Macfarlanes LLP, solicitors acting for Sir Robert McAlpine, has disclosed that nine major construction firms provided the names of 1,108 workers to be placed on the construction industry blacklist.
Balfour Beatty and the companies it took over provided 302 names; BAM and the companies it took over provided 34 names; Carillion and the companies it took over provided 137 names; Costain and the companies it took over provided 70 names; Laing O’ Rourke and the companies it took over provided 85 names; Kier provided 229 names; Skanska and the companies it took over provided 75 names; Vinci and the companies it took over provided 64 names; and Amec and the companies it took over provided 42 names.
This information is set out in a new GMB publication on blacklisting that was published at a meeting on “blacklisting the blacklisters†at the Labour Party conference in Brighton on 23 September.
GMB lawyers lodged claims in the High Court in London in June seeking compensation for 70 union members blacklisted by Carillion, Sir Robert McAlpine and other construction employers.
Blacklisting came to light when in 2009 the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) seized a Consulting Association database of 3,213 construction workers and environmental activists used by 44 companies to vet new recruits and keep out of employment trade union and health and safety activists. Over 60% of those on the blacklist were aged between 30 and 50 in the mid1990s. They were mainly trade union activists on construction sites.
Macfarlanes has had access to the ICO files and has set out in McAlpine’s defence the amount each company spent with the Consulting Association, how many names they submitted to be placed on the blacklist and how many people they denied work to. The figures are in the table below:
Company |
Previous names |
Amount spent |
 total references providing information to TCA |
references refusing to permit workers to work on their sites |
Balfour Beatty Engineering Services Ltd |
Balfour Kilpatrick Ltd |
£49,357.90 |
114 |
154 |
Balfour Beatty CE Ltd |
Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Ltd |
£48,425.80 |
||
Balfour Beatty Engineering Services (HY) Ltd |
Hayden Young Ltd |
£4,266.85 |
3 |
11 |
Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Services Ltd |
Raynesway Construction Southern Ltd |
£3,002.70 |
||
Balfour Beatty Construction Ltd |
Balfour Beatty Construction Northern Ireland |
£6,451.50 |
||
Balfour Beatty Construction Scottish and Southern Ltd |
Balfour Beatty Stonemasonry Ltd |
£300.00 |
||
Balfour Beatty Third Parties |
£111,804.75 |
302 |
187 |
|
BAM Construction Ltd |
HBG Construction Ltd |
£26,935.00 |
15 |
|
BAM Construct UK Ltd |
HBG UK Ltd |
|||
BAM Nuttall Ltd |
Edmund Nuttall Ltd |
£38,371.85 |
19 |
|
BAM Third Parties |
£65,306.85 |
34 |
2 |
|
Carillion Engineering Ltd |
Crown House Engineering Ltd |
£70,608.25 |
114 |
104 |
Carillion Construction Ltd |
Tarmac Construction Ltd |
|||
Carillion JM Ltd |
Mowlem Ltd |
£20,630.50 |
23 |
3 |
Carillion Third Parties |
£91,238.75 |
137 |
107 |
|
Costain Group PLC |
£32,860.75 |
|||
Costain Ltd |
Costain Civil Engineering Ltd |
|||
Costain Building & Civil Engineering Ltd |
Costain UK Ltd |
|||
Costain Third Parties |
£32,860.75 |
70 |
17 |
|
Laing Ltd |
£147,756.00 |
|||
Laing Construction Ltd |
Laing Construction PLC |
|||
Crown House Technologies Ltd |
£22,852.15 |
|||
Laing O'Rourke Services Ltd |
||||
Laing O'Rourke Utilities Ltd |
Laing Construction Utilities Ltd |
|||
John Laing Construction Ltd |
||||
Laing O'Rourke Third Parties |
£170,608.15 |
85 |
87 |
|
Kier Ltd |
£30,620.35 |
229 |
||
Skanska Construction UK Ltd |
Kvaerner Construction Ltd / Trafalgar House Construction Special Projects |
|||
Skanska UK PLC |
Skanska Construction Group Ltd / Kvaerner Construction Group Ltd /Â Trafalgar House Construction Ltd |
|||
Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil Ltd |
Kvaerner Rashleigh Weatherfoil Ltd |
|||
Skanska Major Projects Ltd |
Skanska SNG / Skanska Whessoe Ltd |
|||
Cementation Skanska Ltd |
Kvaerner Cementation Foundations Ltd |
|||
Skanska Third Parties |
£215,842.70 |
75 |
103 |
|
VINCI PLC |
Norwest Holst Group |
£40,182.65 |
62 |
27 |
Taylor Woodrow Construction |
£16,383.00 |
2 |
5 |
|
Vinci Third Parties |
£56,565.65 |
64 |
32 |
|
AMEC Building Ltd |
Fairclough Building Ltd / Fram Gerrard Ltd |
14 |
1 |
|
AMEC Construction Ltd |
18 |
22 |
||
AMEC Design and Prokect Services Ltd |
||||
AMEC Group Ltd |
||||
AMEC (MHL) Ltd |
Matthew Hall Ltd |
10 |
17 |
|
AMEC Third Parties |
£69,276.85 |
42 |
40 |
|
TOTAL |
£844,124.80 |
1,108 |
595 |
GMB national officer Justin Bowden said: “Carillion, who have yet to compensate any of their victims, claim that they stopped blacklisting in 2004. GMB would like know when and how they removed the 137 names of construction workers that they supplied to the blacklist which was in operation until 2009 when it was shut down.â€
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