Wednesday 18 November 2015

MSP calls for Scottish inquiry into blacklisting and undercover policing!

1. Blacklisting Day of Action - Monday 7th December 2015
Bring your banners & wear your Blacklisted t-shirts
9m - photo opportunity outside Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand
10am - 4pm - High Court blacklisting litigation (open to the public)
6pm - Blacklist Support Group parliamentary meeting - speakers: John McDonnell MP, Chris Stephens MP, John Hendy QC & blacklisted workers
8pm - Pre-Xmas celebration drinks (in a pub near Westminster)

2. High Court latest
The construction firms who have admitted their guilt in the blacklisting High Court litigation are now sending out a revised set of compensation offers to workers that they have blacklisted. This is a blatant attempt to buy-off workers and make them settle in order to avoid going to court. Blacklist Support Group are not qualified to give legal advice and individuals should therefore take the advice from their legal teams. It is essential that all the claimants and their legal teams stay united, as the employers will attempt to use a divide and rule tactic if they can get away with it. 
However, BSG position remains 100% in favour of a full trial in May 2016. A few pounds compensation is not justice - we want to see the directors of the multinational firms who orchestrated the human rights scandal forced to give evidence under oath. BSG want full public disclosure of the documentary evidence that the companies have kept hidden for decades.  

3. MSP calls for Scottish inquiry into blacklisting and undercover policing.

4. Outrage over blacklist firm Carillion working at Anfield 

5. Blacklist by Lucy Parker
Film & Art exhibition runs til 6th December
Rhubaba Gallery,  Edinburgh

6. Art Against Blacklisting - new facebook page set up to bring together artists and film makers covering blacklisting and workers rights in their work. Created by the Blacklist Support Group Artist in Residence. https://www.facebook.com/AAB3213/?ref=profile

7. Blacklisting Special on radio 

8. Construction Safety

9. Public Contracts
BSG has consistently argued that blacklisting firms should not be awarded public contracts. Now that the companies have admitted their guilt in open court, it is entirely possible to remove them from approved tender lists under ethical procurement policies. Islington Council has already removed Kier from a £16m a year contacts because of their involvement in blacklisting. In Southampton, Cllr Andrew Pope has tabled the following question to the full council. These initiatives should be taken up across the UK.
 
"On 7th October 2015, in the Consulting Association blacklisting cases at the High Court, construction firms admitted that they had infringed workers’ rights to confidentiality, privacy, reputation and data protection, plus admitting defamation. Plus, they... were ordered by the High Court in July 2015 to conduct comprehensive searches for evidence of blacklisting. Several of these firms have operated in Southampton, including on the Sea City Museum, the former Ordnance Survey site, and on Watermark West Quay. What will this Council do to ensure that blacklisting was not and will not be conducted on the City’s construction sites? Will this include planning conditions and conditions in Employment and Skills Plans and S106 Agreements?"

10. Teesside #PayTheRate dispute
The High Court has granted an injunction against the rank & file activists committees that have been organising the early morning protests in Teeside against construction companies undercutting the national agreements - the injunction prevents them from holding protests on private land at one of the plants where the protests are taking place. This won't stop the protests.
Fri 20th Nov (12 noon) - Merseyside Waste & Recycling Authority - 1 Mann Island, Liverpool, L3 1BP

11. Dates for the diary 
Wed 18 Nov (7pm) - Blacklisted book event with Hazards, PCS office, 16 Waterloo Street, Birmingham, B2 5UG

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