TUC Congress
Last week, John McDonnell announced that a public inquiry into blacklisting would form part of the first Queen’s Speech for an incoming Labour Government.
More from the TUC Congress
Righting working class miscarriages of Justice:
Working class miscarriages of justice: Ensuring they never happen again chaired by Unite assistant general secretary Howard Beckett. Speakers include: Sheila Coleman from the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, Chris Peace from Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign, Dave Smith from the Blacklist Support Campaign, Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance (COPS) and Terry Renshaw from Shrewsbury Picket.
https://www.unitelegalservices.org/news-stories/unite-at-tuc-congress-2018
Major Morning Star Article at TUC congress on the need for a radical manifesto for employment rights – including a public inquiry into blacklisting. Lee Fowler representing.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/rolling-out-manifesto-labour-law
http://unitelive.org/bill-parry-tuc-blacklisting/
Spycops
Great article in the Daily Mirror on the Spycops inquiry
Good luck to Kate Wilson in court on 3rd October exposing the human rights abuses of the undercover police officer Mark Kennedy
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/political-undercover-policing-and-our-human-rights-tickets-50409683721
Major report published by Big Brother watch UK with article on blacklisting by Phil Chamberlain. John Bryan representing at the launch party.
https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/The-State-of-Surveillance-in-2018.pdf
Labour Party Conference
Kier are to build the new Durham County Council HQ. The 2 contractors bidding for Manchester City Council’s historic Town Hall renovation are Laing O’Rourke & Lendlease. Why can’t some Labour councillors understand the policy: No Public Contracts for Blacklist firms?
Roy Bentham will represent the Blacklist Support Group at this session at the parallel The World Transformed conference to the Labour Party’s.
https://theworldtransformed.org/sessions/class-justice
Haldane Fringe meeting 6pm, Monday 24th Sept – The miners strike and undercover policing (flyer attached)
Tackling the Housing Crisis meeting – Unite the Union Holborn – 6pm Thursday 27th September. Speakers include: John McDonnell MP and blacklisted safety campaigner Tony O’Brien, whose book, ‘Tackling the Housing Crisis’, was published in July
Carillon
BSG demonstrated at Royal Liverpool Hospital project when exposing Carillion back in 2015. There’s a public meeting over the embarrassing predicament the long from complete Hospital now finds itself. Roy Bentham will speak on behalf of the Blacklist Support Group.
https://www.pcs.org.uk/events/public-meeting-whats-going-on-at-the-royal-liverpool-hospital
An independent review is being carried out into the impact of policing on affected communities in Scotland during the 1984 to 1985 miners’ strike.
https://beta.gov.scot/publications/policing-during-miners-strike-consultation-paper/
Launch of a major new oral history archive from post war construction workers covering building the new towns, the Southbank and the Barbican. Many blacklisted workers took part in the project. Prof. Linda Clarke (long time friend of the BSG) is the curator and project leader.
10th October @ Bishopsgate Centre
BBC story – Suicide risk for construction workers is 3 times the male average. One of the main reasons is precarious work. Top work Simon Pantry for representing.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-45363740/high-suicide-risk-for-men-in-construction?SThisFB
No toilets? Seriously? Crossrail is a multi-billion pound publicly funded project. But watch out if you complain about it – Skanska & Costain have form on blacklisting workers who speak up about their safety concerns.
Gary Doolan R.I.P.
Blacklist Support Group send our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Gary Doolan, National Political Officer for GMB who has passed away. Gary always fought our corner; standing with us on pickets, protests and at the High Court. Gary also got us private meetings in parliament which led to the Labour manifesto pledging a public inquiry into blacklisting (under Ed Milliband). In his role as Labour Councillor in Islington, he took the £16m a year housing maintenance contract away from Kier because of their role in the blacklisting scandal. All the workers were taken back in-house. Islington were the first local authority in the country to publicly take that step. This is what solidarity looks like and what our movement should aspire to.
“There are times when doing the right thing is easy. There was no other way to deal with this, but to send a message loud and very clear to any contractor wishing to bid for work in our borough, in that those contractors who are guilty of blacklisting will be excluded from any tendering for work. Islington is the first local council that’s made this statement. If it’s right for one council to stand up for workers, it’s good enough for all the others to take the same stance. Perhaps that way blacklisting will finally be eradicated”. Gary Doolan R.I.P.