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Top e-government news, updated daily, and regular features from the top people in the public sector.
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| Alleged construction industry blacklist |
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Some of the biggest construction companies at the heart of PFI stand accused of running blacklists to bar trade union militants from employment.
Over 1,000 electricians are included on lists produced in 2000. These were allegedly used to prevent trade union activists getting work on major construction sites.
Alan Wainwright, a former director of Balfour Beatty subsidiary Haden Young, has produced the lists as part of a constructive dismissal claim against his former employers.
Other companies involved are the Balfour Beatty subsidiary Balfour Kilpatrick, Crown House—owned at the time by Carillion—and Drake & Scull—now called Emcor engineering.
These are some of the biggest firms in the country. Wainwright claims that the list of “troublemakers” was passed to him by Balfour Kilpatrick when he was working for Drake & Scull in 2000 as business improvement director.
Wainwright left Haden Young in January. He claims he was forced out after complaining about blacklisting.
The lists include the names and national insurance numbers of 1,087 electricians who worked on the Jubilee Line Extension Project, the Balfour Kilpatrick Royal Opera House Project and the Balfour Kilpatrick Pfizer Project in Sandwich, Kent.
All three were major construction jobs that saw industrial disputes in the late 1990s and beginning of this century. Since then a number of electricians have consistently had trouble getting work with Balfour Kilpatrick and its allied companies.
A spokesperson for the Amicus union said, “We are concerned that this is a breach of the law. The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act of 1992 is about refusal of employment on the grounds of union membership.
“Another related provision says it is unlawful to refuse the service of an employment agency on grounds related to trade union membership. We believe that any blacklists that are operated and proved to be operated are unlawful.” |
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