We need a public and transparent inquiry into the scandal of blacklisting

Today is the sixth anniversary of the exposure of blacklisting in the construction industry.

Workers had always feared that blacklisting took place but it was not until the Information Commissioners Office raided the Consulting Association that the true industrial scale of blacklisting was revealed. There were 3,123 people on the Consulting Associations blacklist and 44 major construction companies used its services.

The blacklisted victims had their livelihoods and often their lives ruined. Often they were unable to find work and many were forced out of the industry.

Six years after the Consulting Association was exposed, new information about the true scale of the operation and who was involved is still being discovered. Information on the blacklisting files of individuals can only have come from the police or the security forces.

This week UCATT revealed that the union was infiltrated by undercover police officer Mark Jenner – a member of the Special Demonstration Squad. Mark Jenner adopted the alias of Mark Cassidy in the 1990s, to spy on Left-wing groups. Jenner/Cassidy posed as a joiner and joined UCATT from 1996-1998, paying his subscriptions by direct debit. Taxpayers’ money was used to infiltrate a democratic trade union.

Jenner’s covert operation lasted for five years; it is inconceivable it was not cleared at the very top. That is why this week I have written to the then Conservative Home Secretary Michael (now Lord) Howard asking whether or not he was involved in the decision to send a spy into our midst.

It has also been revealed that just weeks before the ICO raid, the Consulting Association received a briefing from Gordon Mills (the Detective Chief Inspector of the National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit), at which many senior industrial relations managers of the blacklisting companies were present.

Despite these revelations the police and the Home Office remain in denial; every attempt to find out the truth has been blocked by red tape, bureaucracy and evasion. Meanwhile, the Conservative-led Government is guilty of a hand wringing exercise. They claim to agree that blacklisting was wrong but are not prepared to do anything about it, as they don’t have enough evidence it is continuing. In reality it is incredibly difficult to gain clear evidence on what is a devious, secretive practice.

Blacklisting is continuing in construction, on occasion workers who raise workplace concerns are laid off and then mysteriously find it difficult to find fresh work. Nor is construction the only industry where blacklisting occurs, for example the off-shore industry was notorious for its “not required back”, system of employment discrimination.

Just like with Hillsborough it is essential that the full truth behind blacklisting is finally exposed. It is the only way that blacklisting victims can achieve closure. We won’t get the full truth until a full public inquiry is held into blacklisting.

UCATT have secured a commitment from the Labour Party that if elected in May they will hold an inquiry which is “both public and transparent”.

That inquiry will be the next step to ensuring that strong laws, including that blacklisting becomes a criminal offence, are introduced to stamp out this disgusting practice once and for all in construction and all other industries.

Steve Murphy is General Secretary of construction union UCATT