news release

 

 

no embargo - 19 November 2013 ( Back to news releases)

FACK statement in support of the Blacklist Support Group and the TUC Day of Action on Blacklisting on 20th November : Own up! Pay up! Clean up!

People we loved died not in freak accidents but because employers did not protect them and dismissed their concerns about health and safety, and governments let them get away with it.

No worker or safety representative should ever be sacked, victimised or blacklisted for raising concerns about the lives and health of workers on site, as Frank Morris did at Cross Rail, as Steve Acheson did on many sites in the North West, and as many other blacklisted workers have done in construction and other workplaces across the UK. We support the Blacklist Support Group and the TUC in calling on the construction employers to: Own Up! Pay up!  Clean up!

Using the utter lie that good health and safety is a burden on business, this government is dismantling the health and safety regulation and enforcement regimes that protect workers and, as a result, is putting workers at far greater risk of being injured, made ill or killed.  Now more than ever it is essential that workers are able to speak out about the avoidable risks to their own health and safety, and that of their mates.

It is a crime against humanity that workers and safety reps who do speak out have their lives ruined through blacklisting. Any government participating in and allowing blacklisting to continue is committing a crime against those blacklisted, and against all workers as it condemns them to more risky workplaces.

Shame on any government that allows this abuse of human rights to continue.

David Cameron has declared war on health and safety, pledged to eliminate it, and his government is busy slashing the regulations and enforcement that protect workers. This government is creating unacceptable, intolerable workplace environments in which employers can do what they want and workers are prevented from protecting themselves.

Workers and their elected trade union safety representatives must be able to speak out about the dangers on site that threaten their lives and health, and must have legal backing in getting them put right, without fear of losing their jobs or their livelihoods by being blacklisted.

No-one should ever have to choose between having a job or having a life.

For more information contact FACK at 0161 636 7557 or 079298 00240

TUC Day of Action on Blacklisting 20th November 2013 http://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace-issues/employment-rights/health-and-safety/own-pay-clean-tuc-day-action-blacklisting

Actions in North West:
Manchester  7:15am - Manchester Town Hall protest against NG Bailey - organised by BSG - speakers include blacklisted workers: Graham Bowker, Colin Trousdale, George Tapp

Liverpool  6.45am - Alder Hey Hospital - L12 2AP - Laing O'Rourke - organised by BSG
For press contact only NOT Publication: Manchester Steve Acheson- BSG co-chair - 07949335390
Graham Bowker 07939504176;  Liverpool Roy Bentham 07956002398

Actions in London
7:00am - Protest at Laing O'Rourke, Cheesegrater, Leadenhall St, City of London (opposite Lloyds Building)
10:00am - Protest at Laing O'Rourke, Francis Crick Medical Research Centre, Kings Cross (behind the British Library)
1:00pm - TUC protest with MPs & 4 union General Secretaries, College Green, Parliament Sq, Westminster
2:00pm - TUC Lobby of MPs, House of Commons chaired by Jim Sheridan MP with Chuka Umunna & Harriet Harman.
3:30pm - House of Commons Committee Room 11 - BSG meeting chair: John McDonnell MP speakers: Sean Curran (GCR solicitors for High court claim) & blacklisted workers

Founder Members of FACK
Dawn and Paul Adams – son Samuel Adams aged 6 killed at Trafford Centre, 10th October 1998
Linzi Herbertson -husband Andrew Herbertson 29, killed at work in January 1998
Mike and Lynne Hutin – son Andrew Hutin 20, killed at work on 8th Nov 2001
Mick & Bet Murphy – son Lewis Murphy 18, killed at work on 21st February 2004
Louise Taggart – brother Michael Adamson 26, killed at work on 4th August 2005
Linda Whelan – son Craig Whelan 23, (and Paul Wakefield) killed at work on 23rd May 2004
Dorothy & Douglas Wright – son Mark Wright 37, killed at work on 13th April 2005