Taking Out The Trash

Union says government plans to deny compensation to poisoned workers

Below is a press release from UCATT which I thought worth putting out. I've subbed it down a little but otherwise it is their words and their interpretation of what sounds liks a shocking situation.

Construction union UCATT have described proposals, which would deny compensation to pleural plaques victims as “disgraceful”.

The decision not to compensate pleural plaques victims is due to the Government’s unwillingness to pay compensation to public sector workers exposed to asbestos whilst employed in former nationalised heavy industries, such as shipbuilding.

The Government’s liability is claimed to be £35 million per annum, but this is a diminishing liability due to the historic nature of the exposure.

Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of UCATT, said: “The State employed these workers and exposed them to asbestos now the State must pay their compensation. A failure to do so is morally indefensible.”

The Government is only planning to compensate plaques victims who had already lodged a legal case before the Law Lords banned compensation for pleural plaques in October 2007.

There are £30 million worth of legally stayed pleural plaques cases. These include many cases where insurance companies would have been liable to pay compensation. Instead the Government is proposing to use public funds to pay compensation.

Mr Ritchie added: “The Government is intending to pay compensation, from an already severely overstretched public purse, to pleural plaques victims when it is the insurers who are liable. Why on earth are the insurers not being made to pay?”

The Government’s decision is in stark contrast to that of the Scottish Parliament, who last year passed a law allowing pleural plaques victims in Scotland to receive full compensation.

A formal announcement on the Government’s pleural plaques plans is expected to be made by Jack Straw the Justice Secretary shortly.

In an attempt to head off widespread criticism of its plans the Government is proposing funding of a National Centre for Asbestos Related Disease (NCARD), a register for pleural plaques sufferers and faster payments for mesothelioma victims. The Government are also considering establishing an Employer Liability Insurance Bureau, to compensate victims of fatal asbestos conditions such as mesothelioma, if no insurer can be identified.

Mr Ritchie, said: “This is the opposite of social justice, which Labour was founded on.”

The Government is basing their evidence that pleural plaques victims should not be compensated on a report commissioned by the Chief Medical Officer and written by Professor Robert Maynard, an expert in air pollution who had never met a pleural plaques sufferer.

Note: In October 2007 the Law Lords overturned over 20 years of civil law and ruled that pleural plaques could no longer be compensated. In July 2008 the Government launched a consultation exercise to examine whether the Law Lords ruling should be overturned. Despite repeated promises that the Government would respond to the consultation, no announcement has yet been made.

Droning on

Last year I wrote about how various police forces were spending thousands on the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Yesterday The Guardian carried a report revealing much more about how forces in the South East are planning to make much greater use of UAVs. Fit Watch has a commentary on this story.

Their use in Iraq and Afghanistan has acted as a useful test bed for their deployment in the UK. While civil aviation rules still have some catching up to do it is likely that a quiet and, relatively, cheap bit of kit promoted as crime-fighting tool is unlikely to meet much public opposition.  Of course the capabilities of UAVs (some serious snooping power) and worries about their reliability are unlikely to be highlighted.

The 2012 Olympics are probably going to see some stage managed use of UAVs to smooth their widespread adoption.

blacklisting hearings part deux: legislation delayed

A Parliamentary committee scrutinising new blacklisting legislation has delayed its decision for a week and will look again at the issue. Update: Ucatt has now issued a press release on this which I've pasted in at the end.

The Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments sat yesterday (in private) and decided to sit again next Wednesday before publishing its report. It followed lobbying by unions of committee members pointing out that the draft wording of the new regulations may contravene the Human Rights Act.

The committee's secretary told me:

The Committee considered this instrument yesterday and will return to the subject next week.  A report will be published stating the Committee's decision, usually on the Tuesday after the meeting.

The JCSI only considers the technical aspects of SIs. Briefly, the Committee ensures the SI has been properly legally worded as Parliament has ordered.  We are not allowed to consider the policy behind it or merits (lines 62-64, Standing Order 151). Further clarification about the work of the JCSI and its terms of reference (Standing Order 151) can be found here.

The regulations will still need to be approved by both houses before becoming law.

Meanwhile Mick Dooley's employment tribunal hearing against Balfour Beatty has ended and a judgement due within four weeks. Dooley is claiming unfair dismissal saying he was blacklisted. He had a file held on him by the Consulting Association - the secret vetting agency set up by construction companies. Beatty denies the claim. Update: short report on this from the useful Panopticon blog)

This is the Blacklist Support Group's commentary on the hearing giving their view of the key points:

1. Balfour Beatty used the Consulting Association file as part of their bundle. They relied on it time and again in their evidence arguing that only official TU activity is covered by the legislation. The BB argument was that if they did dismiss Mick, it was because he was a well known trouble maker involved in unofficial wildcat strikes and all the info in his file proved it. And therefore they had a fair reason to dismiss.

 

The judge said he thought the file was"ghastly" and repeatedly asked their barrister whether they were relying on this file which was already considered illegal under the Data Protection Act? BB repeatedly said yes.

 

2. BB accepted that their HR managers attended meetings at the Consulting Association and that they paid a membership subscription fee.

 

3. The judge accepted the need for the Human Rights Act to be taken into account by the tribunal. The only opposition to this point made by Balfour Beatty was that it was out of time.

Mick argued that the file had entries on it in 2001. The judge said that by relying on the file as evidence TODAY as part of the ET process that this meant that the HRA applied to it today.

4. Mick repeated his allegations about the security forces involvement

Judgement is reserved. Judge said should have a result within 4 weeks. Win or Lose it should be very interesting to read the written judgement.

And this is only the first of dozens of such cases scheduled to take place.

Ucatt press release

Construction union UCATT has won a delay in the implementation of blacklisting laws, due to concerns that the current proposals fail to stamp out the practice. The delay in the implementation of the regulations is a significant victory in UCATT’s campaign to win justice for blacklisted construction workers.

UCATT wrote to and directly contacted members of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments expressing their grave concerns that the current regulations will fail to end blacklisting. When the committee met on Wednesday 20 January to consider the regulations, a decision was made to delay ratifying the regulations for a week, as the committee was concerned that the proposals do not comply with human rights obligations.

Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of UCATT, said: “The pause in the parliamentary process is welcome. Outlawing blacklisting is a fundamental issue for UCATT. The Government now has the opportunity to rethink and redraft regulations which as they stand are entirely inadequate to stamp out blacklisting.”

As they stand the regulations do not make blacklisting a criminal offence, despite a Government promise in 1999 this would be the case. The regulations also only cover blacklisting of workers undertaking the limited definition of “trade union activities” and specifically rules out protecting workers involved in unofficial industrial action, including stoppages due to safety concerns or a refusal to undertake voluntary overtime.

Nor do the regulations provide for automatic compensation to any worker who is found to have been blacklisted and if an illegal blacklist was discovered the affected workers would have no automatic right to be informed of the fact. The regulations also allow for certain circumstances, which would permit companies to legally draw up lists of trade unionists for recruitment practices, which could result in backdoor blacklisting.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights also raised concerns about the weakness of the blacklisting regulations in December 2009. The committee criticised the regulations for being incompatible with the Government’s human rights commitments and that the proposals failed to provide an adequate remedy for workers who had previously been blacklisted.

Mr Ritchie, added: “There is growing disquiet about the weakness of the blacklisting regulations. It is vital that the Government listens to these genuine concerns and acts accordingly.”

Blacklisting hearings

Construction worker Mick Dooley continues his employment tribunal against Balfour Beatty today claiming unfair dismissal because he was being blacklisted. Balfour deny the claim.

The Mirror carries a report where Dooley alleges that Special Branch were involved in the blacklisting scandal. Update: The Guardian also reports on the case

It's not reported here but Dooley has previously told me of the lengths to which it appears someone or company was prepared to go to disrupt this union activist. That includes sending pornography to his house and having women leave messages on his answer phone suggesting he was having an affair.

The tribunal is, I believe, due to finish tomorrow.

Meanwhile the regulations outlawing blacklisting which have been proposed by the government were laid before parliament on January 5 and are due to be debated today by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments - pretty much the only chance there will be for a debate on this issue.

A list of the committee members is here.It has 14 members (seven MPs and seven peers), a majority of whom are Labour/Lib Dems. It is chaired by the Conservative MP David Maclean whose voting record shows him having voted against gay rights, the hunting ban and action to tackle climate change. I can find little evidence of any empathy with trade unions. However he did try and bring in a law which would have watered down the Freedom of Information Act.

Unions and lawyers say the new rules are full of holes, but the government has not changed the wording since they were outlined in November.

Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of the construction union UCATT, said: “The blacklisting regulations are fundamentally flawed. It is deeply disappointing that the Government has failed to listen to the genuine concerns of trade unionists and have failed to make the appropriate amendments to the regulations."

The regulations need to be agreed by both Houses of Parliament before they can be enacted into law.

Two from Tribune

I've got two news stories in Tribune this week....

Watchdog attacks UK jail overcrowding

A European anti-torture watchdog has criticised overcrowded conditions in Britain’s jails. The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture was set up to monitor abuses of the European Convention on Human Rights and carries out spot checks on detention centres right across Europe.

For their British inspection, investigators visited a number of prisons and found what they call a culture of “chronic overcrowding”.

Read more

Blacklisting report fails human rights test, says parliamentary report

A hard-hitting report published by the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights has criticised the government’s proposed regulations aimed at outlawing blacklisting.

The report – called Any of our Business? Human Rights and the UK Private Sector – examines how businesses need to take account now of human rights legislation.

In what must have been a very late addition to the report, it also raises concerns about new laws on blacklisting. And the report emphasises evidence from Keith Ewing, professor of public law at King’s College, London, and construction union UCATT that the Government’s proposals do not go far enough.

It says: “We doubt the compatibility of the government’s blacklisting proposals with the UK’s international human rights obligations. We recommend that the government provide a full explanation of its argument that the proposals are compatible.

“This should include a response to the criticism of the Institute of Employment Rights that these proposals fail to provide an adequate remedy for those individuals who have already been affected by blacklisting.”

And it promises: “In the light of the Government’s explanation, we anticipate revisiting this issue.”

Read more

Meanwhile the first employment tribunal arising from the blaclisting scandal is due to start on January 18 in London where Balfour Beatty is defending a claim by Ucatt activist Mick Dooley. The tribunal is scheduled to last four days.

Hacks on screen

And a happy new year to you too.

Something light and frothy to keep the hard frost at bay. I asked people on Twitter for suggestions on films about journalists I could recommended to my first year journalism students.

Below is, in no particular order, what came through. Feel free to let me have your choices and comments. A list of journalism films from the Washington Post has barely any of those mentioned below. You pays your money etc etc. It seem that films broadly fall into two categories; the journalist as single-handed (generally male) hero or the cyincal or embittered hack doomed to come to a sticky end.

If I had to pick out my favourites then Defence of the Realm possibly just edges All The President's Men and both are a short nose ahead of Salvador and Network. There's a trailer of the Brit conspiracy thriller below to whet your appetite / remind you.

ATPM is the better training film. Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein gives a masterclass in interviewing which is far more useful (and usual) than Reford's somewhat overwrought underground meetings with the legendary Deep Throat. And the quality of the film is clear in the casting of the excellent Hal Holbrook for that role. There is strength in depth in this movie.

Despite all that it must be a generational thing because the 1980s setting of Defence of the Realm resonates stronger than the wider collars in the Washington Post newsroom.

I wonder too if your choice of favourites indicates how you feel about journalism overall? Does liking the marvellous His Girl Friday suggest a more whimsical attitude? What could you infer from an appreciation of Fear and Loathing? Bad things happen to good people in most of mine. Hmmmm.

Of course if we widened the scope to television we could then include series 5 of The Wire but that's a whole other genre.

And the nominations are:

The Killing Fields
Salvador
The Quiet American (and more on Graham Greene here)
Citizen Kane
The Aviator
Veronica Guerin
Frost/Nixon
The Year of Living Dangerously
The Day the Earth Caught Fire
Das schreckliche Mädchen (The Nasty Girl)
His Girl Friday
Ace In the Hole
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Broadcast News
Goodnight and Good Luck (more on Edward R Murrow here)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
All The President’s Men
Defence of the Realm
The Sweet Smell of Success
Network
Welcome to Sarajevo
The Lost Honour of Katharina  Blum
Cry Freedom

Blacklisting proposals fail human rights test, says parliamentary report

A report released today by the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights criticises the government's proposed regulations aimed at outlawing blacklisting.

The report, Any of our Business? Human Rights and the UK Private Sector, looks at how businesses need to take account of human rights legislation and concerns.

In what must have been a very late addition to the report, it raises concerns about new laws on blacklisting.

The report emphasises evidence from UCATT as well as Prof Keith Ewing that the proposals do not go far enough.

It says:

"We doubt the compatibility of the Government’s blacklisting proposals with the UK’s international human rights obligations. We recommend that the Government provide a full explanation of its argument that the proposals are compatible. This should include a response to the criticism of the Institute of Employment Rights, that these proposals fail to provide an adequate remedy for those individuals who have already been affected by blacklisting."

And it promises:

"In the light of the Government’s explanation, we anticipate revisiting this issue."

A PDF copy of the report can be downloaded here.

Several Labour MPs have been pressing for the committee to investigate blacklisting so that those involved can be properly scrutinised and regulations drawn as effectively as possible.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

“This report backs up TUC concerns that UK industrial relations laws – including the proposed regulations on blacklisting – are out of line with international human rights standards.

“The blacklisting regulations need rethinking, and the Government needs to come up with a new strategy on human rights at work, at home and where British companies operate abroad.”

Yesterday an Early Day Motion was put which called on the government to ammend its proposals in order to ensure blacklisting can effectively be outlawed.

The government says the regulations will need to go before both houses of parliament and aims to have them on the statuate book in the New Year.

See the BBC report Trafigura is trying to gag

Via, oooh, lots of people including A Very Public Sociologist and Liberal Conspiracy comes the opportunity to stick it to a large multinational with nasty lawyers.

On his blog, Don't Get Fooled Again, Richard Wilson writes:

Late last week the BBC chose to delete from its website a damning Newsnight investigation into the Trafigura scandal, following legal threats from the company and its controversial lawyers, Carter-Ruck.

The mainstream UK media has so far assiduously avoided reporting on the BBC’s climbdown. Yet it’s an issue that raises serious questions about the state of press freedom in Britain, at a time of unprecedented attacks on the media.

So here is that film and here's a link to this censored report of Trafigura's activities

Think of it as an early Christmas treat and remember, it's better to give than receive so pass it on.

Footballers 1, Bosses 0

At some point I'll post up copies of all the responses to the government's consultation on the new blacklisting rules.

But as a morsel I thought I'd report in full what Gordon Taylor, from the Professional Footballers' Association, had to say.

"I approve the revised draft regulations to outlaw the blacklisting of Trade Unions."

It's to the point, give him that.

Compare and contrast this extract from the CBI's response.

"Regulations should only be enacted when the matter is of national importance. Whether that is the case here when only one example of the to-be-prohibited activity has taken place - and that has been prosecuted via a different route, with significant publicity to ward of any other possible malefactors - has to be open to question. CBI members do not feel this is a proportionate response to the problem as thus revealed."

Which is quite out of step with the majority of responses; so I'm not sure that all CBI members do feel this.

For instance construction firm Amec, in its response, said that it felt the regulations were proportionate. Indeed the tone of many responses from the business community has been that regulations are necessary - they just want them kept limited.

The CBI says it is the 'voice of business' and if that's your USP then you have to protect it. If you look at CBI members in the construction sector you'll find plenty of familiar names who helped fund The Consulting Association's illegal blacklisting operation.

Meanwhile the campaign to crackdown on blacklisting went global with a UCATT motion backed by construction unions around world agreed at a conference in France.

Other comments on the latest developments at the Bristol Trade Union Forum and Northern Voices.

Parish council opens £550,000 affordable housing and community facility

Update: story covered by the Bath Chronicle and Western Daily Press (I've seen the print edition but can't find a link to the storry online). A very friendly photographer from the Gazette & Herald came over so we'll see what they do. Also spoke with Regeneration & Renewal about a feature.

*** Photo and interview opportunity ***

 An ambitious project by a rural parish council to provide affordable housing and community facilities will be officially opened this weekend (Saturday December 12).

Colerne Parish Council in Wiltshire bought the village’s dilapidated 150-year-old former school building in 2005 (pictured before refurbishment). The council consulted with residents on plans to completely refurbish the Old School.

The aim was to provide a better home for the playgroup, which was a long-term user, improved community rooms for hire on the ground floor and a new second floor which would have four, affordable one-person flats aimed at meeting local housing need.

 Following planning permission, building work on the £550,000 project began in 2008 and has now been completed on time and on budget.

This is the first such affordable accommodation supplied in the village for many years. The parish council will be the landlord for the new tenants.

This Friday Colerne residents will get their first chance to tour the new building in a series of guided visits with the official opening on Saturday before the new tenants move in on Monday.

Symon Doliczny, Chairman of Colerne Parish Council, said: “The community has always wanted to see the Old School kept in use but it’s been a question of making the project sustainable.

“When negotiations started five years ago we knew it would take imagination and hard work to make it possible.

“The success of this project is down to the volunteers on the parish council and in the community working with other organisations to turn an idea into reality.

“Now we really have a building to be proud of. This is an early Christmas present for us all.”

Richard Tonge, Colerne Parish Council member, who has driven the project from the start, said: “There was a distinct possibility that the community could have lost the building to a private developer. We’ve secured it for future generations and done so without putting a financial burden upon them.

“We’ve refurbished the historic building to a high standard and it is now far more energy efficient.

“More than that we’ve been able to provide low-cost rented accommodation for single people in our village. We’ve also got a permanent home for the parish council, there is a much-improved venue for our playgroup and there is a better choice of facilities for community groups.

“We’re only a small parish council but we were determined to take on and see through this project because we knew we could make it work.”

The ground-floor comprises two community rooms, including a kitchen, toilets and a parish council office. There is a new disabled-friendly access. The popular village playgroup now has a modern and well-equipped home with a kitchen and toilet facilities. There is also a new storage and play area at the back.

The four flats on the second floor each have a cooking area and bathroom.

Funding for the scheme included £260,000 in grants from the former North Wiltshire District Council, £213,000 from the sale of the former parish council offices and an £80,000 loan from the Public Works Loan Board. The project has been backed by Wiltshire Council and local housing associations.

The running costs of the building will be met from rents and hire charges so that the facility does not become a drain on the parish council’s budget.

ENDS

Notes for editors:

Photo opportunity: The Old School will be open to residents on Friday December 11 at 1.30pm and press and photographers are invited to attend. On hand will be former pupils of the Old School taking their first look around the new building. Also there will be parish council representatives, residents and children from the village school. There will be displays about the project including pictures of the work and the building as it used to look.

The official opening takes place on Saturday December 12 from 2pm-4pm with invited special guests. Press and photographers are again welcome to attend.

A second public open day takes place on Sunday December 13 from 11am-4pm.

Pictures from the Friday event will be available from Monday December 14 for press use. Telephone interviews with those connected with the project can also be arranged. Please contact parish councillor Phil Chamberlain.

The Old School is on Vicarage Lane, Colerne. Please park in the nearby Market Place if you wish to attend as there is no parking outside the building.

Background information:

Architects for the project were Brooks Chartered Surveyors in Bath (see www.brookscharteredsurveyors.co.uk)

Principal builders were Gregory Thain from Box, Wiltshire (see www.gregorythain.co.uk)

Also supplying building services were Case & Trotman from Colerne

In 2005 the parish council sold its premises in the centre of the village and bought the Old School building from The Bristol Diocesan Board of Finance and The Trustees of Colerne Educational Foundation.

According to records held by Wiltshire Council, the original school was opened in 1853 but by the 1950s the school was already proving too small for the 180 children on the register. A new school was built which was ready in 1964 and the children moved into it in January 1965.

The Parish of Colerne is located between Bath and Chippenham and sits in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The council is made up of 13 volunteer members and a part-time clerk who serve a community of some 2,000 people including the military base at Azimghur Barracks.

ENDS