Blacklist companies taking the piss over compensation, say campaigners

Talks between blacklisted workers and representatives of a scheme created by construction companies to compensate victims for years of lost earnings have broken up in acrimony, with workers describing the employers’ proposals as a “piss take”.

According to the Blacklist Support Group, representatives of the scheme made an offer of £1,000 for any worker.

The anti-union surveillance operation at the centre of the blacklisting scandal operated for more than a decade and a half until it was closed down by the data protection watchdog in 2009.

Many blacklisted workers were unable to find work for much of the 1990s and 2000s as a result of their names being held on the industry-funded database.

Members of the BSG delegation to the talks, which took place at the City offices of the legal firm which represents the scheme, say the meeting broke up after a series of “blunt” exchanges.

Roy Bentham, blacklisted joiner from Liverpool and UCATT member said: “These are not proposals designed for genuine negotiations. It is a piss take masquerading as a publicity stunt.

“We were not prepared to continue with the charade.

“If the firms have really turned over a new leaf, they can prove it by offering jobs to blacklisted workers on Crossrail and other major construction projects.

“Blacklisting breached our human rights, forced us into years of unemployment and made our families suffer financially.

“Why is a celebrity whose phone has been hacked worth so much more than the human rights of a building worker?

“If there was any justice in the world, the directors implicated should be on their knees begging our forgiveness. We will settle for offers of employment, full compensation and a public inquiry into this squalid conspiracy.

“These blacklisting wretches have the brass neck to offer us a thousand pounds in compensation.

“They can shove their grand, right up their profit margin.”

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