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

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Self-Harm (Suicide Attempts) In Immigration Removal Centres Reach All time High in 2015!

YARL'S WOOD IMMIGRATION REMOVAL CENTRE

There were 393 attempts (11% increase on 2014) by Immigration detainees across the detention estate, to self-harm throughout 2015, that is an average of more than one a day. Harmondsworth IRC had the highest number 105 and their were 64 attempts in Yarl’s Wood, The Verne 52, Morton Hall 51.

 Two & half thousand (2,597) detainees were on suicide watch during 2015. 11 of these were children detained in The Cedars. Harmondsworth had the highest number 478, Brook House 364, Colnbrook 345, Yarl's Wood 335.

 Their were two deaths both males in Immigration detention is 2015, one in The Verne in August and one Yarl’s Wood family unit in April.

 Source for all data on ‘Self-Harm’ and those on ‘Self-Harm Watch’ Freedom of Information requests.

 Complete statistics for 2015 Here . . . . 

Statistics for the years 2007 through 2014 can be found here . . . . 

Woman in coma told by Atos to find work!

Shiela Holt from Rochdale

The government and the healthcare company Atos (a.k.a. Crapos), have come under fire after it was revealed that they told a critically ill woman from Rochdale, to get a job even though she was in a coma.

Sheila Holt (47), a bi-polar sufferer who last worked 27-years ago, has been in a coma since last December. But Atos, who are contracted by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to assess fitness for work, continued to send Sheila letters forcing her to look for work. Her family say that Sheila went into a coma after suffering a heart attack at Christmas. They claim that she had a breakdown after she was forced to go on a job seeking course by her benefit bosses.

Following a meeting arranged by Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk, which was attended by Sheila's father Ken Holt, the minister for disabled people, Mike Penning, apologized to the family and admitted that what had happened to Sheila, had been wrong. He also confirmed that Atos were to be replaced.

In February, Mike Penning, told MPs that Atos's work had caused real concern because too many people were appealing against their decisions. More than 600,000 appeals have been lodged against Atos judgments since the work capability assessments began, costing the taxpayer £60 m  a year. Around 40% of the original decisions are overturned on appeal.

Although Atos have been criticized for finding terminally ill and mentally ill people fit for work, in January, Atos boss, Joe Hemming, told a Commons Committee that the company was proud of its work and added:

"We have a real passion for delivering services to the citizen in a way that continues to satisfy."

Labour MP, Paul Flynn, told the Atos boss that he was suffering from a "reality problem."

The companies that are in the running to take over the contract from Atos, currently worth £115m a year, include G4S, Serco, A4e and the Capita Group. Both Serco and G4S, are currently under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. Atos and G4S, paid no corporation tax last year despite carrying out £2bn of taxpayer-funded contracts.