by Phil Chamberlain
A hard-hitting report published by the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights has criticised the government’s proposed regulations aimed at outlawing blacklisting.
The report – called Any of our Business? Human Rights and the UK Private Sector – examines how businesses need to take account now of human rights legislation.
In what must have been a very late addition to the report, it also raises concerns about new laws on blacklisting. And the report emphasises evidence from Keith Ewing, professor of public law at King’s College, London, and construction union UCATT that the Government’s proposals do not go far enough.
It says: “We doubt the compatibility of the government’s blacklisting proposals with the UK’s international human rights obligations. We recommend that the government provide a full explanation of its argument that the proposals are compatible.
“This should include a response to the criticism of the Institute of Employment Rights that these proposals fail to provide an adequate remedy for those individuals who have already been affected by blacklisting.”
And it promises: “In the light of the Government’s explanation, we anticipate revisiting this issue.”
Several Labour MPs have been pressing for the committee to investigate blacklisting so that those involved can be properly scrutinised and regulations drawn up as effectively as possible.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “This report backs up TUC concerns that UK industrial relations laws – including the proposed regulations on blacklisting – are out of line with international human rights standards.
“The blacklisting regulations need rethinking, and the government needs to come up with a new strategy on human rights at work, at home and where British companies operate abroad.”
The Government says the regulations – drafted in the wake of the construction industry’s blacklisting scandal – will need to go before both houses of parliament and aims to have them on the statute book before the general election.
Dozens of employment tribunals arising out of the blacklisting scandal are due to be heard this year. There are more than 80 claims for wrongful dismissal pending. All the claimants had files held on them by the Consulting Association.
