98 South West workers on blacklist

Blacklisted engineer Dave Smith is next month speaking at the South West TUC's health and safety conference in Exeter.
 
Dave Smith lost his job after leading a series of on-site health and safety campaigns at work, earning him the reputation as a trouble-maker in the eyes of his employers. As a result he was put on the industry blacklist – an illegal list held by bosses containing the names of at least 98 people in the South West – and was unable to find work for ten years.
 
He said: "Being a member of a trade union is not against the law. Raising concerns about asbestos on building sites is not against the law, yet thousands of ordinary workers were systematically blacklisted by major construction firms merely for standing up for basic human rights.
 
"Being forced onto the dole affected our working lives and our family lives, but worst of all, it made building sites unsafe for many many more workers, which is one of the reasons why construction has a worse fatality rate than any other industry."
 
More than 100 trade unionists in the South West are already booked to listen to him speak at the event at Exeter City FC on February 12th. Other speakers include the TUC's Senior Health and Safety Officer Hugh Robertson and Rosa Crawford from the TUC's international department, who will be talking about campaigning to end factory deaths in Bangladesh.
 
Nigel Costley said: "Thankfully the blacklisting scandal has been exposed, so there is no longer a risk of health and safety reps losing their jobs simply for raising concerns.
 
"However, we're concerned that the government is planning to make the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) pay for itself rather than rely on funding from Westminster. They hope this will be achieved by linking its funding to incomes from 'fines' – a move that could damage the HSE's reputation for acting impartially and independently.
 
"Rather than tinker around with alternative funding methods, the government should give the HSE the resources and political backing it so desperately needs."
 
ends
 
Tim Lezard, media officer for the South West TUC
07810 641 459