An electrician who was blacklisted for raising health and safety concerns has been reinstated to his job. Within weeks of starting work he was identified as a union man and the company he was working for had its contract withdrawn. The 12 month dispute rallied thousands of union members to new tactics unseen in industrial disputes and led to questions being asked in parliament and the London Assembly. In a joint statement the management of the Crossrail consortium Bam Ferrovial Kier and trade union Unite have agreed to work together to continue the provision of transparent working practices including safeguarding the right of workers to choose whether or not to join a trade union. In the meantime campaigners are asking for a broadening up of the blacklist inquiry that started in the construction sector to what they say is continuing anti-union discrimination in the North Sea oil industry.
English: http://union-news.co.uk/2013/09/shout-this-from-the-rooftops-high-hopes ...
http://union-news.co.uk/2013/09/blacklist-inquiry-to-hear-from-hr-boss/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-23947650
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/sep/23/construction-blacklisting ...
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.