That’s the call made in the House of Commons yesterday by shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna during a debate that he instigated on the blacklisting scandal.
He told the House: “What happened is nothing short of a national scandal. The sadness is that we cannot say with confidence that these practices are not still continuing. That is why action is needed. This action may take some weeks or months, but the time for denials and hiding their heads in the sand by the construction companies involved is over, not least because unless they apologise and accept responsibility, the reputation of the entire industry will be tarnished. That is not at all fair to those companies in the sector who have not engaged in those practices.
“With that in mind, I end by asking the construction companies involved to consider setting up a fund into which they could all pay and which could immediately begin to compensate those workers who were blacklisted for the immense loss they have suffered. That, in addition to a full apology, would be a good place to start in righting the wrongs which have been done to our construction workers over the years. I commend the motion to the House.”
He also called for a full government inquiry into the scandal. Business secretary Vince Cable expressed sympathy for the issue but said that no evidence had been brought to him that blacklisting was still continuing, as Mr Umunna suggested. If evidence was brought to him, it would be investigated, he said. Otherwise, he suggested, the closure of The Consulting Association by the Information Commissioner’s Office in 2009 showed that appropriate checks and legislation were now place.
Mr Cable said: “If there is evidence forthcoming about current practice, of course we want to have it investigated, and I will investigate it... It might well be true that there are issues here, and I do not want to close the door on the matter if there is evidence out there that needs investigating. That is one set of issues, but there is a completely different perspective as far as the past is concerned.”
He added: “If companies have found a way around the regulations and abuses are still taking place, we of course need to look at taking fresh steps, but I am waiting to hear that evidence.”
Dame Tessa Jowell, Olympics minister at the start of the big build for the 2012 Games, said that the use of the blacklist vetting system by contractors on that project was “completely antipathetic to the whole ethos of the development, in partnership with the trade unions, of the Olympic park”.
She added: “Members on the Labour Benches, and no doubt Members in all parts of the House, sense that this reprehensible practice has not been squeezed out of the construction industry altogether.”
Speaking after the debate, Steve Murphy, general secretary of construction union Ucatt, said: “The Parliamentary debate has blown the blacklisting scandal wide open. The Government must accept that a full inquiry must be held into the scope of blacklisting, including its use on public projects and the involvement of the police and the security forces in this disgusting practice.”
He added: “Construction companies deliberately set out to ruin workers lives. The absolute minimum they should do is to apologise and to provide a fund to compensate the blacklisted workers. Until this happens they should be barred from bidding for public sector projects.”
The full list of companies that supported and used The Consulting Association:
(Source: The Information Commissioner's Office)
- Amec Building Ltd
- Amec Construction Ltd
- Amec Facilities Ltd
- Amec Ind Div
- Amec Process & Energy Ltd
- Amey Construction – Ex Member
- B Sunley & Sons – Ex Member
- Balfour Beatty
- Balfour Kilpatrick
- Ballast (Wiltshire) PLc – Ex Member
- Bam Construction (HBC Construction)
- Bam Nuttall (Edmund Nuttall Ltd)
- C B & I
- Cleveland Bridge UK Ltd
- Costain UK Ltd
- Crown House Technologies
- (Carillion/Tarmac Const)
- Diamond M & E Services
- Dudley Bower & Co Ltd – Ex Member
- Emcor (Drake & Scull) - ‘Ex Ref’
- Emcor Rail
- G Wimpey Ltd – Ex Member
- Haden Young
- Kier Ltd
- John Mowlem Ltd -Ex Member
- Laing O’Rourk (Laing Ltd)
- Lovell Construction (UK) Ltd – Ex Member
- Miller Construction Limited – Ex Member
- Morgan Ashurst
- Morgan Est
- Morrison Construction Group – Ex Member
- N G Bailey
- Shepherd Engineering Services
- Sias Building Services
- Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd
- Skanska (Kaverna/Trafalgar
- House Plc)
- SPIE (Matthew Hall) - Ex Member
- Taylor Woodrow Construction Ltd – Ex Member
- Turriff Construction Ltd –Ex Member
- Tysons Contractors – Ex Member
- Walter Llewellyn & Sons Ltd - Ex Member
- Whessoe Oil & Gas
- Willmott Dixon – Ex Member
- Vinci PLC (Norwest Holst Group).
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
