Midlands TUC day of action against blacklisting

Midlands TUC day of action against blacklisting

The TUC is holding a national day of action against blacklisting on Wednesday 20 November with demonstrations against blacklisting to be held outside the offices of Sir Robert McAlpine, Paradise Street, Birmingham, B1 2BJ from 9.30 a.m. to 10.00 a.m; and Carillion Plc, Birch Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 4HY from 11.00 a.m. to noon.

Protests against blacklisting will be held around the UK, and the TUC – along with the construction unions GMB, UCATT and Unite – will hold a lobby of Parliament to call for justice for construction workers who were illegally targeted because of their union activities or for pushing for better health and safety on building sites.

For more than 20 years employers in the construction industry used secret files to vet new recruits and keep union and health and safety activists out of work. This blacklisting was discovered in March 2009 when the Information Commissioner’s Office raided the offices of the Consulting Association and found a list containing the details of 3,213 building workers, which had been used by more than 40 construction companies around the UK.

More than four and a half years later most of these construction workers are still unaware they have been blacklisted as they have not been contacted, nor has a penny been paid to any of the victims.

The TUC and unions are unhappy that companies which have blacklisted workers have still not been held accountable and want a Leveson-style inquiry into the practice.

Joe Morgan, GMB Birmingham & West Midlands Regional Secretary said: “Workers who were placed on this list were denied work through no fault of their own. They have been deprived of an honest living through these illegal tactics and have been the victims of injustice over many years by multi-national companies.”
“Not a single company has yet been punished nor have any of them paid out compensation. We need to fight for the suffering these victims have gone through and give them back the jobs that were wrongly taken from them.”
“Many of these workers have spent years out of work, we want a guarantee that jobs will be offered to them on any up and coming major construction projects.”

Cheryl Pidgeon, Midlands Regional Secretary for Ucatt said,

“UCATT is campaigning for a public inquiry into the blacklisting scandal and for the ICO to directly notify all persons listed on The Consulting Association blacklist files, in the same way victims were notified in the newspaper phone hacking scandal. Companies guilty of blacklisting must be barred from tendering for publicly procured contracts and compensation must be paid retrospectively to all victims of blacklisting for loss of earnings. The existing blacklisting regulations offer no protection.  It must be a criminal offense to supply, compile, solicit or use information in connection with a prohibited list.  The blacklisting of workers must no longer be part of our society.”

Gerard Coyne, Regional Secretary of Unite the union said,

“The aim of the day of action is to get the industry to Own Up, Clean Up, Pay Up!

The companies involved must ‘Own Up’ and accept responsibility for what they have done in the past.
They also need to ‘Clean Up’ and ensure that it does not happen again by having transparent recruitment procedures that are agreed with trade unions and properly monitored.
Then they must ‘Pay Up’ and compensate all those who have suffered as a result of their actions. Many of those who were blacklisted were unable to work in the industry again had years of unemployment. They deserve compensation.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- Protests against blacklisting will be held outside the offices of Sir Robert McAlpine, Paradise Street, Birmingham, B1 2BJ from 9.30 a.m. to 10.00 a.m. and Carillion Plc, Birch Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 4HY from 11.00 a.m. to noon.
 

- The TUC’s campaign plan can be downloaded from www.tuc.org.uk/campaignplan

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

- Follow the TUC on Twitter: @tucnews

Contacts:

Media enquiries: Rob Johnston and Alan Weaver T: 0121 262 6383

Rob’s mobile: 07879 497291; Alan’s mobile: 07771 778694

E: rjohnston@tuc.org.uk  E: aweaver@tuc.org.uk

Blog: http://midlandstucmedia.blogspot.co.uk/    Twitter: https://twitter.com/MidlandsTUC

Press Release

Paying the living wage would mean a £254 million boost to public finances from the West Midlands

Big savings – £254m – could be made by the public purse if the West Midlands’ 473,000 low-paid workers received a pay rise and were paid the living wage, according to research published by the Midlands TUC today (Friday) to mark the end of Living Wage Week.

Economic modelling carried out for the national TUC by Howard Reed of Landman Economics suggests that the Treasury would receive an extra £169m from the increased tax and national insurance contributions (NIC) that would result from a West Midlands-wide living wage boost.

Similarly, if low earners across the West Midlands were to see their wages rise to current living wage rates – currently £7.45 outside of London – the research says that the Treasury would pay out £85m less in means-tested benefits and tax credits across the region.

Commenting on the research, Midlands TUC Regional Secretary Rob Johnston said: “Some 473,000 workers across the West Midlands are being paid less than the living wage, and with in-work poverty growing, it’s not hard to see why so many families are struggling to make household budgets stretch to cover the cost of everyday essentials.

“The UK is in the midst of a living standards crisis, and while the economy is slowly starting to recover, ordinary people are a long way from feeling any benefit. Money is so tight that any unforeseen expenses – like a winter coat for the children or repairing a broken cooker – are forcing families to borrow just to keep their heads above water.

“Of course not every employer can afford to pay their staff the living wage, but many more can. Increasing the number of people across the West Midlands who are paid at least the living wage would mean huge savings for the public purse in extra taxes paid and fewer benefits claimed.

“Britain is crying out for a pay rise – and there are real benefits that would come from a nationwide pay boost for the UK’s lowest paid workers.”

Lifting workers across the UK out of poverty pay and onto the living wage would see £2.1bn raised through extra taxes and national insurance contributions, and £1.1bn less paid out in benefits and tax credits. This would see a net benefit to the Treasury of £3.2bn.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Exchequer benefits of increasing coverage of the living wage

Regions and nations

Tax and NICs (millions)

Means-tested benefits and tax credits (millions)

Total

(millions)

North East

92.4

46.2

138.6

North West

223.3

123.2

346.5

Yorkshire & the Humber

184.8

115.5

300.3

East Midlands

169.4

92.4

261.8

West Midlands

169.4

84.7

254.1

East of England

177.1

84.7

261.8

London

408.1

200.2

608.3

South West

184.8

100.1

284.9

South East

207.9

100.1

308.0

England

1817.1

947.1

2764.2

Wales

100.1

53.9

154.0

Scotland

161.7

84.7

246.4

Northern Ireland

53.9

30,8

84.7

UK

2132.8

1116.5

3249.3

Proportion of workers paid below the living wage by region

Regions and nations

Number of workers paid less than the living wage

% of the workforce paid less than the living wage

Wales

252,000

23

East Midlands

388,000

22

Yorkshire & the Humber

456,000

22

West Midlands

473,000

22

North East

213,000

22

North West

571,000

21

South West

452,000

21

East of England

466,000

20

Scotland

416,000

19

South East

530,000

16

London

572,000

16

- The figures have been calculated using existing living wage rates – £8.55 an hour in London and £7.45 elsewhere in the UK. It was announced this week that the living wage is to increase to £8.80 and £7.65 in April 2014.

- The figures for the number of UK workers paid below the living wage are from a Resolution Foundation study published earlier this year.

- Living Wage Week is promoted by the Living Wage Foundation and runs from 3-9 November www.livingwage.org.uk/living-wage-week-2013

- The analysis uses the Landman Economics/IPPR tax benefit model to calculate the changes in income tax and national insurance contributions, and the amount saved in tax credits and means-tested benefits if everybody paid below the living wage were moved onto it.

Because the dataset used for the analysis (the UK Family Resources Survey) overestimates the number of people in the UK, the results were adjusted so that the number of people affected by the introduction of a living wage corresponds to existing estimates of the number of people on low wages from Resolution Foundation research.

- The full data is available from the press office.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

 - All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

 - Register for the TUC's press extranet: a service exclusive to journalists wanting to access pre?embargo releases and reports from the TUC. Visit www.tuc.org.uk/pressextranet

Contacts:

Media enquiries: Rob Johnston and Alan Weaver T: 0121 262 6383

Rob’s mobile: 07879 497291; Alan’s mobile: 07771 778694

E: rjohnston@tuc.org.uk  E: aweaver@tuc.org.uk

Blog: http://midlandstucmedia.blogspot.co.uk/    Twitter: https://twitter.com/MidlandsTUC

Press Release

Midlands TUC support World Mental Health Day events in Derbyshire

This year the Midlands TUC Disability Forum and Pensioners Network attended two events organised by Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. The events, in conjunction with Hearth Centre Productions, were held at The Winding Wheel in Chesterfield and The Riverside Centre in Derby and were centred on a play depicting the experiences of a woman caught in the mental health system.

The show, entitled “Unsent Letters”, was written by Polly Wright and performed by Debbie Tracey. It was a moving and thought provoking account of a woman who told her story through the birthday cards she sent to her son – and the letters she was able to write but not send as part of the adoption agreement which saw her son taken from her.

The Midlands TUC Disability Forum has been discussing mental health issues for the last three years and has for two years now exhibited at the Derbyshire events. This has provided the opportunity to talk about mental health issues both in the workplace as well as in society in general. The play showed how easy it was for mental health issues in the workplace to be ignored or misunderstood by colleagues, and how people can react adversely to those who suffer in this way.

It was clear that attendees at the two events were pleased to see that trade unions took mental health issues seriously and were looking for ways to ensure stewards and representatives had the knowledge and expertise to support members.

As part of the events attendees were invited to sign the Mental Health and Wellbeing Charter. The Charter seeks to tackle mental health discrimination and bring debate on mental health issues on a par with discussions on physical health.

The Charter is being promoted by Derbyshire NHS Trust and already has many supporters. By taking part in the exhibition at these two events our Disability Forum and Pensioners Network were able to promote the motion passed at September’s Congress on Mental Health which was moved by Usdaw and seconded and supported by Prospect and Community respectively. The motion will form the subject of debate at future Midlands TUC Disability Forum meetings.

Briefing