Balfour Beatty and Sir Robert McAlpine are among the construction companies that have agreed a further £4m payout in compensation to more than 250 workers after they were blacklisted for being trade union members and denied work.
According to the Unite union, this brings total compensation to about £10m, which will be paid to more than 250 building workers who were “blacklisted” by some of the biggest construction firms, including Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Costain, Kier, Laing O’Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine, Skanska and Vinci.
The blacklist resulted in hundreds of workers losing their jobs and being unable to secure new ones after being deemed troublemakers while raising legitimate workplace issues. The deal was agreed with Unite, which represented 97 workers, who will receive payouts of between £25,000 and £200,000. The agreement was reached ahead of a planned High Court hearing.
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A statement from the contractors said: “The settlement with Unite brings to a close all the claims in the litigation. These construction companies wish to draw a line under this matter and continue to work together with the trade unions at national, regional and site level to ensure that the modern UK construction industry provides the highest standards of employment and HR practice for its workforce.”
Len McCluskey, general secretary for Unite, said: “The massive scale of the agreed damages – more than £10m – shows the gravity of the misdeeds of these major construction companies which created and used the Consulting Group as a vehicle to enable them to blacklist trade unionists on behalf of more than 30 construction companies.
“The sums to be paid out go a considerable way to acknowledge the hurt, suffering and loss of income our members and their families have been through over many years. Under the agreement they can once more apply for jobs in the construction industry without fear of discrimination.”
