7 Days that dragged "blacklisting" into the political spotlight

Last week saw momentous changes which will alter the mainstream political landscape for the next few years and potentially for decades to come. In the past seven days, blacklisting has been dragged from a niche issue into the political mainstream.

Saturday - the election of Jeremy Corbyn as new leader of the Labour Party. The call for a full public inquiry into the blacklisting of trade unionists was prominent on his campaign leaflets. And the new leader of the Official Opposition has consistently supported blacklisted workers inside and outside parliament since the scandal broke, standing on picket lines to defend victimised construction workers long before we even knew of the existence of The Consulting Association.

Sunday - John McDonnell appointed as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. This was the most significant appointment of the entire shadow cabinet and sent an unambiguous message about the future political direction of the Labour Party. John McDonnell is a hero to the rank and file of the labour movement, turning up on every grassroots protest imaginable over the past 30 years: he is this generation's Tony Benn. Blacklisted workers especially owe him a debt of honour. In the summer of 2009, when the blacklisting scandal had completely dropped off of the media radar, McDonnell chaired the first ever meeting of the Blacklist Support Group and has been our parliamentary spokesperson ever since. When most other MPs kept us at arms length, McDonnell championed out cause in parliament, at our public meetings and on early morning picket lines.

Monday - the Tories Trade Union Bill was debated in the House of Commons. This declaration of war on the unions places restrictions so harsh on the union movement, that even Tory MP & libertarian David Davis has compared it to Franco's Spain. A fortnight ago, it was far from certain that the Labour Party was going to oppose the TU Bill in its entirety. But the election of Corbyn saw the whole Labour front bench cheer on Angela Eagle as she tore into the Tories mentioning the blacklisting scandal in her first ever speech as shadow Business Secretary. The TU Bill would require unions to provide the police with a list of all pickets involved in official strikes. Blacklisted workers know from bitter experience what happens when the police gather information about trade unionists - this is why we oppose the TU Bill which would create a state organised blacklist.

Tuesday - the Fire Brigades Union organised a packed Spycops TUC fringe meeting. Matt Wrack FBU Gen Sec told the meeting that undercover police units had targeted FBU activists as well those in the construction unions, UNISON, NUT and CWU. Blacklisted environmental activist Helen Steel told her harrowing story of John Dines, who she lived with in a long term relationship but turned out to be an undercover police officer sent to spy on her. She is one of 8 women activists currently suing the Met Police. Information gathered by undercover police units was supplied to the blacklist. We need full disclosure of all the evidence. The meeting called for no public contracts for blacklisting firms.

Wednesday - TUC Congress passes a composite motion on Blacklisting & undercover state surveillance of trade unions moved by blacklisted worker Bill Parry from UCATT and the debate was concluded by a speech from blacklisted UNITE member Howard Sharpe. Two years ago, when the Blacklist Support Group first talked about police collusion in blacklisting, people looked at us as if we were conspiracy theorists. It is now official TUC policy. The TUC motion calls for a full public inquiry into the blacklisting conspiracy and for police spying on trade unions to be covered by the Pitchford Inquiry.

Thursday - Undercover police spying on trade unionists was a central element of the Police and Democracy Conference to launch the new International Criminological Research Unit at the University of Liverpool. Academics from across the world attended the conference and agreed to place 'Blacklisted' book on University reading lists for students of criminology, sociology and employment relations.

Friday - On Teesside construction activists again blocked early morning traffic outside the Wilton Complex in dispute over the blacklisting of union members and the systematic undercutting of collective bargaining wage levels by contractors on the project.

Blacklist Support Group formally applied for 'core participant' status in the Pitchford public inquiry into undercover policing. The submission was sent by Imran Khan and Partners but is a culmination of many years work by lawyers, investigative journalists, researchers and activists. Special mention to the lawyers David Renton and Declan Owens who first exposed the police link to blacklisting during an employment tribunal back in 2012.

In the boardrooms of multinational construction companies, there was a hope that the blacklisting scandal had gone away. Think again. Corbyn / McDonnell, the Pitchford Inquiry, the impending High Court trial and ongoing industrial battles means that blacklisting will be dragged into centre stage of political media spotlight. The past 6 years has been the preparation. The next 2-3 years are going to be very interesting. We can't wait.

Dave Smith - 19th September 2015

PS: Composite Motion 16 passed at TUC Congress specifically "applauds the tremendous work done by unions and the Blacklist Support Group in campaigning against the blacklisting of workers for trade union activity". BSG are honoured to be recognised by fellow trade unionists and would like to thank the literally thousands of people across the globe who have consistently supported our fight for justice.
Full text of motion here: https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/Congress2015GPCReport.pdf

Various press & photos attached:

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-8d7a-TUC-2015-Lurid-police-surveill...

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-32f1-TUC-Spooks-tapped-up-builder-l...

https://usilive.org/unions-renew-calls-for-blacklisting-enquiry/

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-09b4-TUC-2015-Big-brother-is-watchi...

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-90ad-Union-Bill-creates-a-state-bla...

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-239f-Builders-block-roads-over-pay-...

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/16/trade-union-bill-ci...

http://www.marxist.com/blacklisting-conspiracy-and-corruption-at-the-hea...