Demand the truth

Unite delegate Howard Sharpe spoke today (September 16) at the TUC in support of blacklisted trade unionists.

 
“My story is the story of hundreds, maybe thousands, of other union activists,” he said.

 
“I stood up for my civil liberties, my trade union rights, for health and safety and my fellow workers.

 
“In exchange, construction employers put my name on a list warning each other against employing me.”

 
Howard explained how Unite is now suing big name construction companies, Sir Robert McAlpine, Balfour Beaty, Corrillion Construction and Kier on his behalf.

 
“Companies,” he said, “who exchanged information about me.

 
“They told each other I should not be employed because of my supposed militant activities and my attempts to organise members at a power station,” Howard noted. “They said I was ‘someone to avoid at all costs’.”

 
Howard recounted how, between 1994 and 2007, he could not get a job at any of the large construction companies or on large construction sites.

 
“My working life was cut short because of my conscience for fellow workers and concerns about health and safety,” he said.

 
“This hurt me, and hurt my wife and children.”

 
“Congress,” Howard added, “I have immense pride in my union. My union has almost three hundred members who are suing construction companies because they appeared on a blacklist.

“My union has refused to negotiate with employers unless they agree to a public inquiry and to employ blacklisted workers.

 
“My union has assured me that employers will not be allowed to hide from the truth by buying my case off with compensation.”

 
“I and other blacklisted workers demand the truth and exposure of those who have destroyed our lives,” Howard said.

 
“Congress, there can be no more important issue for our movement,” he went on to say. “To ensure we can organise in the confidence we will not be blacklisted by heartless employers.”

 
Howard concluded by urging Congress to support the composite and “stand in solidarity for all our blacklisted comrades”.