The GMB union claims that as many as 29 local authorities across the UK are considering banning contractors implicated in the blacklisting scandal from public contracts unless the construction companies “own up, clean up, and pay up”.
The union’s statement follows a unanimous vote from Tower Hamlets’ councillors on Wednesday evening in support of a motion to deny construction work to contractors named as former users of The Consulting Association’s blacklist service, unless the the contractors compensate the workers they had allegedly blacklisted.
The London borough’s move follows a similar announcement last week from the Welsh government.
GMB spokesman Steve Pryle told CM that “own up, clean up and pay up” was now the “settled position” of the TUC and the labour movement.
“The Welsh government has already given that policy legislative effect, and the other local authorities are at various stages in investigating what measures they can take,” said Pryle.
Read related articles:
The local authorities listed by the union are: Preston, Knowsley, Liverpool, Hull, Newham, Portsmouth, Southampton, Rother, Medway, Torfaen, St Helens, Midlothian, Lambeth, Rochdale, Birmingham, Islington, Manchester, Sheffield, Barking and Dagenham, Milton Keynes, Plymouth, Dumfries and Galloway, West Lothian, West Dunbartonshire, East Ayrshire, Inverclyde, the Greater London Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
In some cases, the details supplied by the GMB suggest that councillors have put forward motions in support of the anti-blacklisting campaign that could be voted on in the coming months. However, in other cases the issue has only been discussed.
The potential spread of the “no contracts without compensation” policy coincides with ongoing legal action in the High Court. The GMB is backing more than 70 individuals who claim they were denied work as a result of inclusion in the TCA’s files. Their claims, brought by class action specialist Leigh Day, seek compensation on the grounds of defamation and conspiracy.
Twenty GMB-backed claims are already before the court, and solicitor Michael Newman of Leigh Day told CM that a further 27 claims are due to be lodged in October. Of the first group, there are 14 conspiracy claims against Sir Robert McAlpine and Carillion, and six defamation claims that name Balfour Beatty, Costain, Kier and Skanska.
In the forthcoming group, Newman said that Laing O’Rourke, Costain, Taylor Woodrow, Sir Robert McAlpine and others would also be named.
Justin Bowden, GMB national officer, told CM: “At some point, the contractors involved will have to pay up. It’s just a question of when, and how much reputational damage they inflict on themselves before they do.”
Full court hearings of the workers’ claims will be heard at some point in 2014. But Newman said that the growing scale of the action could mean that a longer hearing would be required, which is unlikely to be timetabled by the court until later in the year.
CM sought comment from Carillion and Sir Robert McAlpine. The former said in a statement that: “Carillion does not condone or engage in blacklisting and takes very seriously any accusation that it does so. Carillion has also been open about its historic involvement with The Consulting Association, which it proactively stopped in 2004. Chief executive, Richard Howson, has expressed regret for the past involvement of a former subsidiary, but it is important to understand that Carillion has never been involved with activity that was illegal.”
