Press Release
GMB Carillion rally and demo in London on 20th November over long running dispute at Swindon PFI hospital and blacklisting
19 November 2012
Carillion have got to come to terms with what their managers have done to workers in Swindon and the workers they blacklisted and they have to accept what they did was wrong and then take steps to put it right says GMB
GMB members, in dispute with Carillion at Great Western PFI Hospital in Swindon since December 2011, will attend a demonstration and a rally in London on Tuesday 20 November over the on-going dispute and blacklisting by Carillion.
150 GMB members employed by Carillion at Swindon have taken 21 days of strike action over the persistent failure of the Carillion management to deal with evidence of bribery and corruption on the contract which was covered up for some years. See Note 1 below for progress of the dispute up to 19th November 2012.
The details of the demonstration and the rally are as follows:
Demonstrate from 12.00 noon to 1 pm
Tuesday 20 th November 2012
Royal London Hospital – run by Carillion
Whitechapel Road
Whitechapel
London E1 1BB
Rally on “Blacklisting, racial abuse, bullying, extortion – a modern workplace at Carillion.”
6pm to 7pm 20 November 2012
Grand Committee Hall
House of Commons
Westminster
London SW1A 0AA
Speakers: Dave Smith, a worker blacklisted by Carillion; Pragna Petal, Southall Black Sisters; Shami Chakrabarti, Liberty; Frank Doran MP; Simon Woolley, Commissioner Equality and Human Rights Commission and Shah Qureshi, Bindmans Solicitors; and others.
Earlier this month at hearings on blacklisting by the Scottish Affairs Committee the Carrillion managers who dealt with blacklisting were named as follows: Frank Duggan, group personnel director for Carillion; Kevin Gorman, former human resources manager for Carillion's Crown House division; Liz Keates, a current head of human resources at Carillion; Sandy Palmer and Dave Aspinall from NCS (Carillion's in-house employment agency); John Ball, head of human resources at Carillion; Roger Robinson and Brian Tock, two managing directors of Crown House. John Edwards from Carillion is identified as attending Consulting Association meetings in 2008. John Blake a current senior manager for Carillion admitted collating information that appeared on a blacklist file and sending it to John Ball at Carillion Head Office whilst giving evidence during the Smith v Carillion Employment Tribunal in January 2012.
From documentary evidence seen by GMB the ICO confirmed that 224 construction workers from around the UK were victims of blacklisting by Carillion. Blacklisting by Carillion was not something isolated or rare. GMB estimates that in one quarter Carillion checked 2,776 names with the Consulting Association and in the period from October 1999 to April 2004 it estimates that Carillion checked at least 14,724 names. This makes it one of the bigger users.
Kamaljeet Jandu GMB National Officer for equality and inclusion said“We are not anywhere near resolving the dispute at Swindon or reaching a settlement on blacklisting. Carillion have got to come to terms with what their managers have done to workers in Swindon and to the workers they blacklisted. There is not much use just making apologies. They have to accept what they did was wrong and then take steps to put it right. Until this happens there will be no end to this dispute.”
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