[IER] Police suspected of blacklisting 'cover up'

Fri Jun 29 18:33:40 BST 2018

IER News Brief 29/06/18

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news brief

Friday 29th June 2018

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Blacklisting has reared its ugly head again in the news this week, with shocking revelations <https://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=2515b5ec40&e=71131c031b>  that the Metropolitan Police has known, for two years, the names of workers who were spied on by Special Branch agents, but it is refusing to release this information, including to the victims.

The BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme reported that the force has kept secret a report that resulted from an internal inquiry, held between 2014 and 2016, into the scandal. GMB had issued a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to see the contents of that report - which is known to include the details of victims - but the Met has ignored this, missing its deadline to respond, which fell at the end of May. As a result of this non-compliance with the FOI procedure, the union has this week been forced to report them to the Information Commissioners' Office <https://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=bfb296b48e&e=71131c031b> .

Firms caught red-handed in the blacklisting scandal in the construction industry - in which over 3,000 workers were blocked from employment - have continued to pick up multi-million pound contracts to execute public works. One of these was Carillion, a firm now famous for its distastrous collapse at the beginning of the year. Earlier this week, Justice Minister Rory Stewart admitted that mistakes had been made by the government in hiring Carillion <https://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=2a21799c8e&e=71131c031b> , and that a "real, real lesson" had been learned about conducting due diligence.

He confessed that it is tempting for cash-strapped departments to opt for the lowest bid, but this increases the risk that private sector contractors will "underbid" for work that will ultimately cost much more than the firms propose. In the case of Carillion, he said, the company offered to provide facilities management to prisons for £15 million less per year than it would cost the department to do itself. This led the company to disinvest in the contract, which contributed to its very poor performance in its role, which negatively impacted both prisoners and staff. Further, such unsustainable financial obligations ultimately led to Carillion's dramatic demise.

In our Manifesto for Labour Law <https://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=e7ed03096b&e=71131c031b> , the Institute of Employment Rights recommends that blacklisting attract criminal penalties to deter employers from this serious abuse. Further, employment law breaches including blacklisting should be taken into account during public services procurement to prohobit law-breaking companies from making millions off the state.

In our report Blacklisting: the need for a public inquiry <https://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=ea20bbb001&e=71131c031b> , employment law expert Alex Just goes further. He proposes that a new Blacklisting Act is passed to enforce stricter penalties on blacklisters (including criminal penalties), put measures in place to change HR culture around blacklisting, make it harder for employers to dodge liability in court, and increase resources to investigative agencies to ensure law-breakers are caught. 

Click here to read more about the Manifesto for Labour Law <https://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=1c53f1ece4&e=71131c031b> 

Click here to read more about Blacklisting: the need for a public inquiry <https://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=3ab72fc76b&e=71131c031b> 

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	GMB reports Met Police to ICO
The GMB union has reported the Metropolitan Police to the Information Commissioners' Office (ICO) after it ignored a Freedom of Information request.
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	MoJ 'did not do due diligence' when contracting Carillion
The Ministry of Justice did not do due diligence when contracting Carillion to provide facilities management for the prison service, the Minister for Prisons has inferred.
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	Hermes couriers 'workers', rules tribunal
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	Police refuses to name blacklisted workers they spied on
The Metropolitan Police has refused to name the workers that its undercover Special Branch spied on, including to the victims themselves.
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