Unite decrys McAlpine's ethical standard award

Unite sent the report below to Northern Voices:

THE Unite [union], the UK’s largest construction union, has described the awarding of an ethical labour standard to leading blacklisting company Sir Robert McAlpine as ‘shocking and disgusting’.
This week Sir Robert McAlpine became the first construction contractor to be awarded the ‘Ethical Labour Sourcing’ standard by the Building Research Establishment (BRE).
Sir Robert McAlpine was at the centre of the Consulting Association blacklisting operation, supplying both the first and final chairman of the organisation and being one of the principal users of the blacklisting process which ruined the lives of thousands of workers.
The Consulting Association existed to enable companies to check the names of potential recruits (frequently workers recruited via employment agencies) against a central list.
Unite is currently suing Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd on behalf of victims of blacklisting having already secured millions of pounds in compensation for blacklisted workers from firms involved in the Consulting Association.
The award of the ethical labour standards to Sir Robert McAlpine is also controversial as 74 MPs have signed an early day motion calling on the company to be stripped of the contracts to refurbish Big Ben and the Elizabeth Tower because of its involvement in blacklisting.
Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said: “Awarding an ethical standard for labour sourcing to Sir Robert McAlpine is both shocking and disgusting. There is nothing ethical about blacklisting workers and ruining their lives.
“Sir Robert McAlpine was at the forefront of the Consulting Association ruining workers’ lives by blacklisting them and the victims of those practices will be very distressed to learn that its recruitment practices are now being lauded.
“While BRE’s intentions to monitor and improve the recruitment of construction workers should have been a step forward, the organisation has shot itself in the foot by glossing over the stench of blacklisting which permeates from Sir Robert McAlpine.”

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/ 

Bury Unite's Ethical Stand

Struggling Against Surveillance & Blacklisting

FROM about 2005, the Bury Unite Commercial Branch became involved in a dispute with Bury Council when the T&G shop-steward at Bradley Fold Waste Disposal Depot, Joe Cleary, was sacked on the pretext of accepting a bribe for the removal of some trade waste:  Bury Council at that time, used a security officer to use a hand-held cam-corder to film a working team of Bury bin-men under the RIPA (Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act).  The bribe which the sacked bin-men team were alleged to have accepted from an Asian shopkeeper was a bottle of Strawberry Volvic. 

In the end Bury MBC spent a large sum on legal costs fighting to dismiss the men and finally ended-up settling by paying a five-figure sum to Mr. Cleary.  The Bury branch of what is now Unite backed Joe Cleary throughout his fight with the Council, as did the Unite union officer Kathy Rutherford. 

I well remember talking to Kevin Coyne, the then North West regional officer of what is now Unite, and he encouraged me to continue our branch's struggle against surveillance.  He did say something of interest at the time when I told him that Bury Council was under Conservative control, he said 'Oh, that's good for us!' as it doesn't reflect badly on the Labour Party. 

Does party politics influence trade union activism at the top?  Are full time trade union functionaries less likely to oppose if a local Council is ruled by a Labour majority? 

Whatever the case this predilection for party politics didn't impact upon the moral integrity and ethics of the Bury Unite Branch.  After a militant shop steward such as Joe Cleary was dismissed using the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, the Bury Unite branch put in a series of Freedom of Information requests to Bury MBC and critical reports followed in the Bury Times written by the journalist Dave Thomson, and another report in the Mail on Sunday.  Because of all the bad publicity arising from the Joe Cleary case it appears that Bury MBC is no longer using this type of crude covert surveillance.   

Because of this traumatic history of involvement in covert surveillance with Bury MBC, Bury Unite Commercial Branch has since taken to supporting the Manchester electricians in their own campaign against the covert surveillance with regard to the blacklist in the British building trade.   Bury Unite branch has done this through its affiliation to Tameside Trade Union Council.  Our latest involvement as a branch has been through the secretary's joint-authorship of the book 'Boys on the Blacklist',  and now the motion on ethical procurement presented to the North West Local Authority Regional Industrial Sector Committee (Risc) on the 5^th,  March 2015.   

Unfortunately, for some reason that has yet to be fully explained, the North West Local Authority Risc, under the distinguished chairmanship of Sidney Graves and Deputy Chair Nick Parnell, failed to be able to move the motion.   An investigation into what happened has now been set-up by the North West Finance & General Purpose Committee. 

It seems that in the real world that ethics and politics are not very comfortable companions.

Ethical Procurement's Never-Never-Land

Unite Casa Branch: 'Liverpool Council "Reneges" on promise'!

LIVERPOOL Casa branch of Unite has now joined Bury Unite Commercial Branch, the Greater Manchester Construction Branch,  and Tameside Trade Union Council in expressing its disappointment in the readiness of Municipal councils to impose ethical procurement on companies tendering for contracts.  A branch report in the Unite the Union North West Region Regional Committee record from the North west co-ordinator, Sheila Coleman, stated: 

'The branch is very disappointed that Liverpool City Council has reneged on previous agreement to implement an ethical procurement policy (EEP) in respect of companies tendering for contracts.'

This represents the latest set-back in the activist campaign, supported by the Blacklist Support Group and unions like the GMB, to get local authorities to adopt an ethical policy for awarding public contracts and to scrutinise companies that may previously have been affiliated to the Consulting Association and possibly have been involved in blacklisting of construction workers and trade unionists.

Liverpool City Council has argued that while it is 'dedicated to complying with ethical procurement for its own workforce, it cannot impose this on outside contracts'.  

 

Bury Councillor Nick Parnell

This seemed to be the reasoning used by the Bury Labour councillor, Nick Parnell (see photo), when, at the Local Authority Risc meeting on the 5^th,March 2015, he appeared to opposed a similar motion on Ethical Procurement presented by my Bury Unite Commercial Branch: it now turns out that Bury MBC has a contract with Carillion (see post on this Blog 'Get me Mr. Toasty').  While at Tameside MBC, a long-time Labour Council, and its leader Kieran Quinn, has been in the forefront of awarding contracts to companies that have been accused of blacklisting like Carillion.  Labour leader, Mr Quinn, is also prominent on the Greater Manchester Pension Fund which is also in awarding contracts to these companies.

Trade unionists in the North West are concerned about what is happening, and the Liverpool Casa Branch is planning to host an ethical procurement conference in the near future.  Some, however, seem to object to us publicising this failure of local authorities to process ethical procurement policies against companies that have been accused blacklisting, and at present one of the administrators on our Northern Voices' Blog is the subject of an investigation.  

Nick Parnell's Pious Proposal

Blacklisting & Bury MBC: 'Get Me Mr. Toasty'

 
Councillor Nick Parnell

BURY Council as part of its mission to 'Raise Awareness of Affordable Warmth and Fuel Poverty' has contracted with Carillion, a company now facing charges of blacklisting building workers in the High Court, to roll out a program of providing winter warmth to the most needy areas of Bury.  This is all part of the Greater Manchester Green Deal that is currently developing.  The four high priority areas have been identified as Bury East, Moorside, Radcliffe East and West, Redvales.

 

Bury Council ranked first out of Carillion's three Local Authority partners:  Manchester City Council and Trafford Council are also involved with Carillion.  A report from Bury Council states that during 'Bury Light Night ... Mr Toast was wrapped in an energy efficient LED lighting to fit in the theme of the night [and] carried out doorknocking ... with the support of Groundwork, GMEAS (Greater Manchester Energy Advice Scheme) and [the blacklist company] Carillion.'

 

As all this exciting activity with Mr Toast and Carillion was going on at various Bury locations around Ramsbottom and beyond, the Labour controlled Bury Council was considering a proposal presented by the Labour Councillor Nick Parnell which notes:

'The practice of blacklisting is illegal, immoral and reprehensible.  In some cases this practice has led to long term unemployment for those who have been “blacklisted” for nothing more tha representing their fellow workers. [and that] More recently, companies who are known to have blacklisted trade unionists are now tendering for and procuring public contracts throughout councils in England.'

 

Councillor Parnell's proposal called upon Bury Council 'to take such steps as are lawful... and to refer this matter to the Leader and Director of Resources and Regulations to consider how best the objectives of the motion can be taken forward.'

 

So much for an ethical procurement policy in Bury when it comes to Mr Toast and Carillion.

Dave Smith Concerned About Council Contracts

LAST night, Dave Smith, at a book launch fringe meeting at the Fire Brigades Union Conference in Blackpool, expressed his concern about the way local authorities continue to award public contract to companies that were affiliated to the Consulting Association.  In 2009, the Consulting Association was discovered to be operating an illegal data-base following a raid by the Information Commissioner and its manager Ian Kerr was fined.  The illegal data or 'blacklist' included a list of 3,213 names of workers who had been employed in the British building trade.


At present many local councils are still awarding contracts to the companies who were affiliated to the Consulting Association without requiring serious safeguards that they are no-longer blacklisting workers.  Tameside Trade Union Council and the Blacklist Support Group which Dave Smith leads are seeking to get local authorities to enforce ethical procurement policies when they award public contracts.

Unite Committee Bin's Blacklist Motion

ORCHESTRATED by the Chair, Sidney Graves, this month, the Local Authority Regional Sector Committee (Risc) of Unite the Union in the North West, binned a motion from the Bury Unite Commercial Branch calling for local Councils in Greater Manchester to halt the awarding of contracts to companies that have been implicated in blacklisting of trade unionists in the British building trade.  Sources close to  Unite have told Northern Voices that Mr. Graves is currently seeking a full-time paid  position in the union and 'does not want to ruffle any feathers'! Certainly throughout the meeting, the Chair made it clear that he had a pressing engagement and wanted to get away by 1.30pm. 

Representatives of Bury Unite at the Liverpool meeting expressed astonishment when the Risc meeting Chairman asked if anyone wanted to discuss the motion on blacklisting and this was met with the silence of the grave.  Shortly before the Chair put this to the meeting Nick Parnell, representing Unite at Manchester City Council, told the meeting that as a Councillor on Bury Council that he had already moved a motion on Bury MBC adopting an 'Ethical Procurement Policy' with regard to awarding contracts in April 2014.  The implication being that Bury Council didn't need another policy on the awarding of contracts to building companies, but he said there may be difficulties in getting Manchester City Council to agree; possibly because the central Manchester Council and figures like Councillor Kieran Quinn the leader of Tameside Labour Council, are already in bed with companies like Carillion through the Greater Manchester Pension Fund.   

Two years ago, another Manchester Council -  Salford City Council also Labour, was challenged with a Unite demo when despite assurances from Ian Stewart that it was against blacklisting when it awarded a contract to a company that had been affiliated to the Consulting Association, a body proved to have been facilitating a blacklist.   

Since the Bury motion was unceremoniously binned by the Unite Risc in Liverpool, Northern Voices has been approached by people in Camden in London, who claim that Ethical Procurement Policies against blacklisting have been adopted down there and that this hasn't stopped contracts being given to dodgy companies.  Furthermore, Northern Voices  has seen the Ethical Procurement policy adopted by the Labour controlled council Bury MBC, and  we feel that it is not fit for purpose.   

Bury Unite Commercial Branch has a particular interest in the under-hand nature of the blacklist and sly surveillance, because ten-years ago a Unite shop-steward at Bury Council and two other binmen were sacked following the use of a hand held camcorder by a council employee under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to spy of the workers.  The case did not go to Court and the Council ultimately settled out of Court following an expensive award to the shop-steward. 

But remember most of the councils in Greater Manchester that are guilty of being in bed with companies like Carillion are Labour Councils, and it may well be that Unite’s North West Local Authority Unite Risc sitting in Liverpool this month, may not have wanted this matter of Labour Councils awarding contracts to blacklisting companies airing as the election approaches in May.  Even the Blacklist Support Group is supposed to be looking forward to a Labour victory.  So the disgruntled members Bury Unite Commercial Branch should get their priorities right, calm down, and shut-up, until the great Labour leader Ed Miliband is ensconced in office in Downing Street.  And we can look forward to 5-years of a Labour Government.  Until then those who are blacklisted like the rest of us, will just have to wait for their salvation and the instalation of Labour Government under Ed Miliband.  Then perhaps all will be well, and even Mr Sidney Graves, the chairman of the North West Local Authority Risc may get his wish for some kind of stipend.

Fate of Manchester City Council's Blacklist Ban?

What Did They Expect:  Not Guilty!  Never Did It!  Believe Me!

Letter to the unsuspecting, from the good bosses
who just want Council contracts

 

The correspondence below is between Manchester City Council, and the reaction of construction companies seeking contracts to the allegation that they are operating a blacklist of trade union activists in the city:

Dear Annette

Further to my email below of 6th November, I can now inform you that the 25 construction companies listed below were sent the following email, and have all now responded to say that they do not engage in such practices :-


----- Forwarded by Joanna Chomeniuk/CFSC/MCC on 20/12/2013 13:03 -----

Joanna Chomeniuk/CFSC/MCC20/12/2013 13:02

To Colin.Carefoot@carefootplc.com cc joe.moxham@carefootplc.com Subject Re: Resolution on Blacklisting - Passed by Manchester City Council 9 October 2013

Dear Colin,
Re: Resolution on Blacklisting -Passed by Manchester City Council 9 October 2013:

'Manchester City Council is deeply concerned by revelations that major companies have been involved in “blacklisting” in order to deny employment to workers who
have engaged in trade union activity, such as reporting breaches of health and safety regulations.

The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) found that a blacklist of construction workers was maintained by an organisation called The Consulting Association who
traded for profit the personal information of over 3200 workers. This blacklist was used by over 40 companies and included information about workers’ personal
relationships, trade union activity and employment history.

The use of such blacklists is unacceptable and cannot be condoned, as it has a potentially negative impact on the employment rights of Manchester construction
workers.

This Council has constructive relationships with trade unions and upholds the right to freedom of association, and we expect all suppliers and partner organisations to do the same. Council calls on the Chief Executive to examine existing contracts with any of the companies listed by the ICO and ask for reassurances that the company uses no form of blacklisting to inform their employment decisions.' 

Could you please confirm that your company uses no form of blacklisting to inform your employment decisions.

The companies approached were Kier, Laing O'Rourke, Morgan Sindall, Wates, Lend Lease, Bramhall (Keepmoat), Cruden, Eric Wright, FMP, GB, Herbert T Forrest, ISG, Mansell, Seddon, Willmott Dixon, Askam, Conlon, Garside Laycock, Harry Fairclough, Lambert Gill, Manchester and Cheshire Construction, Morrison, Stobbarts, Strategic Team, Walter Carefoot & Sons.

You are very welcome to contact me again if you feel that I can be of any further help.

Regards
Nigel

Cllr Nigel Murphy
Labour Member for Hulme Ward
Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration
Tel: 0161 234 3350 (Internal only 800 3350)

Website: www.manchester.gov.uk

Report from Joe Bailey on Manchester Trade Union Council