{"id":8683,"date":"2016-05-11T16:31:11","date_gmt":"2016-05-11T15:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=8683"},"modified":"2016-05-12T15:36:45","modified_gmt":"2016-05-12T14:36:45","slug":"no-justice-no-peace-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=8683","title":{"rendered":"No justice, no peace"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

One chapter closed in the Royal Courts of Justice today (May 11) but another opened as the long fight for blacklisted workers continues.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Although the case was settled \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Unite helped secure more than \u00c2\u014110m in compensation for its members, with unions Ucatt, GMB and law firm GSR also securing payments \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Unite argues the matter is far from over.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Blacklisted workers and trade union members supporting them poured into the court room this morning as counsel representing the claimants read a final joint statement in open court.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Legal representatives of the blacklisted workers told the court the sordid tale of the blacklist, which is thought to have been in operation for more than 40 years.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It all started with the Services Group, a group of construction companies which was formed under the umbrella of the Economic League, an organisation founded in 1919 and known infamously for keeping databases of left-wing activists and trade union members.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After a national strike in the early 1970s, the nascent Services Group created and operated the Services Group Database, which included personal details of individual construction workers, including names, dates of birth, national insurance numbers, previous employment history, and addresses.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Some workers in the database were labelled with their suspected political affiliation or sympathies, as well as their trade union affiliation or activities such as complaints about health and safety. Individual entries even included in some instances details relating to health or personal relationships.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most damaging <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Most damaging of all, some construction workers were singled out in the database with recommendations against their employment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The machinations of the Economic League and the Services Group came to light in the early 1990s after a series of newspaper investigations and parliamentary debates. And so the Economic League shut down in 1993 under the pressure of bad publicity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But just as quickly, the Consulting Association was founded the same year and carried out much the same work as its predecessor the Services Group. Construction firm McAlpine put up \u00c2\u014110,000 towards the new organisation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s start-up costs and Ian Kerr, who had a significant role in maintaining the original Services Group database, became the Consulting Association\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chief officer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The new database, known as the Monodex List, was shrouded in secrecy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Codes were used to refer to firms who had contributed to the database. Membership of the Consulting Association, and so access to the database, was determined by the members themselves.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Members, who paid an annual subscription fee, could send in a list names of workers to have them checked against the database \u00e2\u20ac\u201c if a name appeared, the inquiring firm was sent all the details of the individuals contained in the database, and the faxed lists were then destroyed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In individual files, phrases describing the workers included<\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u0098troublemaker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098strong left-wing tendencies\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and \u00e2\u20ac\u0098militant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. Some were marked \u00e2\u20ac\u0098would not re-employ\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. One was even noted to have a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098large family\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And so the blacklist carried on, with workers who had been unable to find employment for decades, or consigned to menial, low-paying jobs despite their construction skills, having not a clue why their livelihoods had been destroyed \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they had no way of knowing they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been blacklisted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Full gravity <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t until the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) issued a search warrant and raided the Consulting Association\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s premises in 2009 that the full gravity of what had happened came to light.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Record cards for roughly 1,800 workers contained in the database were seized by the ICO \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the database is thought to contain the details of more than 3,000 workers in total.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The legal battle against the construction firms slogged on for several years, but it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t until just last October that the firms finally admitted to their involvement and offered blacklisted workers their apologies.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But while Ucatt, GMB and the law firm GSR accept these apologies, Unite today in court refused.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite director of legal services Howard Beckett explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t accept that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the end of the road for this and we do not accept their apologies as sincere. We only are said to have received their apologies.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd why have we taken this position? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because we want a public inquiry because no one has been disciplined or dismissed as a result of this behaviour.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe senior people who created this blacklist still hold senior positions in construction companies. If they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not holding people accountable, then their apologies in fact cannot be sincere.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Indeed, the founding chairman of the Consulting Association, Cullum McAlpine, still maintains his position as director of the implicated firm Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ian Kerr, chief officer for the Consulting Association, who has since passed away, pleaded guilty to violating the Data Protection Act in 2009, but was only fined \u00e2\u20ac\u201c his fines were paid for by McAlpine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis could definitely happen again,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Beckett warned. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re calling for a public inquiry. The problem with this whole thing is that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all been veiled in secrecy. The litigation has been difficult because all of the disclosure documents have been destroyed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Beckett explained that if other blacklists are still in existence, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthey will also be veiled in secrecy.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe difficult thing is actually proving a blacklist exists,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf we have a public inquiry, the individuals who made the decisions must give statements in an open forum. In these proceedings, they steadfastly refused to give statements.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUntil we have an inquiry, we won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know to what extent this practice goes on in the construction sector and indeed in other sectors.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite branch secretary from Middlesbrough and advanced scaffolder Tony Seaman attended court to support his fellow trade union members in construction whose lives had been destroyed after being blacklisted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese companies that have been involved, we must stop them from getting public contracts,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing to stop these companies from being involved in blacklisting again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s scandalous that these people involved are still in positions of power \u00e2\u20ac\u201c if any ordinary member of the public did what they did, they would be jailed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMany of the people who have been on the blacklist for so many years have gone to their deathbeds with nothing for themselves or their families,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Seaman added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMoney is not justice \u00e2\u20ac\u201c justice is when these people get taken to court and go to jail.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As counsel for the defendants in the case began reading their statement this morning, the packed court room exploded into chants of \u00e2\u20ac\u0098No justice, no peace\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Indeed, Unite is committed to continuing to fight to secure this justice that \u00e2\u20ac\u201c despite hard-won compensation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is still a long way off.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One chapter closed in the Royal Courts of Justice today (May 11) but another opened as the long fight for blacklisted workers continues.   Although the case was settled \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Unite helped secure more than \u00c2\u014110m in compensation for its members, with unions Ucatt, GMB and law firm GSR also securing payments \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Unite argues […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8686,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[52],"wps_subtitle":"Blacklisting case settled \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but not closed","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8683"}],"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=8683"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8685,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8683\/revisions\/8685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}