Nineteen on construction jobs blacklist

NINETEEN people from the Warrington area are on a controversial blacklist of construction industry workers said to have been illegally denied work, according to the GMB union.
Workers have been denied an honest living through illegal tactics which have blighted their families’ lives – but not a single company has been punished for using the list nor paid out any compensation, says the union GMB, which says at least 507 people in the North West are on the list – including 17 from Warrington, one from Great Sankey and one from Lymm.

Less than 10 per cent of the workers on the list know they have been blacklisted and none have been compensated.
The blacklist first came to light when in 2009, the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) seized a Consulting Association database of 3,213 construction workers which was used by 44 companies to vet new recruits and keep trade union and health and safety activists out of employment.
The ICO never contacted anyone on the list to let them know they were blacklisted.
Three years later, only 194 of 3,213 people on the list knew they were listed as they had been contacted by the ICO directly.
GMB claim the ICO could have contacted more of those on the list by using National Insurance details and with help from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) but had not done so.
After GMB representation ICO finally agreed to supply names, date of birth, trade and town to enable a check against the union’s own membership records. GMB found nearly 200 exact matches and the union is working with these members to get their files from ICO. Litigation to get them compensation at no cost to themselves is being prepared.
GMB has published details, based on the locations supplied by ICO, in a bid to track down more people who may be entitled to compensation.
A union spokesman said: “Construction workers from these areas who were trade union and health and safety activists and were denied work for reasons they could not explain are asked to get in touch so that GMB can cross check the records for them.”
Anyone who can help identify more names on the blacklist are asked to call Phil Read at GMB on 01603 742 877 or 07840 897997 or email him [email protected]