Trade unionist wins over blacklisting

A major construction firm has been found guilty by an employment tribunal of blacklisting a prominent trade unionist.

On 10 November, the Ashford Employment Tribunal ruled that Phil Willis, a member of the general union Unite, had been unlawfully refused employment by energy infrastructure group CB&I because he is a trade unionist, a prominent activist and was blacklisted because of this. He was awarded £18,375 in damages.

The case followed on from the 2009 raid by the data protection authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), on the office of a shadowy organisation known as The Consulting Association (TCA). The ICO found a list of over 3,000 workers in the construction industry maintained by TCA. It emerged up to 40 firms in the construction industry were subscribers to this TCA blacklist of trade unionists.

Willis, a steel erector, had applied to CB&I for work on one of their sites. Although his application was acknowledged, he was not contacted again. CB&I were subscribers to TCA and used their services extensively. After the ICO raid, Willis obtained a copy of his TCA file which contained information about his trade union activity.

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