Help GMB Find The Blacklisted Workers
GMB Asks Local Organisations For Help To Identify All 3,214 Blacklisted Workers After Employers Finally Offer Apology And Compensation
This owning up by these companies is an important step in admitting they engaged in a terrible abuse of the civil rights of thousands of UK workers and next step clean up and pay up says GMB.
GMB, the union for construction workers, is asking local organizations including local media across the UK to assist in identifying and locating the 3,214 workers on construction industry blacklist after eight construction employers offered and apology and compensation. See notes to editors for press statement issued this morning by the employers.
The press release states that Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Costain, Kier, Laing O’Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine, Skanska UK and VINCI PLC - all apologise for their involvement with the blacklist and the impact that its database may have had on any individual construction worker.
The companies have joined together to establish The Construction Workers Compensation Scheme. The scheme is intended to make it as simple as possible for any worker with a legitimate claim to access compensation.
In June 2013 GMB lodged claims in the High Court in London seeking compensation for 70 GMB members blacklisted by Carillion and other construction employers.
Blacklisting came to light when in 2009 the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) seized a Consulting Association database of 3,213 construction workers and environmental activists used by 44 companies to vet new recruits and keep out of employment trade union and health and safety activists.
Less than 15% of the 3,214 people on the blacklist are aware that their names are on it after the ICO decided not to contact them directly. See table below for where the blacklisted workers come from.
GMB has access to the data base and is seeking help from local organizations including local media across the UK to assist in identifying and locating all 3,214 so that they get compensation. They should call Phil Read at GMB on 07840 897997 or email him blacklisted@gmb.org.uk.
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Blacklisted workers – number in each area
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Location |
Number on the blacklist |
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Location |
Number on the blacklist |
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Aberdeen City |
14 |
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Kent |
95 |
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Aberdeenshire |
54 |
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Kingston upon Hull |
62 |
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Anglesey |
3 |
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Lancashire |
60 |
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Angus |
5 |
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Leeds |
53 |
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Argyll & Bute |
7 |
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Leicestershire |
5 |
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Bath and North East Somerset |
1 |
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Lincolnshire |
13 |
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Bedfordshire |
4 |
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Manchester |
183 |
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Berkshire |
2 |
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Merseyside |
173 |
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Birmingham |
69 |
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Midlothian |
3 |
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Bristol |
25 |
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Monmouthshire |
9 |
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Buckinghamshire |
20 |
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Norfolk |
7 |
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Cambridgeshire |
12 |
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North Ayrshire |
67 |
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Cardiff |
10 |
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North Lanarkshire |
22 |
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Ceredigion |
9 |
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North Yorkshire |
12 |
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Cheshire |
64 |
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Northamptonshire |
14 |
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City of London |
454 |
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Northern Ireland |
1 |
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Clackmannanshire |
3 |
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Northumberland |
7 |
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Cornwall & Isles of Scilly |
3 |
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Nottinghamshire |
12 |
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Cumbria |
27 |
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Orkney Islands |
1 |
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Denbighshire |
34 |
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Oxfordshire |
8 |
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Derbyshire |
16 |
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Perth & Kinross |
2 |
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Devon |
19 |
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Powys |
2 |
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Dorset |
8 |
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Redcar and Cleveland |
43 |
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Dumfries & Galloway |
6 |
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Renfrewshire |
15 |
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Dundee City |
21 |
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Rhondda Cynon Taf |
2 |
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Durham |
11 |
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Rhondda, Cynon, Taff |
3 |
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East Ayrshire |
18 |
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Rotherham |
56 |
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East Lothian |
1 |
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Shropshire |
2 |
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East Riding of Yorkshire |
16 |
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Somerset |
5 |
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East Sussex |
8 |
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South Lanarkshire |
16 |
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Edinburgh, City of |
52 |
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Southern Ireland |
1 |
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Essex |
57 |
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Staffordshire |
16 |
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Falkirk |
35 |
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Stirling |
7 |
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Fife |
24 |
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Suffolk |
9 |
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Glasgow City |
140 |
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Surrey |
32 |
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Gloucestershire |
32 |
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Swansea |
15 |
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Gwynedd |
12 |
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Tyne & Wear |
69 |
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Hampshire |
50 |
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Warwickshire |
1 |
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Hereford & Worcester |
3 |
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West Dunbartonshire |
8 |
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Hertfordshire |
14 |
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West Lothian |
12 |
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Highland |
15 |
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West Sussex |
11 |
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Inverclyde |
26 |
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Wiltshire |
5 |
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Isle of Wight |
1 |
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Wokingham |
10 |
Justin Bowden GMB National Officer said " This owning up by these companies is an important step in admitting they engaged in a terrible abuse of the civil rights of thousands of UK workers.
The next step is for the firms to clean up and pay up. This remains our demand on the construction industry.
After years of lies and denials, today some of the blacklisters have finally owned up and admitted they did blacklist and did abuse the basic civil rights of 1000's of ordinary people. Their admission brushes aside the fig leaf other companies (like Carillion) have tried to hide behind.
For those who have owned up, the next stage will be to clean up: this must include a new and agreed code of practice for the construction industry covering how they employ people alongside their plans to ensure the industry is cleansed of those so-called "professionals" who ran the blacklist.
The final part is 'pay up' and the victims and their families will either be fairly compensated including the offer of jobs or GMB will ensure justice for its members through the High Court.
We are now appealing for help from local organizations including media outlets across the UK to assist in identifying and locating all the 3,214 workers on the blacklist so that they get compensation."
End
Contact: Justin Bowden on 07710 631351 or Maria Ludkin 07956 632 657 or GMB press office at 07921 289880 or 07974 251 823
For union members to identify more names on the blacklist call please call Phil Read at GMB on 01603 742 877 or 07840 897997 or email him blacklisted@gmb.org.uk
Contact Dave Smith 07882 579 452 re Blacklist Support Group
Notes to editors
Text of statement by employers
Media announcement
Development of a compensation scheme for construction workers affected by The Consulting Association
Issue date: 10 October 2013
Today, eight major UK construction companies announce that they are working together to develop a scheme to compensate construction workers whose names were on The Consulting Association (TCA) database.
The companies - Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Costain, Kier, Laing O’Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine, Skanska UK and VINCI PLC - all apologise for their involvement with TCA and the impact that its database may have had on any individual construction worker.
The companies have joined together to establish The Construction Workers Compensation Scheme. The scheme is intended to make it as simple as possible for any worker with a legitimate claim to access compensation.
The companies have invited workers' representatives to enter into a period of engagement to ensure that the proposed terms of the scheme are fair and effective. The group is also engaging with other interested parties.
At this time we are not able to share any further information on the proposed scheme. However, once engagement with the workers' representatives has concluded, we will announce full details of the scheme which we would like to open to applicants as soon as possible.
We have discussed the scheme with a number of other construction companies. We encourage participation from across the industry and would welcome interest from any company that had been a user of, or subscriber to, TCA.
The companies involved in the scheme would support the introduction of a code of conduct to ensure nothing like this can happen within the construction industry again.
Ends
Notes to editors
The Consulting Association was closed in 2009
A large number of construction companies were subscribers to, or users of, the TCA database
Media enquiries:
Rebecca Gudgeon: 020 7932 1888 / 07814 028 559 / rebecca.gudgeon@grayling.com