The powerful parliamentary select committee looking at blacklisting in the construction industry has vowed to continue with its investigations into working practices at Crossrail – despite a settlement of a year long dispute between union Unite and Crossrail contractors over alleged blacklisting.
Following a high-profile lobbying campaign mounted by Britain’s largest union Unite against Crossrail joint venture contractor Bam Ferrovial Kier (BFK), the two parties announced this week that they had “successfully concluded matters” between them. As part of the settlement, Frank Morris, the sacked worker at the centre of the row, will be given his job back at the £15bn project.
In a joint statement, Unite and BFK pledged to work closely together to provide “transparent working practices”, including safeguarding the right of workers to join a trade union. Their statement said that they were agreed “there has been no contravention of the blacklisting regulations on the BFK Crossrail projects”.
However, a hastily released follow up statement from Unite then disputed this statement. It said: “It is important to correct Crossrail’s press release which wrongly states that Unite has said there has been no blacklisting at Crossrail. What Unite clearly said is there have been no breaches of the current regulations. We believe this indicates the weakness of the current legislation.”
In a statement the Scottish Affairs Committee said: “In a formal Committee hearing with Gail Cartmail of Unite, we heard compelling evidence that blacklisting for trade union and health and safety activities had been going on within a contract for the Crossrail project.
"It is important to correct Crossrail’s press release which wrongly states that Unite has said there has been no blacklisting at Crossrail. What Unite clearly said is there have been no breaches of the current regulations. We believe this indicates the weakness of the current legislation."
Unite statement
“We now understand that Unite have reached an agreement with BFK and a joint statement has been issued which includes the sentence, ‘BFK and Unite agree that there have been no contravention of the blacklisting regulations on the BFK-Crossrail project’.
“However, it is unclear whether this proves the weakness of the regulations and how easily they are avoided or represents an agreement that no blacklisting took place.
“Accordingly, the SAC will seek further evidence to clarify the position. We will also try to ascertain whether the agreement, or part thereof, can be used as a template for settling future disputes.
The Committee added: “The Committee is continuing its investigation into allegations of blacklisting in the construction industry, in particular into the unresolved questions about compensating the people affected and holding the companies involved to account. We will be calling further witnesses to explore these areas in due course.
“We would still expect that those responsible for public sector contracts throughout the United Kingdom will keep a watchful eye on further developments in this field and take them carefully into account before compiling future tender lists or awarding contracts.”
Meanwhile, The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is investigating 19 members who work in human resources positions in construction over their alleged involvement in blacklisting.
Peter Cheese, the chief executive of the CIPD – the world’s largest professional association for human resources (HR) managers with 135,000 members – made the revelation in his evidence to the Scottish Affairs Committee.
Cheese told the committee that the investigations were based on information already in the public domain and said members found guilty could face a range of sanctions ranging from a written reprimand to expulsion from the CIPD, which is a membership body, Building reported.
He added that the whole investigation process could take 18 months to complete.
