Newly Published Blacklist Regulations Will Fail to End the Despicable Practice

Construction union UCATT are severely disappointed that the Government has failed to strengthen their blacklisting regulations, after UCATT alerted them to the fact the regulations were not sufficient to end blacklisting.

The regulations fail to make blacklisting a criminal offence, despite the Government in 1999 (when the original legislation was passed) promising to introduce such measures.

The regulations also only cover the limited definition of “trade union activities” and specifically rule out protecting workers involved in “unofficial industrial action” from being blacklisted. Under the regulations workers who downed tools due to safety concerns or who refused to undertake overtime, could be legally blacklisted.

The regulations also fail to provide automatic compensation for any blacklisted worker and workers on a blacklist are not entitled to be automatically informed of the fact. In certain circumstances companies will still be legally able to draw up lists of trade unionists for recruitment practices (backdoor blacklisting).

Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of UCATT, said: “The blacklisting regulations are fundamentally flawed. It is deeply disappointing that the Government has failed to listen to the genuine concerns of trade unionists and have failed to make the appropriate amendments to the regulations.

The regulations were laid before Parliament on 5^th January and are due to be debated by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments this Wednesday (20^th January). UCATT has written to members of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments, outlining how the regulations are deficient.

The regulations need to be agreed by both Houses of Parliament before they can be enacted into law.

UCATT represents 125,000 members employed in the construction industry throughout the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland

Note to Editors: Blacklisting is not currently illegal the Government had originally intended to outlaw the practice and made provision to do so in the 1999 Employment Relations Act. However the necessary regulations were never introduced, as there was not any concrete evidence that blacklisting was still taking place.

 In March 2009 it was revealed following an investigation by the Information Commissioners Office that a company the Consulting Association was operating a blacklist in the construction industry. Over 40 major construction companies were using the blacklist, which contained the names and information in excess of 3,000 construction workers.

In July 2009 Ian Kerr who ran the Consulting Association was fined just £5,000 for Data Protection Offences, despite the Consulting Association having a turnover of over £100,000 per annum.