Tue11Dec13 - Blacklister Ian Kerr keels over

[TonyGosling]

eye eye
it's that far right Tory super rich cult crooked McAlpine family again

Committee grills McAlpine over blacklist shame
Tuesday 22 January 2013
by Roger Bagley in Westminster

Construction boss Cullum McAlpine wriggled and writhed today when MPs grilled him about grand-scale blacklisting.

Flanked by the Sir Robert McAlpine company's head lawyer, he repeatedly uttered the words "I don't know," "I can't say" or "I can't answer that question."

MPs on the Scottish affairs select committee became more and more frustrated as they tried to squeeze admissions out of Mr McAlpine over his company's close links with the Consulting Association (CA).

The CA was disbanded in 2009 amid a major scandal over thousands of blacklisted workers.

Mr McAlpine, a director of the construction company and former chairman of the CA, admitted that he had chaired twice-yearly meetings of the notorious organisation.

But when sceptical MPs asked for more details he replied: "I don't remember very well" and "my memory is pretty rusty."

Dundee Labour MP Jim McGovern bluntly accused Mr McAlpine of "hiding behind" recently deceased former CA blacklister Ian Kerr, "who can't answer."

Labour MP Pamela Nash challenged Mr McAlpine about his claim that the McAlpine company had never operated a blacklist.

"Are you saying that the CA list was not a blacklist?" she asked.

"I'm afraid I cannot answer that question," he retorted.

Trying another tack, Ms Nash asked: "Has your company ever asked anyone else to operate a blacklist?"

"No" came the answer.

Laughter broke out in the room as committee chairman Ian Davidson MP intervened and asked: "Can I just clarify just what you thought that the Consulting Association was doing then?"

Grudgingly, Mr McAlpine offered his view that a blacklist was a list of names which "automatically" prevented those on the list from enjoying the benefits of a club or a job.

He admitted that his construction company had used the CA "a lot" during 2008, when it was extremely busy with Olympic projects, defence ministry work and shopping centres.

The Home Office carried out vetting of everyone who worked on the Olympic site, he added.

The McAlpine company had paid legal costs incurred by Mr Kerr upon his prosecution in 2009 for administering the CA database.

When asked if he knew that the McAlpine company sent cheques for £15,000 and £8,000 to Mr Kerr's daughters to cover their father's fines and legal fees, Mr McAlpine replied: "I did not know that at the time."
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/128554


Time for blacklist justice
Tuesday 22 January 2013
by Peter Lazenby

Trade unionists demanded a "Leveson-style" inquiry today into the blacklisting of thousands of construction workers.

Unite said the issue was as scandalous as the media's phone-hacking and it wants a similar response.

MPs are to debate blacklisting tomorrow.

Britain's data watchdog exposed the widespread use of secret blacklists in the building trade in 2009 when its officers raided the offices of the Consulting Association.

More than 40 of Britain's largest construction firms were shown to have used a blacklist of 3,213 workers.

Unite said: "After years of denials, firms which built the Olympic Park have finally admitted that they checked names of prospective workers with the illegal Consulting Association blacklist.

"Many of the workers still have no idea that they were included on the blacklist."

Crossrail industrial relations chief Ron Barron was sacked from the London transport project when his involvement in blacklisting was revealed.

Former Consulting Association chairman Ian Kerr admitted having discussions with Crossrail.

Crossrail union rep Frank Morris and 27 other workers employed by a subcontractor were sacked.

Mr Morris believes BAM Nuttall Ltd, Ferrovial Agroman and Kier Construction Ltd, who won £700m in Crossrail contacts, were involved.

Both BAM and Kier subscribed to the Consulting Association's blacklist.

Mr Morris believes he was blacklisted for raising health and safety concerns at the London Olympic site.

Unite believes Crossrail has failed to investigate evidence of blacklisting on the project and wants Transport for London to investigate.

Thousands were denied jobs after raising health and safety concerns or for their trade union activities.

"Many of the workers still have no idea that they were included on the blacklist which was uncovered in the raid by the Information Commissioner's Office in 2009," Unite said.

Today's Commons debate has been instigated by shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna.

He wants the Information Commissioner to inform the victims that they were blacklisted so they can seek compensation.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: "This is a scandal on the scale of phone hacking, except it is the lives of thousands of ordinary construction workers which have been ruined.

"There should be a full and proper inquiry. It is time for justice."

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/128557

[TonyGosling]

Here is Mr Ian Kerr 2 weeks before - he died on Tuesday 11th December 2012
http://www.solfed.org.uk/?q=private-sector-workers/ian-kerr-is-dead

Kerr was supposed to have supplied an additional witness statement to the inquiry naming names of senior company Directors who were the ring leaders of the human rights abuse.
http://www.solfed.org.uk/?q=private-sector-workers/ian-kerr-is-dead.


HoC Scottish Affairs Committee
Tuesday 27 November 2012
Committee Room 6
Meeting started on Tuesday 27 November at 2.34pm. Ended at 5.56pm
Blacklisting in Employment
Witnesses
The Consulting Association - former employee of the Economic League - Mr Ian Kerr

Hots up around 2:08 - quotes from the files
Meetings wih the police about 2:22 in
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=11939&player=w indowsmedia

[TonyGosling]

Blacklisted workers serve arrest warrant on Cullum McAlpine

Link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KuR-QhUXes

Today the Blacklist Support Group marked five years of inaction by the police by attempting to uphold the law themselves. Dave Smith, Helen Steele and a group of supporters visited the London offices of construction giant Sir Robert McAlpine Limited to make a citizens arrest. This weekend is the 5th anniversary of the raid by the Information
Commissioner’s Office that discovered the illegal building industry blacklist.
The target for arrest today by the protesters was millionaire construction boss Cullum McAlpine. When giving evidence to a Select Committee investigation into blacklisting Cullum McAlpine was forced to admit that he was the first chairman of the Consulting Association conspiracy (a post he held for 3 years) and that the first meetings of the shady organisation were actually held in his office at the Sir Robert McAlpine Limited offices in Grosvenor Crescent, Victoria.
It has to be said that staff at the aforementioned offices were not exactly thrilled by the arrival of Dave and his supporters. The only woman present amongst the Blacklist Supporters group, was assaulted by office staff for filming the proceedings on a mobile. The same staff expressed far less interest in stopping two male journalists from filming and photographing the proceedings. They called the Police who arrived in what can only be described as serious numbers in six vehicles. Though they expressed little interest in the illegal activities that had been plotted in this very building.
The illegal blacklist database compiled in these offices held secret files on 3213 individuals which included information such as name, address, national insurance number, phone numbers, car registration and particularly recorded trade union membership and incidents where workers had complained about health & safety on building sites. Those workers that appeared on the blacklist suffered years of unemployment, repeated dismissals and financial hardship. Dave Smith was one such individual who was victimised and blacklisted for his activities as a trade union health and safety rep.
During the building of the Olympics Stadium in 2008-9, Sir Robert McAlpine was invoiced in excess of £28,000 for blacklisting name checks – which equates to 65 name checks a day, 7 days a week for the period. So the irony of finding an original framed, signed newspaper cartoon on the wall of the office depicting the Olympic project was not lost on the activists present.
1601729_828145487201145_662151871_o
The Independent Police Complaints Commission is presently investigating police involvement in blacklisting and has already confirmed that Special Branch “routinely provided information about prospective employees”. This perhaps explains how hundreds of environmental protesters with little or no involvement in the construction industry have ended up on the list.
Dave Smith, secretary of the Blacklist Support Group said: “Blacklisted workers have lost their houses and our kids were on free school meals while Cullum McApline is the lord of the Manor in his £4.5million Grade 1 Listed Mansion in Cold Ashton. In any civilized society, McAlpine and his co-conspirators would be behind bars .We visited the birthplace of the Consulting Association to carry out a citizens arrest. We were pleased when the Met Police arrived and assisted in our search for Cullum McAlpine. It shows how seriously the authorities are taking corporate crime.”
Blacklisted activist Helen Steele said, “It has been 5 years since this conspiracy between big business and the police was discovered. Trade unionists and environmental activists have had their human rights violated. But 5 years later, no one has been brought to justice for the crimes they have committed. Its about time Cullum McAlpine was in the dock” Sir Robert McAlpine and seven other major construction firms involved in blacklisting are joint defendants in the High Court conspiracy case – next
court date April. The other companies in the High Court action are: Skanska, Costains, Laing O’Rourke, Kier, Vinci, Carillion and Balfour Beatty.
- See more at: http://reelnews.co.uk/blacklisted-workers-serve-arrest-warrant-on-cull um-mcalpine/#sthash.l6G7MEzb.dpuf