UCATT Response To Government Announcement On Blacklisting

Construction union UCATT have welcomed today’s announcement (May 11) that the Government is intending to outlaw blacklisting but are disappointed that the process will be delayed due to a fresh consultation exercise.

In March it was discovered that over 40 major construction companies were paying a company called the Consulting Association to routinely blacklist workers.

Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of UCATT, who was blacklisted, said: “The Government has partially listened to the union’s demand that blacklisting must be outlawed once and for all. But it is very disappointing that the process will be dragged out due to an unnecessary consultation.”

Blacklisting was made illegal in the 1999 Employment Relations Act, however the necessary regulations were never enacted. Following a consultation exercise in 2003 the Government decided against tabling the required regulations because they believed that there was no evidence that blacklisting still took place.

Mr Ritchie, added: “Blacklisting should have been outlawed 10 years ago. The Government were mistaken in believing it was no longer a problem. Our members were all too aware that blacklisting still occurred. During the last decade thousands of workers have been illegally denied work.”

Since the blacklisting was revealed by the Information Commissioner, many UCATT members have accessed their records. A large number of UCATT officials and activists were blacklisted. A great deal of the blacklisting related to the raising of health and safety concerns on sites.

UCATT are demanding that the delay in finally outlawing blacklisting does not result in any of the 40 construction companies involved in the process escaping prosecution.

Mr Ritchie, further added: “The companies involved broke existing laws. They are serious crimes and these companies deserve the maximum possible punishment.”

UCATT are also lobbying the Information Commissioner to delay destroying the blacklisting records and to better publicise how construction workers can access the information to discover if they have been blacklisted.

The records are due to be destroyed this autumn but UCATT argue that the process should be delayed by at least 12 months and that a major public information campaign should be launched to inform workers of how to access their files.

Mr Ritchie, said: “UCATT has written to all members telling them how they can discover whether they were blacklisted but not every construction worker is a UCATT member. There is an urgent need for all construction workers and former construction workers to be able to find out if they were blacklisted. Until that process is exhausted then it is wrong for the records to be destroyed.”

For Further information contact Barckley Sumner on 0780 2329235