{"id":14072,"date":"2017-12-05T15:33:41","date_gmt":"2017-12-05T15:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=14072"},"modified":"2017-12-05T15:33:41","modified_gmt":"2017-12-05T15:33:41","slug":"blacklisting-new-blacklisting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=14072","title":{"rendered":"Blacklisting is the new blacklisting"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">The blacklisting scandal first revealed in 2009, when it was discovered that thousands of construction workers were denied jobs, some for decades, because of trade union involvement, is far from over.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">Despite Unite and other unions securing millions in compensation for workers systematically denied work for being trade union members or raising health and safety issues, construction workers are still at risk, and some of the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s biggest construction companies have not learned their lesson.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">Damning new evidence provided by Unite shows the practice is alive and well \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and that a full public inquiry is needed now more than ever. But unsurprisingly the government is once again washing its hands on blacklisting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">The news comes at a time when Unite has intervened to resolve a fresh case of what is known as \u00e2\u20ac\u0098contemporary blacklisting.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">Following a debate initiated by Chuka Ummuna MP on blacklisting in September, Chris Stephens MP wrote to the junior business minister Margot James MP asking the government to take action to bar blacklisters from public sector contracts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">But the government is set on not intervening. In her letter Margot James, said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is up to individual contracting authorities to apply these measures and take steps to be confident in the current practices of their contractors.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">A recent case involved a Unite member employed on a major construction project in London by sub-contractor Metalyapi. Following a major safety incident on the site where a steel frame was nearly dropped from a tower crane, our member raised several health and safety issues \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and sometime after the incident he ended his work with the company.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">He then applied and was accepted for work with a different company on the same project. After his induction he was told there was no position for him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Illegal <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">When his convenor spoke to the new company it transpired they had asked Metalyapi about our member and Metalyapi said that he should not be employed \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which is illegal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">When Unite said it take the case through legal channels, it was agreed the member would be reinstated. The member has since gone on to work very successfully with the company.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat you get with this government is warm words but no action,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 commented Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEven after the Consulting Association scandal, construction companies remain all too willing to blacklist workers for raising safety concerns. The industry will never resolve its safety problems while these practices still exist.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis case shows why it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s essential workers are members of Unite. When Unite identifies blacklisting we will do everything in our power whether industrially, legally or politically to identify the culprits and win justice for our members,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong><span lang=\"EN-US\">\u00e2\u20ac\u02d8\u00c2\u00a0 If you think you may be a victim of blacklisting contact Unite or see unitetheunion.org<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>This feature first appeared in Unite&#8217;s members magazine<\/em> uniteWORKS<em>.\u00c2\u00a0You can read the latest edition on the\u00c2\u00a0Unite website under<a href=\"http:\/\/www.unitetheunion.org\/\"> Digimag\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0or as a Unite member you can receive a print or digital copy by changing your membership records through My Unite or by contacting your local regional office regional membership admin team.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The blacklisting scandal first revealed in 2009, when it was discovered that thousands of construction workers were denied jobs, some for decades, because of trade union involvement, is far from over. \u00c2\u00a0 Despite Unite and other unions securing millions in compensation for workers systematically denied work for being trade union members or raising health and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5576,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[52,167],"wps_subtitle":"New name, same injustice","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14072"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14072"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14075,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14072\/revisions\/14075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}