Solidarity: A film about blacklisting

(My TUC tutor Dave Smith, was blacklisted from the construction industry and forced to retrain as a teacher. He said during the 1980s London building boom he was the only trained carpenter who had to rely on milk tokens to feed his family.)

West Ham Labour Party invites you to the screening of Solidarity, a film about the secretive methods used against UK activists and trade unionists. In the film blacklisted construction workers and activists spied on by the police share their ongoing struggles.

Blacklisting in the UK construction industry impacted thousands of workers who were labelled 'troublemakers' for speaking out and secretively denied employment. Activists uncovered alarming links between workplace blacklisting and undercover policing. Solidarity attentively follows meetings between activists and law students, brought together for the film, revealing the determination of a community working together to find a route to justice.

The debut feature length film by artist filmmaker Lucy Parker it has been made alongside and features members of Blacklist Support Group, core participants in Undercover Policing Inquiry (SpyCops) and members of other campaigning groups.

Thu, 19 March 2020
East London Rugby Club
71 Holland Road
London
E15 3BP
View Map

Doors open at 7
Film starts at 7.30pm sharp and is 76 mins
After film there will be a Q&A with an activist from the construction industry and a participant in the undercover policing enquiry

Tickets £8 in advance £10 on the door £5 concessions

The venue has a bar and is fully accessible.
There is also free parking

Manifesto Against Blacklisting

A new report published by independent think tank the Institute of
Employment Rights recommends a public inquiry is conducted into the blacklisting scandal, and sets out a Manifesto Against Blacklisting, proposing changes to the law, including criminal sanctions for employers operating blacklists. 

It has been eight years since the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) raid of blacklist operation The Consulting Association found evidence that thousands of workers had been locked out of employment in the construction industry for such reasons as highlighting dangerous working practices or being a member of a trade union.

Despite continued legal action, justice has not yet been served, with Unite the Union now seeking compensation for 70 further workers who did not benefit from previous out-of-court settlements, and new evidence of continued blacklisting in the construction industry being debated in parliament.

In the latest IER publication – Blacklisting: The need for a public inquiry – Secretary of the Blacklist Support Group, Dave Smith, maps out the barriers to justice experienced by workers, both in terms of accessing the tribunal system and in securing a guilty verdict for their former employers. He emphasises that what the thousands of victims of blacklisting want the most is for the individuals responsible for their plight to be publically held to account.

"It's been an ongoing fight for decades and the end still seems distant," Dave Smith, Secretary of the Blacklist Support Group and co-author of the report, said. "Before the 2009 ICO raid that finally proved us right, we were labelled conspiracy theorists, and even after we had the evidence it was an uphill struggle to be heard in court.

Even for those who eventually received compensation, money alone is not justice. Blacklisted workers spent years of their lives struggling to make ends meet, with many reporting to me that the strain stretched beyond finances, to their families and relationships, their mental health, their social lives.

What blacklisted workers most want to see is the individuals responsible for their suffering to be held to account. We want a full public inquiry to investigate the truth behind what happened, and we want a change in the law to prevent other workers from going through what we have."

The publication concludes with a Manifesto Against Blacklisting drafted by employment law expert Alex Just, who makes several recommendations for changes in the law. Key recommendations include:

• Criminal sanctions for employers that illegally blacklist workers, including personal criminal liability for staff who knowingly blacklist
• A 10-year ban on holding a directorship for any person found guilty of blacklisting
• A ban from public contracts for firms that illegally blacklist workers
• Compulsory training for HR directors and staff on the law around blacklisting
• Stronger powers for the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to investigate cases of suspected blacklisting
• The establishment of a new UK Data Court to consider civil and criminal charges jointly so that judges are able to hear all of the evidence pertaining to a case

"It is clear that the law as it stands is not robust enough to protect workers or to bring those operating illegal blacklists to account. Not only is there still a requirement for further legal action eight years on, but the employers involved continue to make billions in profit from public contracts having been able to evade being found officially 'guilty' of acts they have publically admitted to," employment law expert and co-author of the report, Alex Just, explains.

"A thorough examination of the obstacles faced by blacklisted workers over the last eight years has revealed several key factors that we recommend are reviewed and changed in order to prevent another years-long scandal being dragged through the courts in the future. The law must provide justice to those workers who have lost years of their lives, and it must act as a deterrent to the secret continuation of blacklisting by holding those responsible to account."

press release from http://www.ier.org.uk/news/new-report-recommends-public-inquiry-blacklisting-scandal-criminal-sanctions-blacklisters

Housing Associations and Charities that refuse to recognise Trade Unions are Human Rights Violators

This motion has been sent to the UNISON Community Conference next year by UNISON Housing Association branch. 

"This Community conference notes:-

That a number of UK Housing Associations and Charities do not recognise trade unions for collective bargaining.

Some of these employers are Union busters and have de-recognised trade unions, attacked union representatives and blacklisted union and safety activists.

The UN Charter of Human Rights, as well as International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions, makes it clear that it is an absolute human right of all employees not only to join a trade union but also to be protected by collective bargaining agreements over jobs, pay, terms and conditions.

Any employer that refuses to recognise trade unions and is hostile to union activists and organisers is committing human rights violations and must be treated as such.

Major UK Housing Associations and Charities have and continue to receive huge amounts of public money either in direct support, grants, benefits, subsidies, donations or taxable relief.

UNISON wants to work in partnership with employers to improve employee relations which we genuinely believe will benefit our clients, customers and workers. However we will not tolerate human rights abuses.

This Conference resolves

To call upon our SGE and UNISON Labour Link to support a campaign for all UK Housing Associations and Charities to recognise trade unions for collective bargaining. This campaign may involve taking legal industrial action if necessary in accordance with UNISON rules.

If any UK Housing Association or Charity refuses to recognise trade unions for the purposes of collective bargaining and victimises or blacklists activists and organisers then we call upon the SGE and UNISON Labour link to support campaigns within our rules in favour of recognition and against such victimisation and blacklisting.

If any Housing Association or Charity refuses to respect the human rights of our members to collective bargaining and victimised or blacklists union activists then we should as a last resort call upon the general public, local authorities and the Government to make it clear to these organisations that due to their failure to observe basic international human rights, they will review whether they are fit and proper organisations that they should work with and have procurement, partnership and other commercial arrangements with".

Site firms ordered to release blacklisting information

Hat tip TUC risks ,Dave Smith, who was blacklisted for many years is one of my former TUC tutors.  At the height of the London building boom despite being a skilled carpenter he could not get a job due to his trade union activities. He and his family had to rely on social security. 

"A High Court judge has ordered 30 construction firms, including Sir Robert McAlpine and Balfour Beatty, to disclose all emails and correspondence linked to the blacklisting of union reps and safety activists. The ruling came at the end of a two-day hearing last week where it emerged that documents had been destroyed linking the firms with the illegal covert blacklister, the industry-controlled and financed Consulting Association. Firms and four individuals will now have to carry out costly searches of back-up computer records of emails to disclose any relevant information by 12 February.

The court also ruled that contractors must pay costs for the hearing, estimated at up to £100,000. The union-backed High Court hearing is part of ongoing legal action on behalf of 168 blacklisted workers. In October last year major construction firms admitted their involvement in the illegal blacklist (Risks 724). Howard Beckett, director of legal services with the union Unite, commented: “Despite admitting their guilt, it is shameful the lengths that some of the construction firms involved in blacklisting have gone to cover up their involvement.” He added that the “stain of blacklisting” would not be fully removed “until there is a full public inquiry and the livelihoods of the blacklisted is restored by the firms involved giving them a permanent job.” 

Dave Smith of the Blacklist Support Group, whose members are also party to the court case, said: “All of the platitudes and half apologies, all their crocodile tears and claims of rogue managers from the companies over the past six or seven years are clearly nonsense. Documents have been destroyed and directors of multinational companies are hiding stuff on their laptops.” The former UCATT safety rep and blacklisted worker added: “It calls into question all of the promises made to Parliament and the High Court. I am not a lawyer but I would have thought that destroying evidence that would almost certainly have been used in a court case might be considered perverting the course of justice.”

Ÿ  Unite news release. Blacklist blog. Morning Star. Construction Enquirer.