Probe the police
EVERY worker should be able to go to their job and still belong to an organisation that campaigns for workplace safety.
For hundreds of blacklisted Scots, this wasn’t the case for years. Their lives were blighted for simply speaking up on safety.
Thanks to the brilliant campaigning work of unions like Unite, and the political pressure from the Commons Scottish affairs committee, then under Ian Davidson, compensation has been won.
But now that the secret role of the police, of state servants, in helping private companies exclude men from employment has been exposed, demands for a full public inquiry cannot be ignored.
For the wrong to be righted, it is not just compensation that needs to be paid. Reparations have to be made to people’s reputations, and the full role of the police investigated, to prevent the same thing happening again.
BY TORCUIL CRICHTON Westminster Editior A DEMAND has been made for a full public inquiry into blacklisting of workers.
The move follows the revelation that police were secretly involved in passing on names of trade unionists to major construction firms.
Chris Stephens, SNP MP for Glasgow South, has called for a full inquiry into the scandal that has led to millions of pounds being paid out in compensation.
Stephens challenged Theresa May at Prime Minister’s Questions following fresh admissions about the role of police in the blacklisting scandal.
A secret police document has revealed how the Metropolitan Police’s Special Branch helped the illegal blacklisting of trade unionists, preventing them from getting jobs because of their political views.
In one case, detectives wrongly suggested an individual was a terrorist.
The illegal practice, exposed 10 years ago and investigated by the Commons Scottish Affairs committee, led to massive compensation payments to victims.
The most recent compensation case, pursued by the Unite union, resulted in a £4million payout to almost 100 workers. In Scotland, more than 30 workers from Glasgow and the west of Scotland shared about £1.6million out of £10million in compensation.
Stephens said: “This is a national scandal that has ruined the lives of countless working people who were involved in legitimate trade union activity but were nonetheless targeted and illegally blacklisted by the UK’s security services.”
“I call on the Prime Minister to launch an urgent stand-alone UK-wide public inquiry into the role of the UK’s police and security services in blacklisting workers, so that those who had their lives torn apart secure justice, and those responsible are held to account.”
Last night, Stephens and Labour’s shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, held a parliamentary event for the blacklist support group they founded.