Hull council acts against blacklisting

Hull City Council has voted unanimously to remove blacklisting firms from all council contracts at the latest full council meeting (motion below)

Dave Smith from Blacklist Support Group said:

"The major construction firms who used the Consulting Association blacklist systematically breached the human rights of thousands of workers whose only crime was to raise concerns about safety or join a trade union.

"They have destroyed careers in order to increase their profits. As profits are the only thing that the blacklisting companies are interested in, perhaps losing publicly funded projects will make them own up to their responsibilities.

"Blacklisted workers applaud the unanimous decision of Hull City Council to exclude blacklisting firms from public contracts in the city.

"We call on other local authorities across the country to follow their lead until the blacklisting firms apologise and compensate the workers whose lives they have ruined".

Motion passed by Hull City Council

Construction Industry Blacklists

A number of construction companies have been challenged about supporting the existence of and subscribing to construction industry 'blacklists', which detail covertly and potentially illegally gathered information on trade union members in the construction industry.

Blacklisting is an unacceptable practice and cannot be condoned. The GMB union is leading a national campaign aimed at forcing those who have been involved in blacklisting to apologise and provide compensation to those who have found it impossible to work in construction as a result of this blacklisting.

It is understood that the construction industry blacklist was collated by the Consulting Association (a private consultancy) and was then provided at a cost to construction companies as they sought to recruit/avoid new workers.

The Information Commissioner has investigated and taken action against the Consulting Association for this practice.

Furthermore, the Information Commissioner has taken enforcement action against a number of construction companies based on the evidence recovered from the Consulting Association.

Owing to the concentration of construction activity in and around large cities, many of those alleged to have been discriminated against live in the country's major cities, and undoubtedly this practice has disadvantaged residents of Kingston upon Hull.

Given the potential impact on residents of this City, the Council resolves to support the GMB campaign and, where permitted by legislation, not include companies who have been identified as using this information on our approved suppliers list for all future work.

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