Global Labour Market

Blacklist campaigners staged a protest outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London this morning where a construction worker is facing an injunction under the Prevention of Terrorism Act in a bid to stop him picketing a power station.

Scottish & Southern Energy is applying for an injunction against Steve Acheson of Denton, Manchester.

The injunction is being sought to prevent Acheson from protesting at Fiddlers Ferry power station where he claims he was denied work on the scheme because of information held about him on the construction industry blacklist.

The injunction is under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and seeks to show that Acheson, by constant picketing of the site, represents a threat to the energy supplies of this country.

The basis of the application is that by picketing the site he is committing a trespass on the firm's property; that having issued leaflets to workers on the site calling for 'direct action' he is 'inciting' the workforce to commit acts contrary to the national interest which may impact on energy supplies and that he has, at times, acted in a way that might have intimidated the workforce.

One campaigner said: "Steve is a trade unionist not a terrorist."

ContractJournal.com  21 October 2009

Protester injunction bid rejected

Steve Acheson is a Unite/EPIU member who has been protesting outside Fiddlers Ferry power station, Warrington, since his unfair dismissal by contractors in December 2008.

He has now been served with notice of an injunction against his protest.

Steve and his supporters stand outside the power station every Monday and Friday from 7. 30 am as a peaceful protest against his unfair dismissal and subsequent denial of a grievance process.

None of them has ever attempted to enter the power station, or disrupt generation, or block the entrance to the site.

According to Labour Net, there is a truly Kafka-esque twist, that the papers he was served with for the injunction did not originally give a time, date or place for the court hearing.

This is because Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) want to secure an injunction ‘without notice’, that is without Steve knowing of it before it is created.

In law this will only be granted if there is an imminent threat of harm or loss.

To this end the injunction makes various fantastical claims that Steve and his supporters pose a danger to the National Grid! ...

As a blacklisted construction worker and having known Steve a long time, I was at the High Court today.
The prosecution were laughably poorly prepared, however if that hadn’t been the case then things could have been very different.
SSE in house lawyer also made it clear to Steve’s supporters after the case that they will continue to go after him.
Trade unionists in the area should be organising mass pickets in support of this principled worker.

Comment by WF Trades Council — 21 October, 2009 @ 8:48 pm

Socialist Unity  19 October 2009

Blacklisted electrician hounded by company

Building workers who claim they are being denied jobs because of an illegal blacklist have protested outside a £350m shopping development.

The men believe their union activities are being used against them by firms involved in the Rock Triangle project in Bury, Greater Manchester.

They were among 3,213 workers named on an illegal database which was exposed in court last month.

Laing O'Rourke, main contractor at the site, has denied the claims.

"We do not discriminate against any individuals for any reason in their employment and that is the clear policy across all our business units," said a spokesman.

The company was one of more than 40 which paid for access to the database of 3,213 workers run by businessman Ian Kerr, the Information Commissioner's Office said.

He was fined £5,000 at Knutsford Crown Court in July after pleading guilty in May to breaching the Data Protection Act.

The database included names, dates of birth, national insurance numbers and details of whether an individual had any connection to trade union activity.

Its operation was suspended under the data protection laws and further regulations to outlaw such secret blacklists are to be introduced later in 2009 ...

BBC NEWS  27 August 2009

Firms vetted workers on blacklist

Boss compiled workers' blacklist

Action promised on blacklisting

Firms in data row deny wrongdoing

Information Commissioner's Office

The current dispute has two dimensions. One is that the workers concerned are capable and willing, unlike many other workers (unionised or not), to take robust collective action to defend their right to work in the midst of a recession. This comes down not just to being unionised but being well organised at the workplace level with shop stewards, mass meetings and a collective confidence to act. Underlying this is the nature of the labour market in the industry where job security is absent with building projects beginning and ending when completed, with employment contracts based on this.

The second is that the employers are militant and hardnosed. During the first strike in January and February, Total and its contractor said they would not negotiate with the unions unless the workers went back to work. Shortly after they relented, and a deal was struck before the workers' returned to work. This time the nuclear button has been pressed with the sackings: reapply for your job by Monday next week on the condition of ending the strike or consider that you've dismissed yourself. The nuclear option has been backed up by refusing to allow the conciliation service Acas to get involved to resolve the dispute ...

... if the industry is going to be able to avoid another subsequent dogfight over the right to work then big changes are needed.

The first is an explicit and binding industry agreement that is not only watertight on this issue of job security but also has an independent body to monitor and enforce it.

Another is that the EU Posted Workers' Directive is revised so that employers are not allowed to legally bring in workers from outside to undermine the wages and conditions of those already working. My money's on further trouble ahead.

Guardian 19 June 2009

Refinery sackings spark walkouts

Hundreds walk out in support of sacked oil refinery workers

Oil plant sackings spark walkouts

Total sacks 900 oil plant workers

GMB

Redundancy scam

UP TO 140 contractors at Fiddler’s Ferry power station, in Widnes, continued their unofficial strike in sympathy yesterday.

The workers walked out on Monday in support of colleagues at the Lindsey Oil Refinery, in north Lincolnshire.

The contractors withdrew their labour in protest at a sub-contractor cutting 51 jobs while another employer on the site was hiring workers.

David Porter, director at sub-contractors AE&E Lentjes, confirmed 140 staff had walked out of Fiddlers Ferry power station on Monday afternoon.

He said the power plant was operating normally and was not affected by the action.

Liverpool Daily Post  17 June 2009