A number of British people have been unable to gain employment, as a result of being illegally spied on by the police. Victims of the blacklisting have come forward to request a public inquiry.
The list compiled by Consulting Association had 3,213 names, including the names of workers who had raised health and safety concerns on building sites or had been involved in union activity. Some were denied work as a result.
According to the Blacklist Support group, there is an enormous amount of evidence to prove that union members were being spied on by the police and security forces which helped an agency put together a list of workers, with some of the biggest building firms in Britain using the list.
In 2009, the Information Commissioner’s Office, which is the government’s data watchdog, carried out a raid to have the Consulting Association closed down. It was discovered that 44 building firms had used the secret blacklist to assess and examine new recruits.
Peter Francis, a former police officer, blew the whistle by revealing that supporters of Stephen Lawrence’s family had been illegally spied on by the police. In an interview he reported that some of the intelligence contained in the files had been personally collected by him. He also claims that superior officers of the Special Demonstration Squad had assigned him the task of going undercover and gathering information.
According to the Blacklist Support Group’s secretary, Dave Smith, even the names of undercover cops who had spied on trade union activists are known. The incident has been called a deliberate collusion between the big business and the state.
In the Parliament, the blacklist has been described as an awful human rights abuse against workers that ruined lives.
Even though the involvement of the police and security services is evident, the ICO refuses to disclose the documents that prove that the police were linked to the blacklist.
According to the GMB union’s general secretary, a Leveson-style inquiry needs to be carried out into blacklisting and state forces need to get involved, however under existing laws, there has been decades of systematic interference with civil rights by employers and the police.
The London High Court has launched two legal actions to grant justice to those who suffered from the blacklisting. First, to grant nearly 100 GMB members claims such as defamation, for the damage caused to their reputation and being prevented from gaining employment. The second legal action is on behalf of the Blacklist Support Group.
Hastings Borough Council has urged more people to come forward if they have been discriminated against in last 20 years from being refused employment.