by Phil Chamberlain
THE original file was a collection of cards – some photocopied, some typed and many with handwritten notes scrawled on them. The only names in it were of the subject and fellow targets. A few small companies are mentioned but most sources of information were hidden behind code numbers. On the first page the phrase “Do Not Touch!” jumps out. It refers to Steve Acheson, a 55-year-old Manchester electrician who was on a blacklist held by consultant Ian Kerr.
Last month, after a six-month investigation, the Information Commissioner’s Office raided Mr Kerr’s Droitwich-based firm, The Consulting Association, and seized a database with files on 3,213 construction workers. They also found invoices from Mr Kerr to more than 40 construction firms including Balfour Beatty, McAlpine’s and Costain.
It may have taken the Information Commissioner six months to gather enough evidence but Mr Acheson has suspected he was on a blacklist for years.
He said: “I started as an apprentice in 1969 and I’ve worked on the Channel Tunnel, in the Middle East and around Europe. But in the last nine years I’ve not had one phone call from an agency. I’ve managed to find some work, but it’s only been 36 weeks employment in those nine years.”
Mr Acheson believes it was his union work – and the fact he won two employment tribunals – which marked him out.
In 2005 he managed to get work on a hospital building site. He said: “It was Christmas and so I don’t think they checked properly otherwise I wouldn’t have got the work.”
A few weeks later he was let go. He said: “You know that it’s pressure from a third party. The subcontractor is told they can’t employ you.”
The cumulative effect was very dispiriting. “I don’t even bother applying for jobs any more. Once I was offered work at ten past eight in the morning and by ten to twelve they told me to forget about it. The checks had been made.
“It can cause hardship. It affects your family life and makes things very stressful.”
Following the hospital project, an employment tribunal found that he had been blacklisted, but there were no moves by industry or the Government to investigate.
Meanwhile, Mr Acheson’s file at The Consulting Association continued to be added to with records and comments. One agency was told to tell him there were no jobs available. The file only stopped when the investigators swooped.
Alan Ritchie, general secretary of construction union UCATT, said: “The extent of the practice and the fact that most of the major companies in construction are involved is truly shocking. It is outrageous that construction workers have been barred from jobs simply for being trade unionists.”
The union will be writing to its 100,000 members advising them on how to proceed if they fear having been blacklisted.
On Monday the Information Commissioner will open a hotline for people to ring in and find out if Mr Kerr held a file on them. This paves the way for possible legal action against the companies involved.
For Steve Acheson there’s satisfaction but, ultimately, he just wants to get back to work.
