The scandal of blacklisting Trade union response needed

Blacklisting has been going on for year’s workers have found them unable to gain work and haven’t been able to understand the reasons why. This has often happened to trade unionists who have highlighted health and safety concerns and became a thorn in the side of the boss’s but it has also happened to MP’s and MSP’s with Tommy Sheridan admitting that he felt he’d been blacklisted for fighting for workers rights in the past. This is a national disgrace and the TUC must take this up as a major campaign. National Shop Stewards Network chair, Rob Williams, recently interviewed Dave Smith, a blacklisted construction worker. At last there has been publicity about the disgraceful blacklisting of workers, largely because Ian Kerr of the Consulting Association (CA) had to go in front of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee which is investigating these anti-union practices. Dave explains the significance of these new revelations. What was the CA and how did the big companies use it to victimise union reps and activists? The CA ran the blacklist for the 44 largest construction firms in the UK. It held a database of over 3,200 union members. The senior HR managers supplied information on workers – including work history and union activity. What has been the effect on the lives of blacklisted workers? The firms paid for access to the database. They checked the names of workers applying for work. If a name came up the worker was refused a job or sacked. Union activists were out of work for years. Some lost their homes. Two blacklisted workers from the Jubilee Line project in London have committed suicide. After Kerr’s testimony, what should happen? GMB union general secretary Paul Kenny has written to every Labour councillor in the UK arguing that no blacklisting firm should be allowed to tender for publicly funded projects. In September, 28 workers on the Crossrail project were sacked. The shop steward, Frank Morris has been protesting daily. Crossrail and the contracting consortium Bam Ferrovial Kier deny wrongdoing. Does this show that blacklisting and victimisation is still going on? Blacklisting is definitely still going on. Ian Kerr admitted that there was an awful lot of discussion at blacklisting meetings about the Crossrail project. He also admitted there was lots of blacklisting on the Olympics. We have known it for years – Frank Morris is the latest. The Sparks’ defeat of the Besna contract showed how workers can fight back and win. Two union reps at Ratcliffe and Grangemouth were suspended but through action and pressure by their members, both were reinstated. What does this show? Blacklisting takes place across every sector of the economy; it is part of the struggle between capital and labour – and is not likely to go away. But we will fight for justice in every way – in the courts, in legislation, in the press – but most importantly industrially. The Besna and Crossrail dispute put blacklisting centre stage – thousands of flyers have gone into building sites. Thousands of building workers have responded by taking industrial action to defend our reps. It was interfering with production that won successes, not reliance on employment tribunals. This is not about one or two people but a collective struggle based initially among blacklisted workers. We try to draw in support from the unions, lawyers, academics, politicians, Occupy and human rights activists. Our small fight is part of a bigger struggle to change the world. The NSSN is playing an ongoing part of the campaign against blacklisting. More info on disputes and updates on fighting against blacklisting you can read at www.shopstewards.net Aswell as the baclisting support group which is on facebook too.

Supporting the sparks

Rob Williams, Chair, National Shop Stewards Network
Electricians working for Balfour Beatty (BBES) have spoken for all electricians in the construction industry and voted overwhelmingly to strike to defend their national pay agreements - the Joint Industry Board (JIB).

BBES has an order book of £15 billion and had made nearly £100 million in profits in the last six months but they want to slash wages by 35%.
This is a disgrace and i hope all those who lent their support in the private sector to public sector workers under attack over pensions will recieve support back from public sector workers in return.

Facing all the obstacles and complications that have given the employers such an advantage for years - low union membership, lack of shop stewards, agency labour, the blacklist etc, Unite and especially the Rank and File Committee have pulled off an incredible result.

Unsurprisingly, BBES has sought and secured a legal injunction against the ballot to stop the strike on 7 December - the day that BBES workers face having the new contracts (BESNA) imposed on them.

This has caused the union to call off the strike and re-ballot. But even if Unite re-ballots, the dispute must continue and escalate unofficially. Whatever the law says, the massive YES vote has legitimised this struggle.

Meetings in London and Glasgow on 3 December put the call out for unofficial strike action at BBES and the other companies looking to withdraw from the JIB and impose the BESNA terms. It's been reported that workers are joining the union in the next two companies to be balloted, NG Bailey and Tommy Clarkes. This shows the potential for a national stoppage in the industry.

The best signal yet are the stoppages that have already taken place over the last four months and are actually escalating. Corus Teesside, Lindsey, Saltend, Ratcliffe, West Burton, Carrington, Farringdon, Blackfriars, Kings Cross and countless more sites have seen walkouts.

In Glasgow on Saturday, 150 sparks met to decide that there will be an unofficial strike in Grangemouth on 7 December. They then marched through the city singing and occupied the NG Baileys site off George Square.

In Cardiff over 50 electricians met to decide that there'll be action that day at Llandough Hospital.

BBES, on behalf of all the 'Dirty 7' construction contractors, are using the Tory anti-union laws to stop this strike, democratically voted for by a four to one margin, on a spurious technicality. Unite must now call for a national stoppage in the construction industry, even if unofficial.

BBES are panicking because of the threat of strike action and the unofficial stoppages that are taking place every week around the UK. There should be no secret deals to end this dispute but a total retreat by BBES and the other six companies. There has to be transparent negotiations in full view of the BBES workers and the members of the union.


It is excellent that this unofficial action is spreading and continueing despite anti trade union laws and a lack of union membership at a rank-and-file level it shows the level of anger out there over this proposed cut in pay.

During times where we are all under attack public and private sector workers must support eachother in struggles and stand together. We cannot allow ourselves to be divided over claims that pit public and private against eachother. We the "workers" are all in this together not the rich and the polititians who earn a nice pay packet each year with no threats to their pensions at all.

Balfour Beattie and other firms need to feel the heat from the organised workers at a grass roots level and by this action spreading to other cities and towns this can only lead to more pressure on the unions and BB as a result.

I support the sparks and construction workers taking action ripping up agreements and going against what was agreed is undemocratic and unfair to workers who are struggling by as it is.

Is rank-and-file militancy on the rise again in Britain ?

Over the last few weeks we have sen lots of improvised walk outs and pickets of construction workers and electritions in and around London. Plus across teh rest of the country too. This has not been union lead or backed by any ballot but a clear sign that workers certainly in the construction industry have had enough. Facing cuts to their pay of around 35% they have every right to be angry i feel.
Along with the cold weather it was a sign winter is just around the corner. Despite the chilly weather though, the struggle between construction workers and the 'big seven' electrical contractors rages on as hot as ever.

These companies want to withdraw from the JIB national agreement. Balfour Beatty has been targeted because over 1,600 of their electricians have been given notice that the new inferior BESNA contracts will be imposed on them. This could mean a 35% pay cut.

Blockade
Pickets arrived in a determined mood and a blockade of the site was launched. This led to scuffles with police throughout the protest.

It appears that a number of workers refused to go into work, while many who did, took leaflets in with them.

A group of about 60 protesters blocked a supplier's entrance for a few hours, ensuring that some deliveries were missed.

A number of speakers addressed the protest including Chris Baugh, deputy general secretary of the PCS union who brought solidarity from his union and emphasised the need for public and private sector workers to take action together on 30th November and in the future.

Rob Williams, chair of the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN), Clare Laker-Mansfield from Youth Fight for Jobs and UCATT General Secretary candidate Mick Dooley were also among the speakers.

The confidence of workers had been boosted prior to the protest by a meeting the previous day in Leeds.

At that meeting were Unite construction officials, shop stewards from across the country and representatives of the London rank and file body. The meeting agreed to ballot workers at Balfour Beatty sites for strike action.

Building for strike action
This is a big step forward in the fight to defend construction workers' terms and conditions. The workers can build on the huge success of their weekly protests as a platform to launch action that will shut down all sites operated by Balfour Beatty.

They now have the task of getting the biggest possible yes vote for a strike. This can be done firstly by getting as many workers as possible 'on site' into the union and at the same time convincing them to vote yes to strike action.

Those workers who joined the protest today can go back into work tomorrow and begin arguing the case for action.

Many workers who did go into work at Blackfriars today said they would vote for strike action if a ballot paper was put in front of them.

If a friendly, patient attitude is taken by pickets to workers who have not yet joined the struggle then there is every reason to be confident that they can be won over to the idea of taking action.

As Rob Williams pointed out in his speech, the worker who crosses the picket line today could well be the worker who comes out on strike tomorrow.

This point was echoed by a Unite official in the final speech to pickets when he said that the main enemy was not the workers still on the sites but Balfour Beatty itself.

It is vital that Unite the union backs up its promises with swift action. Electricians and others will return to Blackfriars next week to protest.

Unite official Harry Cowap will be meeting with workers on site that day to encourage them to attend the national day of protest in London on 9th November.

That meeting could be more important if it becomes part of a campaign to secure a yes vote for industrial action and begin planning for the shutdown of the site.

Similar meetings on every single Balfour Beatty site across the country would be a big step towards defeating the attacks of the employers.


pieces of this post have come from the socialist party website and original article from Neil Cafferky

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



So will we see a return to a heightened state of militancy as we gear up for N30 and beyond. Will workers gain confidence from these smale scale demonstrations and look to broaden them out. I certainly hope so as this will lead to a more democratic struggle for workers where they feel more in control of their struggles and not being spoke down to by a trade union leader all the time. Linked to a national ballot this could really go somewhere i feel. As long as the union backs the protests where it can there could be a chance of a real victory here for construction workers if they keep their nerve.