also entitled to dignity at work and in the absence of any proof I trust that such allegation of collusion (in Blacklisting) will now desist.'
She was telling us to 'desist'  is asking questions about collusion in 2011, but now she's calling for a public enquiry because she knows the victims of blacklisting are still disgruntled and telling people to 'desist' is not politic.

In her report in 2011 Mrs. Cartmail wrote 'Alleged collusion by union officials' seems to place great stress on the allegations of one man Mr. James Simms, who was a former employee of a predecessor union and has since been employed by Beaver Management Services Ltd and has claimed to have a 'CD-ROM with the names of union officers on it complicit in the Blacklisting of members'.  She concluded that Mr. Simms that getting information from Mr. Simms was like extracting teeth.
But Jim Simms was not the most promising whistleblower with regard to the expose of the blacklist in the British building trade.  The credit there must surely go to the former electrician and whistleblower, Alan Wainwright, not Jim Simms?

 Why didn't Ms. Cartmail interview Whistleblower Wainwright?

THE whistleblower Alan Wainwright wrote a letter to Gail Cartmail, on Monday, the 23rd, July 2012 which he has placed on his own Blog: July - alan wainwright & the construction industry blacklist - blogger www.alanwainwright.blogspot.com/2012_07_01_archive.htm : 

:
Dear Mrs Cartmail

Re Construction Industry Blacklisting

'I was the whistleblower in this matter and provided the evidence which eventually exposed this via David Clancy at the ICO in March 2009. Three years on and we now appear to be making a start at holding the companies accountable for this, but I cannot help but feel that we could have saved at least three years if Mr Simpson had acted when he first came into possession of the evidence in 2005/2006.

'I'm therefore now writing to appeal to you to investigate Derek Simpsons' lack of enthusiasm to investigate and act upon this in 2005/2006 and provide the reasons behind this...

'I've held senior positions at Crown House Engineering (National Labour Manager), Drake & Scull and Haden Young and during those periods of employment the companies paid the union subscriptions of the members as part of a benefits package. The union also received two pounds per week for every agency worker placed on the sites as part of an 'agency workers membership scheme' set up by the Luton office under Harry Hughes. This was a simple head count system and payment made monthly if I recall correctly. I understand the unions received in excess of one million pounds a year from the companies in question under these schemes at the time.

'Although Mr Simpson has now retired, I do believe he receives a handsome pension and a luxury house to live in. I cannot see how this can be justified, as in my opinion he was in a prime position to do something about this and chose not to do so. Mr Clancy had no more or no less evidence than Mr Simpson three years previous but Mr Simpson chose to do nothing about this.'

Mr. Wainwright concluded his letter:
'As you may be aware, Guney Clark Ryan are about to lodge their case to the courts. We may never get full justice for these people, but I think they are at least owed some honesty about why a major union of which many were members did nothing to help them.'

Yours sincerely

Alan Wainwright

Mrs Cartmail in her reply wrote:

 '.... The purpose of your letter was specifically in relation to what you identify as a wasted opportunity on the part of the retired Amicus/Unite General Secretary Derek Simpson who you believe should have done more arising from your correspondence in 2005/2006.

'As you point out Mr Simpson is now retired. The union has no capacity to secure Mr Simpson's cooperation in an investigation. The union recently reviewed Mr Simpson's post retirement benefits, which were subsequently adjusted to the extent that this was possible.

'I empathise with your frustration however do assure you that Unite now gives priority to representing members known to be Blacklisted and is proactively working to achieve better law.'

Kind regards

Gail Cartmail

Readers must decide for themselves why Mrs. Cartmail didn't interview a vital witness such as Mr. Alan Wainwright when she was doing her investigation for the Unite union into blacklisting in 2011?

 Why are blacklisted workers still waiting for justice?

TO better understand Gail Cartmail's growing involvement within the campaign against the blacklist, we need to understand the development of the Blacklist Support Group, and how the Rank and File construction worker's campaign began to have political impact, prominence and profile.  At some point Mrs. Cartmail recognised this and decided to assimulate herself within the workings of the Blacklist Support Group.    

This can clearly be detected in her letter responding to Alan Wainwright in 2012:

Dear Alan

'Your effort and those now organised within the Blacklist Support Group has been tremendous in exposing the practice of Blacklisting in the Construction Industry.

'Since February 2011 I have led for the union as AGS for a number of sectors including construction. Over the past 12 months I have learned about different aspects of the ICO raid of the Consulting Association, subsequent litigation and legislative changes introduced by the Labour Government. In the process I have met and come to know many workers who have been the victim of Blacklisting in the industry.

'Both Unite's predecessor unions supported numerous members complaints to their employment tribunal where their application to the ICO showed they were on the Blacklist.  We have renewed encouragement to members to bring cases forward. Unfortunately as you probably know the settlements in respect of such cases is relatively low and poor comfort to workers who struggle to find employment commensurate with their qualifications.

'Over the past we have endeavoured to campaign against Blacklisting and work with the Blacklist Support Group on a number of fronts including legal challenges on grounds of disclosure of information and human rights...'

 A very sugary response indeed, and one intended to seduce!  

Yet the truth is that the conversion of the of the Unite leadership and that of the politicians within the Labour Party to the campaign against the blacklist for those of us who stood on the lonely picket lines in Manchester, was indeed a slow uphill  process.  It was only when the Blacklist Support Group became a political bandwagon following the raid by the Information Commissioner in 2009 of the offices of the Consulting Association run by Ian Kerr that things took off.

Alan Wainwright was clearly aware of this in his correspondence with Mrs. Cartmail in 2012:
'I note your comments about the current contribution from the union, but this is simply too little too late and is perceived by some I speak to as just jumping on the bandwagon. I put it to you again that these people are at the very least owed an explanation and an apology of why a major union of which many were members did nothing to help them at the time.'

Jumping on a political bandwagon is one thing Mrs. Cartmail, delivering justice is quite another!

The Whistle-blower & the Blacklist

 THE post below is from Alan Wainwright's Blog.  Alan Wainwright was a whistle-blower who exposed the blacklist in the British building trade.  As a consequece of the information he provided, the Information Commissioner was enabled to raid the headquarters of the Consulting Association in 2009.  Mr Wainwright is now suing the construction company Balfour Beatty.

Tuesday, 4 April 2017

BENT UNION OFFICIALS

Been saying it since Mick Tuff and Derek Simpson buried all my blacklisting evidence in 2006 to protect the millions they were receiving from the construction companies at the time.

Rob Evans in today's Guardian Article 

Start HERE for the evidence on MICK TUFF and then via all the 'BENT UNION OFFICIALS' posts on this website via the INDEXtrade

Loneliness of the Longdistance Whistleblower!

by Brian Bamford

Derek Pattison - Joint Editor wrote on 9th, March 2017:

'I feel compelled to comment. There is no doubt that Mr. Wainwright's help in exposing this blacklisting scandal, was absolutely invaluable to many building workers.  This was because he was a 'blacklister' turned 'whistleblower' and had valuable inside information.  However, when he gave evidence to the Scottish Affairs Select Committee, he was asked at what point he realised that there was something reprehensible or immoral about blacklisting construction workers.
'Many people (including those on the Scottish Affairs Select Ccommittee) felt that he did not act as he did, because his conscious pricked him, but because he had been shit on by the company he worked for when he raised the issue of alleged corrupt practices and they took detrimental action against him. Some people feel that he really blew the whistle because he was a disgruntled employee who wanted to get back at the company that he worked for.
'There is nothing surprising about this and people often do blow the whistle for similar and not unrelated reasons, rather than acting in the public interest.
'Mr Wainwright refers to his meeting with Ian Kerr.  As I understand it, Kerr said in his evidence to the SASC, that Mr. Wainwright had said that Tarmac (the company he worked for, now Carillion) did not need his services because they had their own information about construction workers and could operate their own blacklist.
'Understandably, Mr Wainwright will now want to minimise his involvement in this scandalous practice of blacklisting, and engage in ex-post facto rationalisations.  No doubt, Alan will be happy to expand on these matters and answer questions about this, when he meets trades unionist to talk about his role in the blacklisting of construction workers.'

Derek Pattison, the joint-editor of Northern Voices, wrote the comment above earlier this month in response to an appeal from the whistle-blower and former costruction industry boss, Alan Wainwright in a legal case against Balfour Beatty.  Derek, in his account below, was clearly anxious to show that there is much that is complicated in the affairs of men and women:  the line between morality and expediency may well be a fine one.  It is now worth reminding ourselves by re-reading what the journalist Rob Evans had to say in The Guardian on Friday the 15th, May 2009:

Alan Wainwright: The lonely life of a construction industry whistleblower 

by Rob Evans Friday 15 May 2009 01.00 BST

Blacklist whistleblower, Alan Wainwright. Photograph: Christopher Thomond 

How former manager exposed how workers were being secretly blacklisted. 

ALAN WAINWRIGHT is a whistleblower who appears to have had a significant hand in changing government policy. The one-time construction manager used his inside knowledge to expose the clandestine use by companies of blacklisting that has prevented trade unionists and alleged "troublemakers" getting jobs.

By going public, he set off a chain of events which resulted, on Monday, in an announcement from the business secretary, Lord Mandelson, that the government was finally going to outlaw covert blacklists. Mandelson had been forced to act after a watchdog closed down a private investigator allegedly at the heart of blacklisting in the construction industry. Wainwright played a key role in helping to unmask the investigator, who is due to be prosecuted for breaking the data protection act on 27 May. This week he is pleased, but keen to stress that others, including trade unionists and politicians, deserve the credit as well.
He has trodden the familiar path of a whistleblower – battling for a long time in obscurity while being ignored by those in power: "It was demoralising not to be believed." Like other whistleblowers, he suffered for going public – losing his job, having no income, using up all his savings to live, experiencing a lot of stress, and fearing he would be evicted from his home: "It affects your relationship with your children, who are the most important thing in my life."

Industrial strife

Wainwright, 45, grew up in Deeside, north Wales. He started off as an electrician then ran a recruitment agency before being recruited by the Tarmac construction firm.
His whistleblowing story starts in 1997 when he was the national labour manager at an engineering company, Crown House (then a Tarmac subsidiary). He had been told by a senior manager that construction companies paid a private investigator, Ian Kerr, for information to "ensure that certain workers did not gain employment on their projects". He was told to meet Kerr because the vetting was being extended to Crown House's labour force.

"He [Kerr] definitely made it clear that they were undesirable people who had a history of causing disruption to projects," Wainwright says.
He had two meetings with Kerr, who said that many construction firms supplied him with details of workers on his database. As an example, Wainwright was shown a list of more than 100 names. According to Wainwright, Kerr said that when someone applied for a job, the company would forward their name to him so he could check his database. Wainwright said that if a worker was rejected, a simple "no" would come back, with no other explanation.
Wainwright's department faxed a weekly list of names to Kerr; later the lists went to Tarmac's head office: "It was very discreet, a closely guarded secret. It was made clear to me that I was not to discuss it with anybody, and I didn't." However, something was stirring in his mind: "I knew deep down that there was something wrong with it."
Yesterday, Laing O'Rourke, which now owns Crown House, said that in recent years it had bought companies which had paid Kerr, but this had been stopped.  In 2000, Wainwright briefly worked for the Drake and Scull construction firm. He said his managers sent him a list of 500 workers, with their national insurance numbers, which it had received from rival construction firm Balfour Beatty.  He said the listed workers had been employed on three large construction projects that had seen a lot of industrial strife, and that the list was distributed to managers to ensure some workers were not employed.  The memo, dated August 2000, advised him to "keep this information confidential".
The Emcor construction company, which owns Drake and Scull, said it was aware of the list described by Wainwright: "We have employed individuals named on that list, at the time and subsequently. We do not condone blacklists."
By 2004, Wainwright was a manager for Haden Young, a subsidiary of Balfour Beatty. Within a year, he came across what he thought was fraud by employees, but says his bosses were not interested in finding out the truth – a claim they deny. "The management shunned me," he says. "It got to the point where I felt very isolated, alone and alienated. It was one of the most distressing periods of my life."  He initiated a grievance complaint against the company, but began to worry that he himself would be branded a troublemaker.

In a letter to his head office in July 2005, he wrote: "The company operates a blacklisting procedure for new recruits and hired temporary agency workers to check for any previous history of union militancy, troublemaking."
Copies of Haden Young faxes from the time show lists of names being faxed to head office so that, he believes, they could be vetted.
Yesterday Balfour Beatty said it did "not condone the use of 'blacklists' in any circumstances and has taken steps to ensure that none of our companies use such services."  In 2006, Wainwright quit Haden Young but lost an employment tribunal claim. He was by then convinced that he had been blacklisted as he had applied unsuccessfully for more than 150 jobs.  He believed he had to make a concerted effort to expose the blacklisting if he were ever going to get work. He set up a website and posted names of hundreds of workers he believed had been blacklisted to alert them.

Unfair dismissal

He linked up with workers who thought they were being blacklisted, shared his inside information with them and gave evidence for them in industrial tribunals.  Three workers won their case in 2007 for unfair dismissal when a tribunal concluded that a "disgraceful" blacklist did exist in the construction industry.  A Guardian article on the cases last June caught the attention of the Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, the official privacy watchdog.  He investigated because he was worried that workers were unfairly being denied jobs.  As Wainwright had met Kerr and still had documents concerning the alleged blacklisting, he was able to help him.  Investigators raided Haden Young premises and tracked down the elusive Kerr to a nondescript office in Droitwich, Worcestershire. In February, they raided Kerr's premises and seized a secret database of 3,200 workers, effectively finishing the 66-year-old's business.
Thomas then named 40 construction firms including Balfour Beatty, Sir Robert McAlpine, Laing O'Rourke, Emcor and Crown House, which he said had been clandestinely using the database to vet potential workers. According to Thomas, the firms bought details of the individuals' trade union activities and work record from Kerr. Workers were said to be labelled, for example, as "Communist party", "lazy and a trouble-stirrer", "Do not touch" and "Irish ex-army bad egg".  Among the entries was one on Wainwright recording how he had helped blacklisted workers.
Now the jovial Wainwright is happily out of the construction industry and working for a concert ticket business.
He is animated about who are the ultimate culprits –  the directors of the construction companies. "Ian Kerr is not the primary cause of this.  The companies set him up in business, funded his existence from the start, and each name on the list would have been provided by the companies.  The directors took the decisions to join the system."

He is not ready to celebrate the end of blacklisting yet as he is waiting to see if Mandelson manages to draw up a proper law to eradicate it. "I am cautiously optimistic, however," he says.
Alan Wainwright's new blog on the construction industry blacklist is now live

Alan Wainwright: the CV

Born Chester 1963.
Career 1979-1989, qualified electrician; 1989-1993, managing director of own recruitment business; 1993-2000, national labour manager, Crown House; 2000, business improvement director at Emcor Drake & Scull; 2001-2004, human resources consultancy work; 2004-2005, production manager, Haden Young; 2006-present, concert ticket buyer, after 200 unsuccessful job applications.
Family Divorced, son 21 and daughter 19.
Interests Writing, performing and watching live music.

An Example of Agency Blacklisting

Below are the contents of a post posted on Thursday, 16th, March 2017, on the whistle-blower, Alan Wainwright's Blog:  www.alanwainwright.blogspot.com 

AGENCY BLACKLISTING - BCL RECRUITMENT

The following is an extract from a text message sent by recruitment consultant, Grace Griffiths from recruitment agency, BCL Recruitment to pipefitter Tim Irwin last Monday.

"Well done mate"

"You will be blacklisted from every agency in London and Kent now" 

"I've done this a long time so good luck getting another job" 

"You must be a special kind of stupid if you can't even read a text" 

The text (which can be downloaded HERE) continues with various insults towards him.

I have spoken to Grace, who informed me that she could not blacklist anyone as she did not have access to the computer system at head office. 

BCL Recruitment's website is HERE

On this they state the following in the 'About Us' section:

"BCL employ the creme of the crop in respect of our staff" 

The website details the actual company as Bullet Contracting Limited (Company 07781001). A Companies House search reveals the only registered Director as Francis Joseph Boyle. I did contact Mr Boyle for comment, only to be laughed at by Amy at his office.

Yesterday, Tim received a call from a man called Raman Sunmonu, who informed him that Grace actually worked for his company, Sidney Mould Recruitment (Company 10392824). 

Mr Sunmomu described the text from Grace as "disgusting" and informed Tim that Grace was no longer working for him as a result.

A Linkedin search earlier this week reveals Grace's actual employer for the last three years as BCL Recruitment. However, the Linkedin page was taken down yesterday. 

Fighting Fund to Expose Blacklisters

BELOW is a copy of a post on the whistle-blower Alan Wainwright's Blog.  It represents the setting up of a fund to support the legal case against Balfour Beatty Engineering Services Ltd. for their alleged part in the blacklisting of workers in the British building trade.  It is only fair to say that Mr. Wainwright himself has a certain history within the construction industry, but that this background gave him a unique insider's knowledge of how the British blacklist operated to the detriment of the lads on the tools.   We at Northern Voices believe that we live in an imperfect world, and that friends in adversity must come together in a common cause to make a better future for all.

Monday, 13 February 2017

UNITE (LIVERPOOL & TEESIDE) AND CAPENHURST SPARKS

Thanks to Roy Bentham, Tony Seaman and the lads at Unite's Liverpool and Teeside branches for kick starting the fighting fund for the legal work to expose Paul Raby, Gerry Harvey and all the other blacklisters at Balfour Beatty Engineering Services Limited (BBESL).

I've just learned that the entire electrical workforce (some 400 plus) at BBESL's Capenhurst project have passed a motion to support my claim against their employer and collections will start this week. It is hoped that the mechanical (some 200 plus) will follow shortly.

Thank you to everyone who made this happen. 

Whistle-blower's View on Blacklisted 'Friends'

ALAN WAINWRIGHT QUESTIONS LOYALTY OF LABOUR POLITICIANS

ON Sunday the 26th, June 2016, three days after referendum day, the former blacklister Alan Wainwright posted the post below entitled 'John McDonell - NO FRIEND OF THE BLACKLISTED'. 

Mr. Wainwright later became the principal whistle-blower who opened-up the whole tyranny of blacklisting in the British building trade, which went on for generations  The Consulting Association offices in Drotwich were later raided by the Information Commissioner, and its facilitator Ian Kerr, now deceased, pleaded guilty at Knutsford Crown Court to operating an illegal data-base or blacklist.  Without the help on Mr. Wainwright the revelations that later led to the exposure of the blacklist would not have become apparent.   

Because Alan Wainwright is such a key figure in the campaign against the blacklist Northern Voices believes he deserves to be listened to.  Therefore we publish what he has to say here without comment.  Our readers must make their own judgements about what he has to say here:

Sunday, 26 June 2016

JOHN McDONNELL - NO FRIEND OF THE BLACKLISTED

Many many politicians have failed the blacklisted workers over the last eleven years. You would expect this from Tory MP's, but for me, it is the many Labour MP's I have contacted for help over this time who should hang their heads in shame for their total inaction on this matter.

A recent addition to this list is the (soon to be fired) shadow chancellor, John McDonnell. It is public knowledge that I have recently brought legal proceedings against over thirty companies and recruitment agencies for breach of the new 2010 blacklisting regulations, but he is supposedly "too busy" to even re-tweet my appeal page, let alone do anything else to help this current campaign.

He has been fully briefed on the new legal claims in a briefing document drafted by myself and my legal advisor, but has chosen to join both Unite and Ucatt in their blatant refusal to help (let alone even mention) my current campaign.

I have had some difficulty in trying to understand why someone who professes to be such a huge supporter of the blacklisted workers would be so reluctant to help with the new campaign. One that if successful could ultimately lead to the full Public Inquiry we so desperately need.

He is however not too busy to turn up for photograph opportunities with compensated blacklisted workers outside the Royal Courts of Justice or to attend the video shoot of the excellent new Blacklist No1 song.

The current response from John and his team is that he is simply too busy to help in any way. Not even a re-tweet. So why would he be so reluctant to help a leading blacklisting campaigner with such a credible record in this matter? The answer lies in his relationship with Unite.

It is no secret that I have been outspoken about the role of Unite in the blacklisting, including the complicity of their senior officials as a source of information on many of the blacklist files and their deliberate cover up of my evidence back in 2005/2006 to protect the millions they were receiving from the construction companies.

I have it on very good authority that Unite's deal with the construction companies to settle the High Court litigation was made last November, despite their rhetoric to fight to the death in the run up to the trial in May.

A simple electoral commission search reveals that Unite paid Jeremy Corbyn (in addition to the money they donate to the Labour Party) £130,000 in the last twelve months to assist his campaign. John McDonnell was Jeremy Corbyn's campaign manager.

So while Unite profess to be a friend of the blacklisted workers, their money and it's control over whoever they donate to always has the final say.

Blacklist Company & Rochdale MBC

LAST night, there were two demonstrations outside Rochdale Town Hall for the full council meeting.  One was an ongoing protest by citizens and council workers again the Labour and Tory councillors who at the last full council meeting awarded themselves a rise in stipend of 34%, but the other was a challenge by residents who are anxious about the Northern Economic Gateway which proposes to build posh houses on the Green Belt in Rochdale and other areas of Greater Manchester.

The Rochdale Council leader, Richard Farnell, did his best to justify the rise in the councillor's stipend of which he is the chief beneficiary*.  What was more interesting last night was the debate about the Green Belt, which resulted in cat-calls from the packed public gallery.

Councillor Farnell promised a full consultation which the public over the next 20-years in which the project will be rolled out.  He also predicted a vision of an economic utopia for the people of Rochdale and beyond when the project goes ahead.

A Tory councillor suggested that only Brown Field land should be used in the first place and that areas of Green Belt should only be used if and when necessary.  But the Tory councillor then said that obcourse the building firm 'Balfour (Beatty) will not agree to this!'.

This was stating the obvious, because the contrators want the cream first and foremost , and the Green Belt offers the most profitable land for development.

Yet, Balfour Beatty is no ordinary company it was one of the prime movers of the Blacklist in the British building industry and was an affiliate of the Consulting Association operated on its behalf by the now deceased blacklister Ian Kerr, before it was closed down by the Information Commissioner in 2009 it damaged many lives of working men.

If Rochdale Council, a Labour Council, is now going to get into bed with a gang of blacklisters who have inflicted tremendous suffering on workers in the British building trade this is to say the least very disappointing.

What happened to an 'Ethical Procurement Policy' at Rochdale MBC?  Or indeed in Greater Manchester?

At least Councillor Richard Farnell's predecessor former Councillor Colin Lambert  when leader of Rochdale MBC said that his council would avoid employing companies like Balfour Beatty that participate in the blacklisting of trade unionists.

For coverage of the previous Rochdale meeting of Rochdale MBC filmed by Carl Faulkner, and how the Rochdale councillor's voted through their 34% rise in the councillor's stipend go to  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c2pmv_lZFI

Ruined Lives: UCATT report on blacklisting. | UCATT

https://www.ucatt.org.uk › Campaigns › Blacklisting

ALAN WAINWRIGHT & THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY BLACKLIST

www.alanwainwright.blogspot.com/ 

UNITE (LIVERPOOL & TEESIDE) AND CAPENHURST SPARKS

The report below is taken directly from the whistle-blower, Alan Wainwright's Blog.  (Editor)

Thanks to Roy Bentham, Tony Seaman and the lads at Unite's Liverpool and Teeside branches for kick starting the fighting fund for the legal work to expose Paul Raby, Gerry Harvey and all the other blacklisters at Balfour Beatty Engineering Services Limited (BBESL).
I've just learned that the entire electrical workforce (some 400 plus) at BBESL's Capenhurst project have passed a motion to support my claim against their employer and collections will start this week. It is hoped that the mechanical (some 200 plus) will follow shortly.
Thank you to everyone who made this happen.

Alan Wainwright case against Balfour Beatty

The report below is taken from Alan Wainwright's Blog, which we publish without comment.  It suggests that a case brought by Alan Wainwright is having serious consequences for the Balfour Beatty high command, and that some of them are now jumping ship:

GERRY HARVEY - BALFOUR BEATTY

Key evidence on prolific blacklister, Gerry Harvey was specifically highlighted by Regional Employment Judge, Barry Clarke in his judgment.
Other very notable Balfour Beatty senior managers and directors involved are:
Vikki Skene - Leaves Balfour Beatty after ten years to join Galliford Try only a few months before the preliminary hearing.
Jemma Wilkinson - Also leaves Balfour Beatty after ten years to join Pricewaterhouse Coopers only a few months before the preliminary hearing.
Alastair Green - National Labour Manager also leaves Balfour Beatty after twenty two years to join Imtech only a few weeks before the preliminary hearing.
For more go to:
 http://www.alanwainwright.blogspot.co.uk 

Blacklist update - 1st November

1. "McAlpine were checking an average of 65 names a day during the mass
recruitment stage of the Olympics stadium construction project. Public
money was being spent on blacklisting construction workers.

The Blacklist Support Group raised concerns and held protests but they
were largely ignored because no-one wanted to believe that it was
going on."

Evidence by UCATT General Secretary Steve Murphy and Jim Kennedy at
the Scottish Affairs Select Committee investigation into blacklisting
on 30th October 2012

Full video evidence here:http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=11656

2. Carillion have issued a statement to the Select Committee continuing to deny any involvement in blacklisting by their senior management in any part of the business other than Crown House.

Alan Wainwright (blacklisting whistleblower and ex-Director of Crown House) gives his version of what was going on at Carillion. Read his blog here: http://alanwainwright.blogspot.co.uk/

Alan Wainwright will be giving evidence to the Select Committee at 2:30pm next Tuesday

3. HRBlacklist website

RMT identify a website set up to blacklist union activists:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/10/31/trade-union-blacklisting-bob-crow_n_2050010.html

4. Press coverage:

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/125574

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/125582

plus we made The Times today

Blacklist Support Group