A group of blacklisted workers has launched a High Court claim against construction giant Sir Robert McAlpine which could potentially be worth £600million. The claim targets Sir Robert McAlpine as the company with the worst record of blacklisting. A blacklisted construction worker explains the background to the action through his own experience.

Like many others in construction industry I put up with horrendous working conditions, poor pay, being sacked at minutes’ notice, harassed and bullied. Eventually I joined a union and tried to improve our working conditions. We just wanted to get decent canteens and changing rooms, to improve health and safety so we weren’t killed or seriously injured.  That was during the 1980s & 90s, many other comrades did the same before me.

The last big site I was on - the Jubilee line - finished in 2000. I was one of the elected stewards on that job. In 2001 I only worked for a few weeks here and there despite applying for jobs on many large sites where men were needed.

I struggled to pay bills and pay my mortgage. Eventually I hit rock bottom and had a nervous breakdown. Thankfully I came through it with the help of friends and family. In 2001 to earn a living I left the construction industry, getting work in the maintenance industry.

In 2007 I got work on a Robert McAlpine site but was sacked after two days for raising health and safety issues. I managed to get work again after a few months. Then in 2009, along with 3200 others I discovered there was a blacklist in circulation. I got my file from the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) following their raid on the office of Ian Kerr, the man behind the blacklist. It is 18 pages long and contains my National Insurance (NI) number on it, Date of Birth, my addresses over last the 15 years.

It’s like I was being followed, with quotes like, “Is that the same person who lived in Ilford now living in Romford?” “Yes we can confirm it is.” It says that I am a troublemaker, a militant; that I would go on strike at the drop of a hat, intimidate supervisors, force people to join the union and warns ‘do not employ under any circumstances’! The file is full of lies and is an infringement of the Data Protection Act - just for starters. I also believe my union supplied information to Ian Kerr as there are minutes from a union branch meeting on my file where I was quite vocal over a pay deal sell out. Amicus denied any involvement in this, and said MI5 may have supplied information.

That’s unlikely as I knew everyone at that particular branch meeting. Certainly Unite failed miserably in representing their members over blacklisting. Maybe they need to change their legal team. The Blacklist Support Group was set up by rank and file activists to fight the case and is now using independent lawyers to act for us.

A High Court claim is underway against the Robert McAlpine company and others. The wheels of justice turn very slowly but hopefully we may get compensation next year.

Thousands of decent hard working construction workers lives were ruined and blacklisting is still going onto today. I tried to get on the Olympic Stadium in 2009. A colleague of mine who was working there was told by his supervisor that “Mr ********** ****** has tried to get on this job. He ain’t got a chance, he will never work in London again!” Many other blacklisted workers face similar problems. The mental torture is not over. The fight for the right to work in construction continues. One day justice may be done.

For further information visit the Blacklist blog at www.hazards.org/blacklistblog/ courtesy of Hazards magazine.

Marsha-Jane Thompson, Chair, UNISON United left, reports on Unison’s pensions battle.

Having led our members to the top of the hill around 30th November and then led them rapidly back down again in response to various heads of agreement, UNISON’s leadership now finds itself, like the Grand Old Duke of York, only half way up and, therefore, neither up nor down.

Health service members departed from the UNISON script by refusing to see that a leadership recommendation (the offer “is the best that can be achieved by negotiation”) meant that they were supposed to accept the deal while absolving their negotiators of all responsibility. By the narrowest margin, on a disappointing 15% turnout, they rejected the Government’s final offer on their pensions – so something more can and must be done. UNISON’s immediate response was to say that this is not a mandate for further strike action (although the industrial action ballot is still active). The Health Service Group Executive (SGE) has referred the matter to the NHS Staff Council.

On 13th Feburary national local government negotiators signed up to joint proposals with the local authority employers (in England and Wales) on the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) which have been put to the Government. This is a disgraceful affront to lay democracy: when these were signed, not one lay union activist knew what our negotiators were recommending on our behalf. Three months later, our elected SGEs and branches are still none the wiser. Each week we are told this is the week we shall be given the details, but as Briefing goes to print we have still not received them.

As there has to be a ballot on whether to accept the deal, the details of what our world class negotiators have recommended on our behalf will at least have to come out before we vote. Following the health sector’s refusal to accept its deal, the union machinery is being geared up to try to secure a recommendation to accept in this ballot.

Branches have the right to disagree with the recommendation from the national union and can recommend rejection of the deal. These questions could be asked when considering your recommendation.

• Will I have to pay more? Yes, you will have to pay for longer to get your pension
• Will I have to work longer? Yes, the proposals accept working until 68 and possibly longer.
• Will I receive less money? Yes, through the change from RPI to CPI your pension will be smaller, and a career average scheme will pay less than a final salary scheme.

UNISON Conference will debate whether to censure the Local Government SGE for accepting the above three big ticket items and on keeping the deal secret from the lay activists. Havering and Tower Hamlets branches are hosting a fringe meeting on the pensions issue at Local Government Conference, straight after conference on Sunday, 17th June at the Trouville hotel.

UNISON NEC member Jon Rogers reports in a personal capacity: Delegates to UNISON’s service group and national conferences in Bournemouth in June will meet in the shadow of the enormous strike action over pensions taken on 30th November – and of the almost equally enormous disappointment of many activists that no further action has since been forthcoming.

The pensions dispute will certainly be debated, and proposals to censure the Service Group Executive (SGE) for breaching clear Conference policy in support of a final salary pension have been admitted on to the agenda of the Local Government Conference.

Other issues on the agenda include the ubiquitous pay freeze and attacks on the NHS and education. Privatisation – which, in its many guises, is increasingly fragmenting the public service workforce, creating challenges for union organisation – is addressed by several motions. A motion from the stalwart Barnet branch highlights the possibility and importance of having trade disputes over “the identity of the employer” as a means of resisting outsourcing and privatisation.

There is little that is controversial on the Conference agenda, with the National Executive Council (NEC) even supporting amendments meant to imply criticism.  Even the rules debates seem set to be less controversial than in recent years, with a consensus around a rule change intended to facilitate expulsion of members of far right political organisations (earlier versions had been blocked for fear they might be used against the left).

Past controversy about disciplinary rules is also set to be moderated, with the NEC backing left-led Haringey branch’s proposal for a three year time limit on their powers to suspend members from holding office.

This widespread formal agreement around the agenda items may mask disagreements about the union’s response to government attacks, which will surface on the fringe.

Fringe Meetings

• Unison United Left, rally and social, 7pm, Tuesday, Premier Inn.

• LRC and UUL, Socialist Question Time, 5.30pm, Wednesday, Premier Inn. Panel: George Galloway MP, Caroline Lucas MP, Leanne Wood AM, Owen Jones, Kingsley Abrams (Unite NEC, Lambeth councillor), Karen Reissman (Unison NeEC). Chair: Marsha-Jane Thompson.

In the face of austerity we must help unemployed youth to organise says Kate Osamor, who represents the community and not for profit sector in Unite.

Britain is in the midst of a full-on jobs crisis and this is acutely apparent in the labour market. Data shows that desperate workers are being forced to accept part-time work and insecure self-employment, and that the unemployment rate for black men under 25 is as high as 50%. Almost one in four economically active young adults in London are unemployed, compared to one in five in the rest of the country.

Countries like Greece, France, Spain and Portugal are in deep economic difficulty. Spain is prompting fears it may need a bailout similar to those in place in Greece, Ireland and Portugal. It is in recession, and unemployment stands at almost 25% – the highest among the 17 countries using the euro. One in two Spaniards under the age of 25 are out of work.

It should therefore come as little surprise that the news from Europe is of a democratic rejection of failed austerity policies. Austerity is not just a European crisis. It threatens the US as well. Austerity measures are not working. Governments need to enact a host of alternative measures, including a global tax on financial transactions and more democratic control of international financial bodies.

In the wake of the recent massive unrest in London and other parts of England, people in both the UK, Europe and the US are saying the financial collapse of 2008 reveals a different mode of thinking between the people and government.

For instance, Reuters reported on 12th August that “the rescue of the banks and the calming of the economy was expensive and revealed a disparity between help provided for bankers and for the rest of the nation. While those running financial institutions soon resumed their old ways, awarding themselves high salaries and bonuses, those whose taxes paid to clean up the mess were put on short ration. Socialism, it seemed, was for the rich, not the poor.”

The neighbourhood of Tottenham, where the summer of unrest started, has the fourth highest rate of child poverty in London and an unemployment rate that’s twice the national average. Young people in Tottenham suffer one of the highest rates of unemployment in the UK: more than 6,685 people are unemployed in Haringey. Similarly in the neighbouring boroughs of Waltham Forest, Hackney and Tower Hamlets, young adult unemployment is higher than in the rest of England.

The link between poverty and unemployment has witnessed the rise and the need for Food Banks in the inner city, most notably in Tottenham. Child poverty rates in boroughs where riots flared are stubbornly high, While poverty is no excuse for criminality, it places additional pressure on families not only to make ends meet but also to spend time together.

The political debate is likely to rage on for some time but there is also an urgent need to understand what is happening in communities where violence ocurred. Poverty is not a subject that Cameron likes to talk about. Poverty fuels anger and anger, when sparked under the right circumstances, fuels riots.

The government response to rising unemployment is forced unpaid work. Decently paid schemes with good training leading to permanent employment are good for the unemployed, but I am sceptical of workfare schemes because they have been abused. If they are well paid, they can be a good way of gaining experience and entering the job market. Forced unpaid work for people who receive welfare benefits only serves to profit the rich by providing free labour, while threatening the poor by taking away welfare rights if people refuse to work without a living wage. The Government’s economic policy is not working and it is now the cause of recession, not a solution.

The trade unions need to ensure that in all our campaigns against austerity there is a particular focus on youth unemployment and especially black unemployment. Unite has launched a new community membership aimed at the young unemployed and retired people. This will be a great way to organise and involve disenfranchised communities and to give them a voice. The trade unions must help young unemployed people to map out their own future through education, organising and nurturing their talent.

Many inner city young people have been systematically disenfranchised from the mainstream. Unite is confident that improved links between workers and the wider community will be strengthened through the community membership; that will help us to turn back the tide of austerity.