Who 'exposed blacklisting'?

A London Centric Re-writing of History.
National Shop Stewards Network [NSSN] 16, JAN 2018;

THIS week the National Shop Steward's Network Bulletin reported on the current Carillion scandal that the BLACKLIST SUPPORT GROUP [BSG]  'exposed blacklisting employers such as Carillion through a heroic campaign.'  

This is not true, because when the blacklist was first exposed the BSG didn't exist.  The NSSN say this because they are predisposed to a London centric analysis.

The BSG was only founded after the blacklist had been recognised by the chairman of an Employment Tribunal in the case of .Acheson & others v the electrical engineer for sub contractor Logic in 2007.   At that time Dave Smith, the national secretary of the Blacklist Support Group, has, I believe, made clear that he did not know about the blacklist until 2009,

The wrong-headed paragraph, which foolishly re-writes the history, from the NSSN newsletter is below:

'The Blacklist Support Group exposed blacklisting employers such as Carillion through a heroic campaign. We support their call that “the government should bail out the NHS not Carillon or their bankers. The government should nationalise Carillon now at the current market value of their shares (nothing) and go further by banning all of the construction companies involved in the blacklisting human rights conspiracy from any publicly funded contracts.”
This scandal shows once and for all that the parasitic privateer companies must be forced out of the NHS and the rest of the public sector. Last summer - porters, cleaners and domestics went on strike at Serco in Royal Barts NHS Trust. One of their main demands was to be again directly employed by the NHS.'

The exposure of the blacklist in the British building trade came about owing to the relentless efforts of what Derek Pattison and Brian Bamford as officers of Tameside TUC described in their book as 'The Boys on the Blacklist'.  This publication outlines the early campaigns in Manchester in Crown Square, and outside Manchester Royal Infirmary by a handful of local electricians.  If it hadn't been for the tenacity of these northern lads, members of the EPIU NW 1400/7 branch of what was in 2003 the Transport & General Workers Union, and is now the Greater Manchester Construction Branch, Alan Wainwright the Carillion whistle-blower wouldn't have contacted the secretary of the above branch leading directly to the case at the Manchester Employment Tribunal in which the existence of the blacklist was finally recognised:  see link below.

Read more on how the blacklist in the British building trade was exposed:  www.labournet.net/ukunion/0707/mcrelec2.html

****** 

MPs demand blacklisting mastermind be stripped of Big Ben public contract!

Book Review - by Derek Pattison

Blacklisted: The Full Story The Secret War Between Big Business and Union Activists

Author: Dave Smith and Phil Chamberlain

This is the second edition of Blacklisted with the full story to date including the 

historic High Court victory and new revelations. Now with photographs.

* Buy print version:

• £9.99

 New Internationalist

The Old Music Hall

106-108 Cowley Rd

Oxford, OX4 1JE  UK

01865 403345

IT’s now over two-years ago since I first reviewed ‘Blacklisted – The Secret War Between Big Business and Union Activists’ by Dave Smith and Phil Chamberlain.  This new, second edition, ‘The Full Story’, deals with two major developments in the 18-months since the first edition of ‘Blacklisted’ was published.   One is the outcome of proceedings in the High Court against the so-called MacFarlanes Defendants and the other, is the ‘Pitchford Public Inquiry’, which is investigating undercover policing.  During the High Court proceedings, further evidence of blacklisting was disclosed and some of this has now been used in this book.

For people who are unfamiliar with this story of blacklisting of workers in the construction industry, which involved collusion between the state and the construction industry, it is perhaps necessary to say something about how this grossly illegal operation was discovered and exposed.

On 11 May 2016, in the High Court, in London, a public apology was made and an agreed joint statement was read out on behalf of a group of major British construction companies including – Balfour Beatty companies, Carillion, Costain, Kier Ltd, Laing companies, Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd, Skanska UK, Vinci and Taylor Woodrow, and various individual defendants including, Cullum McAlpine, Danny O’Sullivan, David Cochrane and Stephen Quant. 

All these companies and individuals, known as the ‘MacFarlanes Defendants’ were apologising for having set up a secret and unlawful ‘Vetting Operation’ and database, also known as a ‘Blacklist’, to vet particular workers applying for jobs in the construction industry. 

We now know that the in-house lawyer for Laing O’Rourke, Paul Field, resigned his job on 9 March 2009 shortly after the discovery of the blacklist describing the operation as ‘Orwellian’ and ‘third-rate McCarthyism’.  In a witness statement, Field said that “he found the idea that people were denied work simply because they had joined a safety committee ‘repugnant’.

A large number of construction workers, in a group litigation, who were members of the trade unions UCATT, GMB, or clients of the law firm, Guney, Clark & Ryan, brought claims against them for “breach of confidence, misuse of private information, defamation, conspiracy and breach of the Data Protection Act 1998.” 

Although liability had been initially denied by the Defendants, they admitted to having set up a secret scheme for vetting construction workers who were seeking employment in the industry between the early 1970s and 2009.  The secret operation went under the name of the ‘Services Group’, which was part of the notorious ‘Economic League’ and later, it became known as the “The Consulting Association.”   The database included details on individuals such as:


“Names, dates of birth, addresses, NI numbers, trade, employers’ names, alleged employment history, suspected political affiliations or sympathies or perceived militancy, trade union affiliation and activities, and complaints about health-and-safety or breaches of employment rights. "

This database was seized following a raid on the offices of The Consulting Association (TCA) in February 2009, by officers working for the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). Over 3,000 files were confiscated which included details of construction workers and other individuals, including academics, lawyers, politicians and environmental activists.  These files represented only around 5 to 10 per cent of the information held by TCA at their office in Droitwich, Worcestershire.  In July 2009, the ‘data controller’, Ian Kerr, was fined £5,000 by Knutsford Crown Court, for operating an illegal database.  Kerr’s fine and legal costs were all paid by the construction firm Sir Robert McAlpine, who had set up this blacklisting operation. 

We now know that British Telecom (BT) had provided details about the location of Kerr’s address, only after being threatened with legal action by the ICO.  The ICO had previously raided the offices of Hayden Young – part of the Balfour Beatty group - in Watford in August 2008 and had obtained a fax number. When, following the raid at the offices of TCA,  Kerr’s wife, Mary Kerr, had asked why her husband had not been tipped off about the raid at Hayden Young, six months previously, she received a solicitor’s letter asking her to desist in her questioning. 

In a witness statement that was submitted to the High Court by Gerry Harvey, HR director for Balfour Beatty and a TCA contact for the firm, he disclosed that both he and his colleague, Armar Johnston – another TCA contact at Balfour Beatty – had been ordered not to disclose details of the raid at Hayden Young to Ian Kerr, by the Group Human Resources Director, Paul Raby, because he feared legal repercussions.  Both Harvey and Johnston were told to have no further involvement with TCA.

Gail Cartmail, a trade union officer with Unite the Union, told MPs at a Select Committee of the House of Commons that Gerry Harvey “has form on blacklisting.”   Despite being a TCA contact at Balfour Beatty, Harvey wrote to an Employment Tribunal in 2008, denying there was a ‘blacklist’ and suggested that the litigant, Colin Trousdale, was “paranoid.” Never the less, on the first page of Trousdale’s blacklisting TCA file, it was noted: “Trousdale is taking us to the Tribunal.”  Outside the offices of Balfour Beatty Engineering Services (BBES), in Glasgow, Trousdale told protestors: “Being a trade union member is not a crime: perjury is.”


An email found on Gerry Harvey’s laptop (exhibit in High Court), from Elaine Gallagher of Balfour Kilpatrick, dated 16/3/2009, a month after the ICO raid on TCA, says: 
'The email includes attached list of workers recorded as Not Required or code 11 ‘do not employ’ and an internal database kept by Balfour Beatty.'
In his witness statement, Harvey went on to name:  
'Andrew Alison, Michael Shortall, Colin Trousdale, Danny Regan, Steve Acheson, Graham Bowker, Tony Jones, Sean Keaveney, Robert McKechan and Howard Nolan, as workers who appear on the internal database as unsuitable for employment.   
'They are also all blacklisted by TCA for their union activities… Harvey does reassure the court that ‘regardless of the Consulting Association checking service neither I nor my staff would have employed Acheson, Bowker or  Jones, given their very high profile’.'
(Exhibit for High Court – see also “Boys on the Blacklist” by Derek Pattison and Brian Bamford).

Despite three separate instructions to retain potentially relevant documents in March 2009, March 2013 and April 2013, Dinah Rose QC, told the High Court in January 2016, that the defendants were responsible for the deliberate destruction, non-provision and concealment of evidence.

“We can show that the defendants have destroyed documents systematically from the date of the ICO raid onwards in an effort to conceal their guilt.”

In a note of a telephone conversation he’d had with David Cochrane, Chairman of TCA at the time of the raid, Kerr records that he was instructed to: “Ring everyone, cease trading, close down. We don’t exist anymore, destroy data, stop processing.”

Although a multi-million pound compensation settlement was shared between 771 workers - Unite £10.5m, UCATT, £8.9m, GMB £5.4m and GC Ryan £6.6m, with costs paid by the companies estimated at between £75m and £250m, many blacklisted construction workers do not feel that they ever received justice.  There was no trial and none of the construction bosses was ever put in the dock or cross-examined.  To this day, not one of the construction bosses or so-called HR professionals who engaged in a prolonged period of illegal activity in running a secret blacklisting operation, have ever been prosecuted  for their squalid activities.  The only person to be prosecuted was Ian Kerr, who told the Scottish Affairs Select Committee in November 2012 – “I took the flak so they wouldn’t be drawn into all of this. They would remain hidden if you like…”  Nor has there been much appetite on the part of the Conservative government, for a public inquiry into this matter.  Many of these construction companies are major financial backers of the Tory Party.  Only five blacklist cases ever reached a full employment tribunal and only three won their claims.  Most cases were dismissed as being ‘out-of-time’ or on the grounds of employment status such as agency workers.

Likewise, many people who found themselves ‘blacklisted’, remain convinced that blacklisting is still going on. Since the TCA raid in February 2009, there has been evidence of blacklisting taking place at Crossrail and the Olympics and workers like the electrician Dan Collins, continue to get sacked for raising concerns about health and safety. In December 2016, Elizabeth Denham, the Information Commissioner, re-opened the file on the construction industry stating that she feared that the 'malpractice' (blacklisting) was still taking place. She said her staff and been put on a 'watching brief.'

In July 2015, the Home Secretary announced the terms of the ‘Pitchford Inquiry’ into undercover policing and the ‘Blacklist Support Group’ (BSG), have been given ‘core participant’ status.   In March 2012, David Clancy, investigation’s manager for the ICO and a former police officer, told The Observer that some of the information held in the TCA files could only have come from the police or security services. The police watchdog, the IPCC, have already told the BSG that Special Branch had “routinely provided information about prospective employees” and that, “It is likely that all Special Branches were involved in providing information that kept certain individuals out of work.”  This was denied by the police inquiry ‘Operation Herne’, who said there was no such evidence.

In October 2014, John McDonnell MP, named detective chief inspector Gordon Mills, head of police liaison at the ‘National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit’ (NECTU), as a senior officer who had given a power point presentation at a meeting of TCA held in Oxford in 2008.  Although Mills admitted his attendance and presentation, he said it was a ‘misunderstanding’ and that he hadn’t realized it was a meeting of TCA.  Following a newspaper article in the ‘London Evening Standard’, Mills: 


“sent letters via his lawyers, Slater and Gordon, who represent the Police Federation, threatening to sue McDonnell, the Guardian, the GMB union (*) and two small websites, Union Solidarity International and Northern Voices. None of those who received threatening letters apologized for linking DCI Mills with the blacklisting meeting or paid him any money. All legal actions subsequently ran out of time.”

If Mr. Kerr was the monkey behind the Consulting Association, then, Cullum McAlpine was the organ grinder.   The Association was run under his leadership and guidance to “provide a blacklisting service” (Scottish Affairs Select Committee – Blacklisting in Employment, sixth report). In January 2016, Dinah Rose QC told the High Court:
“Cullum McAlpine is a very senior, very important man. It is very important that he should not be seen to have got away with what was clearly a protracted period of unlawful activity which it is plain that Mr. Cochrane was seeking to cover up.”

This is why some MPs and blacklisted construction workers are now demanding that Sir Robert McAlpine be stripped of the £29m four year prestigious refurbishment contract of the Elizabeth Tower and Big Ben. Shadow minister for labour, Jack Dromey, said: 


“There has to be consequences for historic blacklisting, it is scandal that the iconic Big Ben contract has been given to that company (Sir Robert McAlpine).” 

(*) Editors note: since publishing this book review we have been made aware of the following:
'In August 2017, GMB posted a clarification on their website stating that union "did not intend to suggest that Mr Mills was directly responsible for the Consulting Association's blacklisting" accepting that "he was not knowingly involved in" information passing between the police and the Consulting Association used to blacklist workers'. http://www.gmb.org.uk/newsroom/newsroom/gordon-mills-crocodile-tears.html

'Carolyn Wilson, I don't know her from Adam!'

WE publish the report below just to keep our readers informed of the strange goings on at Freedom Press, which used to have the distinguished reputation of being the stable of one of the oldest journals in the country (founded in 1886), and is now a place where the inmates think nothing of operating bans and blacklists against fellow anarchists.  The latest rumour is that the Freedom Collective, led by the Bookshop manager, Andy Meinke, wants to extend his local blacklist to include a Friend of Freedom Press who he believes is leaking info. to Northern Voices.  The Collective under Andy Meinke got rid of the solicitor Richard Parry earlier in the Summer of this year, after Mr. Parry had sent a letter to the occupants of the building who sometimes pay rent to the Collective warning them they may have to move out as the Friends planned to sell the premises on Whitechapel High Street.  On that occasion Mr. Meinke rallied a mob to intimidate the Friends of Freedom Press by using his Facebook page yet again.

ADAM Lawrence Barr, who was the latest editor of Freedom, has now left the job he was paid to do apparently for good.  He is the latest in an  undistinguished line of holders this office to quit.  In fact most people I know connected with Freedom Press are embarrassed by both the printed version of the paper and the website offering.

What was more curious than Mr Barr fleeting participation at Freedom was the sudden conjuring up of the good lady Carolyn Wilson, who was installed on the eve of Referendum Day (22/06/16) as a new Friend of Freedom Press.  Carolyn Wilson was nominated by a departing Friend who had not only never met her but had no knowledge of who she was.  In other words she was just another 'name' put forward by the Secretary of the Friends of Freedom Press, Steve Sorba, who nominated the other new Friend, Jason Holdway, who is an anarcho-syndicalist and seemingly has some connection with the Solidarity Federation. 

What must be troubling about all this is that the director/ members of the Friends of Freedom Press are operating like puppets or nodding dogs; nominating any kind of odd or sod who presents themselves at the Freedom Bookshop in Angel Alley.  I write this in the knowledge that both Mr Holdway and Ms. Wilson are representatives of that shy school of anarchists and did not want to give their details, and that this presents a problem because Companies House to which the Friends of Freedom Press are registered as Company Directors normally requires the full names and addresses of the Directors on the board. 
Further investigations by Northern Voices shows a Ms. Carolyn Jane Wilson has now been registered at Companies House together with the other directors, and perhaps we should not be surprised that her 'correspondence address' is registered as 84b, Whitechapel High Street:  which is none other than the address of the Freedom Bookshop run by Andy Meinke.*  She now takes the minutes of the meetings of the Friends, so Mr. Meinke will have advance warning of anything that may affect his plans or his money-making schemes of renting out rooms.  Sources close to the Friends of Freedom have told Northern Voices that Mr. Meinke still hasn't provided proper accounts for his Freedom Bookshop operation.  We have been told that when the Friends have their meetings Andy keeps out of the way and very often sneaks off to the pub.
The relationship between Ms. Wilson and Mr. Meinke would seem to stem from when they were both associated with 'Reclaim the Streets' some years ago.   When  in 2012 there was trouble between Freedom and a left-wing photographer, over the copyright theft of intellectual property when Freedom Press agreed to publish the book 'Beating the Fascists'; the photographer David Hoffman then advised that people should take closer look at Mr. Meinke. 
Meanwhile, Mr. Jason Holdway is not registered as a director at Companies House, and has not attended any of the monthly meetings of the board of directors since he was crowned as a director at the AGM last June.

Since her elevation onto the Friends of Freedom Press, I have spotted the mysterious Ms. Wilson at various events associated with the left.  She was at the London Anarchist Bookfair last October, and at the Greenwich Conference on Blacklisting in September.  Her attendance at the Blacklist Conference is interesting because she seems to have been recruited by the Freedom Bookshop manager, Andy Meinke (see link below), her name being forwarded to Secretary Steve Sorba for her to become a Director of Friends of Freedom Press.  Curiously Mr. Meinke is on record on his Facebook for participating in a campaign against Steve Hedley, Senior Assistant General Secretary in the RMT union.**   Mr. Steve Hedley, was found to be on the Consulting Association blacklist and is a well known and respected trade union militant.  
Mr. Meinke has not been a great supporter of the campaign against the blacklist in the British building trade; he sold all of 5 copies of the Tameside TUC 'Boys on the Blacklist' booklet in his Freedom Bookshop and anyone who wants to know more about him can always go on his Facebook page.


*  WILSON, Carolyn Jane                                           
Correspondence address:  84b Whitechapel High Street, London, E1 7QX                   

Role Active:  Director                        

Date of birth:  December 1974                            

Appointed on:  23 August 2016                            

Nationality:  British                            

Country of residence:  United Kingdom                            

Occupation:  Voluntary Worker

**  Andy Meinke - Had an unpleasant altercation with Steve... | Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/andy.meinke.5/posts/778018038941893  
Blacklisted building workers hope for day in court after ruling | UK ...

https://www.theguardian.com  › World › UK News › Police
Blacklist blog | This blog is brought to you courtesy of Hazards magazine

www.hazards.org/blacklistblog/ 
Undercover police officer Carlo Neri spied on the RMT union - rmt

https://www.rmt.org.uk/.../undercover-police-officer-carlo-neri-spied-on-the-rmt-unio...

Blacklist Support Group elects new joint secretary!

Roy Bentham, blacklisted carpenter joiner from Liverpool has been unanimously elected as joint secretary of the Blacklist Support Group at the campaign's recent AGM at University of Greenwich. He will share the BSG secretary position with Dave Smith, who will remain in the role. 

Roy Bentham was blacklisted after taking the role of shop steward on the Connah's Quay power station project in the 1990s and is currently the UNITE branch secretary for the Liverpool construction branch. He is also an avid supporter of Liverpool Football Club and as a Hillsborough survivor worked alongside the Hillsborough Justice Campaign and was a founding member of the LFC fans union, the Spirit of Shankly  

Roy has been a leading BSG national committee member for a number of years, speaking at union conferences across the country and organising protests against ongoing blacklisting at Anfield stadium, the Alder Hey hospital and the Royal Liverpool hospital. He has participated in negotiations with lawyers representing the 8 major contractors during initial talks over the compensation scheme, as well as with Liverpool City Council, Liverpool Football Club and other major clients about contemporary blacklisting. 

Roy has been a vocal supporter of Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, celebrating Corbyn's re-election as leader of the Labour Party by watching LFC with John McDonnell and unfurling a pro-Corbyn banner on the Kop before the match. 

Roy Bentham commented: 

"I'm immensely proud to be representing the Blacklist Support Group now I've been elected. I'd like to pay tribute to all the Committee and activists for their continued and unstinting work as we now focus on stamping out contemporary blacklisting and like Orgreave and the Shrewsbury pickets, redoubling our efforts for a full public inquiry into The Consulting Association scandal under an incoming Labour government".

Photo above of Roy Bentham alongside John McDonnell outside the High Court and at Hazards conference. Bentham's first public event in his new role will be this Saturday in Sheffield at the

Did blacklisting construction companies shred evidence? Workers demand police investigation!

We are publishing below and article by Daniel Boffey that appeared in The Observer today, Sunday 15th May 2016:

"Victims of blacklisting by the construction industry, who were awarded a £75m out-of-court settlement, are to demand a police investigation into their claims that key executives tried to pervert the course of justice.

On Wednesday major companies, including Sir Robert McAlpine and Balfour Beatty, issued an “unreserved and sincere” apology in the high court to hundreds of workers for putting them on an illegal blacklist and denying them work over two decades.

The companies agreed to pay sums ranging from £25,000 to £200,000 to 771 people under out-of-court settlements to avoid a trial, while accepting that “their secret vetting operation should never have happened”. However, evidence disclosed before the settlement has led many of the victims to claim that there was an illegal attempt by executives at Sir Robert McAlpine to destroy evidence and cover up the involvement of key individuals when the blacklisting was discovered in 2009. The targets of the victims’ intended criminal complaint include Cullum McAlpine, a director of Sir Robert McAlpine and a member of the founding family, who was chairman of the blacklisting organisation, known as the Consulting Association, when it was formed in 1993.

Sir Robert McAlpine’s head of human resources, David Cochrane, who was a later chairman of the association, is also at the centre of the complaint. Both deny involvement in destroying any relevant files and categorically deny attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) raided the Consulting Association on 23 February 2009, retrieving a limited number of files. Those involved in the blacklisting operation were aware that they were not to destroy any further evidence. However, a handwritten note of a meeting on 2 March 2009, which records Cochrane instructing Ian Kerr, a former Consulting Association chief executive, along with the notebook in which it was discovered, will be at the centre of the victims’ case that the obligation not to destroy evidence was not met. It reads: “Ring everyone – Cease trading – Close down. We don’t exist anymore – Destroy data – Stop processing of …” A second entry in Kerr’s notebook read: “ALL mailing lists – shredded – NOT TAKEN BY ICO.”

In a notebook dated 23 February 2009, a handwritten note of a conversation between Kerr and Cochrane appeared to record Cochrane instructing Kerr as follows: “Cullum McAlpine – his name – remove this from any documents.”

Meanwhile, a letter dated 16 June 2009 from Kerr’s wife, Mary, to Cullum McAlpine additionally stated: “It was suggested by Mr Cochrane that Ian had not kept to his side of the agreement to put himself ‘in the frame’ and keep the companies’ names out of the magistrates court hearing with the promise of the payment of all outstanding debts by Sir Robert McAlpine. Ian had instructed his solicitor not to name any company in court, which is exactly what happened.”

During a hearing of the Scottish affairs select committee, Kerr, who died in 2012, admitted that his £5,000 fine for breaches of the Data Protection Act following a magistrates court hearing in 2009 was met by Sir Robert McAlpine “on the basis that I had put myself at the front and took the flak, if you like, for it all, so that they wouldn’t be drawn into all of this. They would remain hidden.”
Dave Smith, of the Blacklisting Support Group, said victims would be visiting police to make their complaints. A spokesman for Sir Robert McAlpine said: “No instructions were given to Mr Kerr or by Mr Kerr to members of the Consulting Association to destroy documents relating to [its] activities.”

He added that the company complied fully with the court requirement for complete disclosure of documents relating to the activities of the Consulting Association."

'Jail the blacklisters'!

TODAY the Daily Mirror journalist, Andrew Penman, reported that 'The wretched companies that ran an illegal blacklist of construction workers finally apologised in court yesterday, having agreed to pay around £50 million in compensation.'


However, the campaigners that have fought for justice in the last decade or more are arguing that compensation is not good enough, and what they want is to see the men and women who operated the blacklist through the Consulting Association and its predecessor the Economic League behind bars. 


Graham Bowker, a 61-year-old electrician from Oldham in Lancashire, told Andrew Penman:
'...I'd been in continual employment for 31 years, often seven days a week... Then from 2003 to 2009 I barely worked for a total of 100 months... It began because I was a shop steward with Amicus... I was on a supermarket construction project and all I'd do is make sure the national agreement was stuck to and meet with management - and that was enough for me to be classed as a troublemaker.'
He continued:
'At one site I was working for a sub-contractor and they were told that if I was kept on they'd get no work.  My earnings massively declined, holidays went by the board... I feel very bitter and although I've had some compensation, I want to see custodial sentences.'


In today's Mirror Andrew Penman writes:
'Multiply what has happened to Graham by 3,000 and you begin to understand the scale of this scandal.'


And yet, even that would no begin to reveal the magnitude of the problem in the British building trade and beyond; because although 3,213 names were discovered by the Information Commissioner on the illegal data base held by the Consulting Association in 2009, he did not take all the files:  later he admitted that he only took 10% of the blacklist files available.


Perhaps of even greater concern has been the evidence of involvement by the police and security services in the intelligence used to create the blacklist and possibly to enforce it.


The body of activists around the Blacklist Support Group in London, has helped to expose some of this. 
This month, Howard Beckett the legal officer of Unite the Union, said:
'The difficult thing is actually proving a blacklist exists,' he said.  'If we have a public inquiry, the individuals who made the decisions must give statements in an open forum.  In these proceedings, they steadfastly refused to give statements.
'Until we have an inquiry, we won’t know to what extent this practice goes on in the construction sector and indeed in other sectors.'


Graham Bowker was one of the Manchester electricians who began the campaign against the blacklist in the British building trade:  see 'Boys on the Blacklist' published by Tameside TUC.

'Boys on the Blacklist'

 THE Tameside TUC book 'Boys on the Blacklist', sponsored by the North West TUC, and credited by Dave Smith as being a complimentary document alongside the Blacklist Support Group's own book 'Blacklisted: The secret war between big business and union activists' is still on sale.     The first edition of 'Boys on the Blacklist' sold out in just over a month and it is now on its 3rd print- run.

 A presentation of the Tameside TUC book 'Boys on the Blacklist'
was done at the TUC Annual General Meeting at the Manchester Mechanics Institute on the 22nd, November 2014.  The book was also on sale the same night at the Lantern Theatre in Sheffield, at the showing of the play about the Shrewsbury pickets:  'UNITED WE STAND'.  In January 2015, there was a presentation by Tameside TUC and one of the blacklisted electricians at a meeting of Liverpool TUC.  Further launches of the Tameside TUC book followed at the Barnsley performance of 'United We Stand'; at the Moston Miners Arts Club; at the Bury Met.; at Leeds Carriage Theatre; at the St Michael's Irish Centre in Liverpool; and at the Harrogate NUT Conference in April. 

  Tameside TUC's in-depth Report & Study of Blacklisting in the British building trade

OUT now is Tameside TUC's study of blacklisting in the British building trade.  This unique 52-page A5 book concludes our research into blacklisting stretching back for over a decade of struggle by a group of Manchester contracting electricians.  This book illustrates a special investigation by two officers of Tameside TUC focusing on cover-ups, collaboration, and complicity by major British construction companies affiliated to the now defunct Consulting Association.  We consider the behaviour of local authorities in providing contracts to companies that blacklist workers in the British building trade; especially those in the Greater Manchester area such as Tameside MBC, Salford and Manchester City Council.  The book also asks questions as to who else was involved besides:  what did the unions do to expose what was going on for decades; who were the whistle-blowers who helped to bring out the truth; what part did the police and special security services play in the history of blacklisting that goes back beyond the days of the Economic League?

Copies of 'Boys on the Blacklist' available by postal subscription:
£3.53 for one copy (post included).

Make cheque payable to 'Tameside TUC' and send to:
46, Kingsland Road, Rochdale, Lancs.  OL11  3HQ.

Bundles of 5 copies - £16.60p a package (post included).

Tel.:  01706 861793.
e-mail:  northernvoices@hotmail.com 

Blacklisted workers occupy SKANSKA HQ!

S
" 

L

Protesters from the Blacklist Support Group occupied the lobby of Skanksa’s Hertfordshire head office on Monday.

Police were called to the demonstration which lasted several hours.

A High Court trial into the blacklisting scandal is due to start in May and scheduled to finish at the end of July.

Skanska is one of eight contractors who have set up The Construction Workers Compensation Scheme to try and settle with victims out of court.

The demonstrators unfurled banners in the lobby of Skanska’s main office before being moved on by the police and continuing their protest outside the building.

Blacklisting firms paying out compensation to avoid May trial!

We are publishing below a recent briefing from the Blacklist Support Group:

"Construction firms have paid out nearly £6m in compensation to just 71 blacklisted workers. The UCATT members were all claimants in the High Court group litigation and on average received £80,000 with some individuals receiving £200,000 for the years of hardship caused by the illegal Consulting Association blacklist. 

The companies involved in the legal action are: Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Costain, Kier, Laing O’Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine, Skanska UK and Vinci PLC. A number of cases have now settled with a total payout so far by the firms in excess of £15m. Acceptance of the compensation offers for many was not their preferred option but was forced upon them because of the financial implications associated with a Part 36 offer. There remain around 340 blacklisted workers whose claims are still live, with the trial still scheduled for 10 weeks and set to start in May.

Public authorities across the UK and Europe have passed resolutions and issued procurement guidelines that would mean that if found guilty at a High Court trial they could be banned from future publicly funded contracts.  

Dave Smith, blacklisted engineer and Blacklist Support Group secretary commented:

"The offers of compensation are a cynical attempt by the companies to buy themselves out of a High Court trial. The blacklisting firms know they are guilty as sin and are desperate to protect their corporate brand. But the millions they will be ordered to pay by the High Court will be dwarfed by the potential billions they could lose out on if banned from government and local authority contracts across Europe

A large number of workers were put on the illegal Consulting Association database because they raised concerns about safety on building sites. By covertly targeting union safety reps, these companies appear to have given themselves a competitive advantage, as implementing proper health & safety measures on major projects has obvious financial consequences. Blacklisting is a human rights scandal but it might also be viewed as a secret cartel. I'm looking forward to the trail in May". 

See story in Mirror: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/blacklisting-victims-win-56million-compensation-7334539

Blacklist Support Group

book: http://newint.org/books/politics/blacklisted-secret-war/

video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlCa8yQmZ70

blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistSG/

Carillion protest at Liverpool Football Club!

We are publishing below a recent briefing sent by the Blacklist Support Group (BSG):

"Liverpool football fans who have been blacklisted by construction companies for being members of a trade union or raising concerns about safety on building sites will be holding a protest against the use of Carillion to build the new stand at Anfield at the Liverpool v Man United this Sunday.   

Blacklist Support Group are linking up with the Hillsborough Justice Campaign and the Merseyside Construction Committee at the televised Liverpool v Man Utd match. 

Sunday 17th January 2016

11-12:30

Main Stand Anfield 

Liverpool Football Club

Assemble: Albert Pub next to the Hillsborough Justice Campaign shop. 

Invited speakers: Sheila Coleman (Hillsborough Justice Campaign), Ricky Tomlinson, Dave Smith (blacklisted by Carillion), Joe Rollins (Orgreave Justice Campaign) and Ian Prowse with the latter singing the iconic 'My name is Dessie Warren' song. 

Football is a working class game. Undercover police have conspired to infiltrate both trade unions and the grieving Hillsborough families fighting for justice. Two struggles, One fight for justice.  

Carillion are currently defendants in the blacklisting High Court group litigation set for full trail in May. The firm has already made an apology to the court, admitting their active involvement in the notorious Economic League and Consulting Association blacklisting scandal over a period of decades.  

Sunday's protest has been organised by Roy Bentham, himself a blacklisted carpenter from Liverpool and leading figure in both the Blacklist Support Group and Spirit of Shankly, the unofficial Liverpool football fans union. Roy Bentham commented:

"Carillion are only sorry they got caught and not for what they were systematically complicit in. No one has ever been disciplined or let alone sacked for indulging in this insidious practice against construction workers who are lifelong supporters of Liverpool Football Club. 

We don't just want this rogue company kicked off this project, we want them kicked out of this proud working class city"

Please circulate widely to support the campaign "

https://www.facebook.com/events/174465909578325/

Blacklist Support Group

book: http://newint.org/books/politics/blacklisted-secret-war/

video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlCa8yQmZ70

blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistSG/

MSP's call for Pitchford public inquiry in Scotland!

We are publishing below a recent briefing from the Blacklist Support Group (BSG)

1. High Court

"The High Court litigation has reached a crucial point with the companies offering money in an attempt to buy themselves out of any justice. Many blacklisted workers have point blankly rejected the insulting offers and are determined to carry on to full trial. Blacklist Support Group is holding collective consultation meetings for claimants in the High Court today at 5:30pm (Monday 11th Jan). The UNITE National Construction Committee is also meeting to discuss the latest developments today. 

Next High Court hearing dates:

21-22 January 2016

2. Scotland

Scottish SNP government proposed new regulations have the potential to ban from public contracts, companies in breach of blacklisting regulations or who admit blacklisting. This is a significant step forward and a tribute to the long hard campaign fought by all the blacklisted workers, unions and comrades in different political parties in Scotland. Obviously, we wait to see if the proposals are fully implemented but blacklisted workers would like to see other public authorities implementing similar measures. At the BSG parliamentary meeting before Xmas, shadow chancellor John McDonnell MP told blacklisted workers that Labour is in the process of drawing up new guidelines for Labour Councils on public procurement which would also exclude blacklisting firms.

http://news.scotland.gov.uk/News/Tackling-blacklisting-20a2.aspx

http://www.thenational.scot/business/construction-firms-who-blacklist-workers-to-be-banned-from-public-contracts.11392

https://scottishrankandfile.wordpress.com/2015/12/23/snp-and-blacklisting-smoke-and-mirrors/

3. Anfield protest against Carillion 

Blacklist Support Group are linking up with the Hillsborough Justice Campaign and the Merseyside Construction Committee to protest against the use of the notorious blacklisting firm Carillion to build the new stand at the televised Liverpool v Man Utd match this coming Sunday. Football is a working class game. Undercover police have conspired to infiltrate both trade unions and the grieving Hillsborough families and their campaigns. Two struggles, One fight for justice. (Banner image attached). Great work by Roy Bentham. 

Sunday 17th January 2016

11-12:30

Main Stand Anfield 

Liverpool Football Club

Speakers: Sheila Coleman, Ricky Tomlinson, Dave Smith (BSG), Joe Rollins of the Orgreave Justice Campaign and Ian Prowse with the latter singing the iconic 'My name is Dessie Warren' song. 

https://www.facebook.com/events/174465909578325/

4. Undercover police spying on activists 

Scotland - after a meeting in Holyrood and numerous revelations in the Scottish media, there was a debate in the Scottish parliament with MSPs calling for a full public inquiry in Scotland similar to Pitchford. The Scottish government has now written to Lord Justice Pitchford. Well done Neil Findlay MSP 

Full verbatim report of the debate:  http://www.theyworkforyou.com/sp/?id=2016-01-06.20.0

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/scotland/article4646174.ece

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14178774.New_chief_constable_linked_to_undercover_police__sex_spy__unit/?ref=fbshr

http://m.heraldscotland.com/news/14193981.MSPs_demand_answers_from_Chief_Constable_on__sex_spy__unit/

Bob Lambert MBE, head of the Special Demonstration Squad has resigned from his academic posts after campaigns by activists

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/dec/23/bob-lambert-ex-undercover-officer-quits-st-andrews-london-metropolitan?CMP=share_btn_tw

http://www.thesaint-online.com/2015/12/bob-lambert-resigns-as-university-lecturer-over-spying-controversy/

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/fife/st-andrews-university-lecturer-quits-over-police-spying-controversy-1.916991

Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance (COPS) public meeting (flyer attached) 

Thursday 21st January 2016 - 6:30pm 

UNITE the Union

Holborn

https://www.facebook.com/events/1151590728184461/

Pitchford Inquiry pre-hearings continue at Royal Courts of Justice:: 

27th January - discussing burden of proof

2nd March - discussing immunity

Women activists get recognised in Guardian's alternative New Years Honours List - richly deserved. 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/29/guardian-new-year-honours?CMP=share_btn_tw

Various Press:

https://undercoverinfo.wordpress.com/2016/01/01/the-spycops-experiment-from-blacklisting-agents-to-social-pariahs-and-next/

http://www.thecanary.co/2015/12/21/exclusive-undercover-police-revealed-scandal-spreads/

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/08/officer-claims-met-police-improperly-destroyed-files-on-green-party-peer

5. National Construction Rank & File meeting

Sat 6th February

Jury's Inn

Glasgow

https://www.facebook.com/events/771485802957693/

6. Asbestos companies spied on safety activists 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/how-the-worlds-biggest-asbestos-factory-tried-to-stop-campaigners-exposing-the-killer-dusts-dangers-a6798236.html

Blacklist Support Group

book: http://newint.org/books/politics/blacklisted-secret-war/

video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlCa8yQmZ70

blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistSG/ "

John McDonnell to speak at Blacklist Support Group (BSG) meeting!

Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, John McDonnell MP is the confirmed speaker at the Blacklist Support Group parliamentary meeting

6pm Monday 7th December

Boothroyd Room

Portcullis House

Westminster

(turn left outside Westminster tube)

This parliamentary meeting takes place on the same day as the blacklisting group litigation involving around 700 blacklisted workers against 40 of the UK's largest construction firms returns to the High Court in the first hearing since the companies admitted their guilt and apologised. This is also the first public event since the Blacklist Support Group and a number of blacklisted union activists were granted 'core participant' status in the Pitchford public inquiry into undercover policing.

John McDonnell was a founder member of the Blacklist Support Group and has spoken at numerous events organised by the justice campaign since 2009, this will be his first appearance on a blacklisting platform since his appointment as Shadow Chancellor by Jeremy Corbyn.

Also speaking at the event are:

Helen Steel - blacklisted environmental activist and one of the women activists who has recently won an apology from the Met Police for the abuse they suffered by undercover police officers.

Chris Stephens MP - SNP trade union coordinator in Westminster - will be speaking at the same time as the Scottish government is under pressure to call a public inquiry into undercover police spying on unions and social justice campaigns in Scotland.

John Hendy QC - the human rights lawyer who has been representing blacklisted workers for decades with cases lodged at the European Court of Human Rights

Scores of blacklisted workers will be present at the meeting for media photos and interviews.

Early morning photo opportunity:

9am - assemble outside the Royal Courts of Justice in The Strand

Women activists win major breakthrough in undercover policing scandal!

We are publishing below a recent briefing from the Blacklist Support Group (B.S.G):

"The Met Police have apologised publicly to the women activists who were deceived into long term relationships with undercover police officers. Until now, the police would 'Neither Confirm Nor Deny' whether the men involved were even police officers. 

The apology is a major breakthrough and should be read by everybody on the 'Spies Out of Lives' website. The apology from the Met Police to the women activists should set the tone for the kind of apology blacklisted workers should expect from the construction employers. 

The institutional sexism of the police and the detail of the abuse will be investigated fully by the Pitchford Inquiry into Undercover policing of which the women are all 'core participants'. The fight by these women activists against the might of the British secret state is heroic. They are an inspiration to our movement and the Blacklist Support Group are honoured to have worked alongside the campaign. Helen Steel and other women activists also appear on the construction industry blacklist. We are immensely proud of you all.      

https://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/text-of-apology-from-met-police/

https://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/individual-statements-from-women/

http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2015/11/23/police-apology-for-relationships-where-next/

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/nov/20/met-police-apologise-women-had-relationships-with-undercover-officers

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34875197

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/scotland-yard-apologises-to-seven-women-over-abusive-and-manipulative-relationships-with-undercover-a6742116.html

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-0daf-Good-apology,-now-what-about-the-blacklist

http://www.unitetheunion.org/news/met-police-apology-must-now-mean-justice-for-blacklisted-workers/

2. Day of Action on Blacklisting - Monday 7th December 2015 

9am - High Court blacklisting group litigation (meet outside the Royal Courts of Justice for photo-opportunity)

6pm - Westminster Parliament - with John McDonnell MP 

9pm - Xmas celebration drinks 

This is the first legal hearing since the employers admitted their guilt and apologised for their role in the Economic League and Consulting Association blacklisting scandal. Bring your banners and your 'Blacklisted' t-shirts 

https://www.facebook.com/events/971447779578159/

3. Scotland 

Following our recent meeting in the Scottish parliament - there have been major articles in the quality press: 

http://m.heraldscotland.com/news/14095349.Demands_for_Scottish_Government_to_set_up_inquiry_into_undercover_police_operations/

4. Corporate & state spying on union activists in USA

http://usuncut.com/news/walmart-execs-working-with-lockheed-martin-and-fbi/

5. Construction industry 

Teesside PayTheRate protest comes to Liverpool http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-city-centre-protest-over-10475809

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-city-centre-traffic-fears-10473206#ICID

Umbrella Scam - http://www.ucatt.org.uk/construction-workers-face-wage-loss-following-umbrella-company-expenses-ban

Sickness - http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-db29-Lack-of-sick-pay-forcing-builders-to-clock-on-ill

5. Victimisation of CWU union reps Clive Walder and John Vasey

Support them on social media via #ReinstateCliveandJohn #SupportCWU2 

6. Don't forget that 'Blacklisted' book makes a great Xmas prezzie for all the family (apparently)."

http://newint.org/books/politics/blacklisted-secret-war/

Blacklist Support Group

book: http://newint.org/books/politics/blacklisted-secret-war/

video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlCa8yQmZ70

blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistSG/