Major construction companies have finally agreed to compensate workers whose names were on a secret industry blacklist.
The dramatic development follows years of campaigning by unions after it was discovered that more than 3,200 names, mainly of building workers, were kept on a list drawn up by The Consulting Association (TCA).
Workers involved claimed they were denied work, often for merely raising legitimate concerns about health and safety on building sites.
Eight firms have announced they were working together to develop a scheme to compensate workers whose names were on the database.
A statement said: “The companies Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Costain, Kier, Laing O’Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine, Skanska UK and Vinci PLC all apologise for their involvement with TCA and the impact that its database may have had on any individual construction worker.
“The companies have joined together to establish the Construction Workers Compensation Scheme. The scheme is intended to make it as simple as possible for any worker with a legitimate claim to access compensation.
“The companies have invited workers’ representatives to enter into a period of engagement to ensure that the proposed terms of the scheme are fair and effective. The group is also engaging with other interested parties.
“At this time we are not able to share any further information on the proposed scheme.
“However, once engagement with the workers’ representatives has concluded, we will announce full details of the scheme, which we would like to open to applicants as soon as possible. We have discussed the scheme with a number of other construction companies.
“We encourage participation from across the industry and would welcome interest from any company that had been a user of, or subscriber to, TCA.
“The companies involved in the scheme would support the introduction of a code of conduct to ensure nothing like this can happen within the construction industry again.”
Unions welcomed the news, although some campaigners said more should be done.
Scottish Trades Union Congress general secretary Grahame Smith said: “Clearly the compensation scheme proposed will need to meet the responsibilities owed to blacklisted workers both in terms of the scale of compensation offered and to cover the variety of circumstances and effects of each case.
“We welcome the apparent commitment to engage and negotiate the terms of the scheme with blacklisted workers and their union representatives. This will be key to achieving an agreeable outcome.”
Justin Bowden of the GMB union said: “Firms admitting they engaged in a terrible abuse of the civil rights of thousands of UK workers is an important step.
“The next step is clean up and pay up. This remains our demand on the construction industry.”
Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said: “These employers appear to be responding to union demands to ‘own up, clean up and pay up’.
“However, any proposals cannot exclude the involvement of blacklisted workers and their trade unions. It is now time for the unions and the employers to thrash out the details and build on these proposals, which look encouraging.
“It must be a priority to get blacklisted workers back into work.”
The Blacklist Support Group said it welcomed the announcement but more detail was required.
“So far there are no firm proposals, only a vague promise of compensation for any workers with a ‘legitimate claim’.
“We want every single person who is on the Consulting Association blacklist to be compensated and jobs guaranteed for blacklisted workers on major construction projects. The Blacklist Support Group looks forward to participating in the negotiations about the details of the scheme.”
The Consulting Association was closed down following a raid by the Information Commissioner’s Office. A total of 44 firms were found to be using the blacklist.