A top employment law expert has said the blacklisting law the government is now seeking to introduce is a “disgrace” and “not worth having.”
Professor Keith Ewing of Kings College London, the author of the UCATT commissioned report Ruined Lives: blacklisting in UK construction industry, said: “The government’s response is disgraceful. There has been no consultation. Consultation means engaging in a process with an open mind. They have not changed their mind on anything of substance and have allowed themselves to be driven by the few employers who responded.”
A Blacklist Support Group spokesperson said the rules now going before parliament are “virtually the same as the original regulations the government introduced.” He said the only positive change appears to be a minimum award of £5,000 for any future blacklisting claims won at an employment tribunal.
He expressed dismay that the government instead backs a call from the employer lobby to allow the use of lists for ‘vetting’ workers, so long as it is not illegal or not because of trade union membership, something also condemned by Professor Ewing.
The professor said this “extraordinary statement” on vetting and the failure of the government to listen to submissions from blacklisted workers and unions mean “in their present form the regulations are not worth having; they change nothing, give no new rights, and it’s is a delusion to think otherwise.”
Families Against Corporate Killing (FACK) spokesperson Hilda Palmer also expressed disappointment with the proposals. “It only talks about trade union members – the regulations must refer to all workers,” she said: “We also called for any firm found guilty of blacklisting to be debarred from bidding for government contracts and for penalties to be much more severe.”
Blacklisted lawsuit could cost firms millions
Construction companies could be facing a bill of millions of pounds after a law firm revealed it was preparing a class action suit on behalf of blacklisted workers.
A report in the trade journal Building says action will be brought against over 40 firms, including Balfour Beatty, Laing O’Rourke, Kier and Costain, who were found to be using the illegal blacklist that was uncovered by the Information Commissioner’s Office in March.
The formation of the Blacklist Support Group in July prompted workers to contact the law firm Guney Clark & Ryan. They say they have now received files from around 40 workers and expected to be representing 100 by Christmas.
The case is being brought under the Data Protection Act. Sean Curran, a partner at Guney Clark & Ryan, said it was difficult to quantify how much each worker could hope to win, but it is understood that, should the lawsuit succeed, individuals can expect a sum between £10,000 and £100,000. Some workers could receive up to £400,000.