MPs brand construction companies' blacklist compensation scheme an 'act of bad faith'

摘要

The House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee has described the Construction Workers Compensation Scheme (TWCS) launched in 2014 by eight construction companies involved in blacklisting as an "act of bad faith". In its final report into blacklisting in the construction industry, the committee calls for a statutory code of practice to eradicate blacklisting and urges the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to redouble its efforts to find and contact individuals affected. The report1, which was published on 27 March, concludes the Scottish Affairs Committee's three-year inquiry into blacklisting in employment. The scandal was exposed in February 2009, after a raid by the ICO on offices occupied by an organisation known as The Consulting Association (TCA) discovered files on thousands of construction workers. The files showed that some of the UK's best-known firms had blacklisted workers as "troublemakers" because they had raised health and safety concerns or were active trade unionists (HSB 378 p.1).