"It creates an atmosphere where workers are afraid to raise safety concerns because they're scared they will lose their jobs. So even when everyone on the site knows that the bosses are cutting corners to save money, people just keeps their head down. The result is the worst fatality rate of any industry in the UK”.Building union UCATT safety rep Dave Smith telling us as it is about his victimisation as a trade union safety rep on building sites and how this kills people. Dave was blacklisted as a trade unionist by the now infamous “Consulting Association” who unlawfully held records on Dave and thousands of other union activists. The recent £5,000 fine on the owner of this site who earned hundreds of thousands over the years from selling this information to building companies is just plainly ridiculous.
Dave was sacked several times by building companies and also often refused work. There was a 36 page dossier on Dave alone (see picture). Over 3000 construction workers were on this totally illegal employment register/blacklist. This did not stop key construction companies such as Balfour Beatty, John Mowlem Ltd, Costain UK Ltd, Laing O’Rourke, Crown House Technologies, Kier Ltd, Bam Construction and Vinci plc paying for this information and therefore becoming criminal and gangster employers. (I need to check the shareholder register on my pension fund against these names then ask our fund maangers to ask the question why and who).
Why are "only" some of them facing improvement notices when clearly they should be all punished for this deliberate and premeditated crime? Someone in each firm must have signed off and approved "Consulting Associations" contracts and invoices?
Check out this completely shocking report in “Hazards” magazine here (for once such a hyperbole description is real).
By co-incidence I have met Dave a number of times over the years and as well as being a proper top trade unionist he is also a really nice and genuine bloke. I can remember him telling me how once he handed a safety rep report about serious potentially fatal safety issues to a building site manager who didn’t even look at it but simply crumpled it up in his hands and just threw it into the bin.
