Blacklisting firms formally apologise to victims

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Leading construction firms tied to the blacklisting of hundreds of construction workers have issued a formal apology…

Construction firms tangled up in the blacklisting scandal have formally apologised for their part. The blacklist was brought to light in 2009, after the Information Commissioners Office raided the office where the files were kept. The operation was shut down, but more than 40 construction firms were found to have covertly funded it.

The blacklisting operation was funded by large construction firms and run from an anonymous office in Droitwich, Worcestershire. Employees were checked against the list before they were hired.

The files on workers included details of their trade union activities, as well as their employment history. Labels were attached to workers such as “lazy and a trouble-stirrer”, “communist party”, and “do not touch”. Workers were denied employment as a result, often without knowing why.

Leading construction firms have now issued a formal apology for their role in placing workers on the blacklist and denying them work.

The firms offered an “unreserved and sincere” apology following a long running series of court cases against them.

It is understood construction companies paid around £75m to 771 blacklisted workers through out-of-court settlements to avoid a trial. Payments varied from £25,000 up to £200,000.

Claims were levelled at some of the largest UK’s construction firms, including Carillion, Balfour Beatty, Costain, Kier, Laing O’Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine, Skanska UK, and Vinci.

The apology, which was read to the high court, said the construction firms had been “involved in secretly collecting, storing and distributing among themselves information about workers who had, or who were applying for, work in the construction industry” since the late 1960s.

They said: “The simple purpose of this operation was to create a database of information to vet particular workers in the construction industry.”

The firms added “their secret vetting operation should never have happened. It caused harm to the employment opportunities of many workers.

“The secret nature of the operation meant that those on the database had no way of establishing whether they were included in it, or any chance to challenge the information that was kept and available for dissemination.”

They admitted names of job applicants were checked against the files, which led to a decision over whether or not to hire them.

“This process often led to the failure of an application for employment or to the dismissal of an individual if they were already employed when the relevant name coincided with a record card,” the firms said.

Additionally, the apology revealed since 1993 the blacklisting operation had been headed by Cullum McAlpine and David Cochrane of McAlpine, Tony Jennings of John Laing Construction, Danny O’Sullivan of Kier, Stephen Quant of Skanska and Trevor Watcham of Balfour Beatty.

Members of the Blacklist Support Group said they were sceptical about “about how genuine the apology really is”.

Dave Smith, spokesman for the group, said: “The financial settlements are not fair nor reasonable. Although the settlement in total is a massive victory, some individuals were forced to settle for compensation far below their actual loss due to the way the British legal system favours the rich and powerful.”

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