Union stages protest outside Wakefield Town Hall over ‘illegal blacklisting’

The Unite union is calling for talks with the council over its involvement with a company called Amey, which is the district’s street lighting contractor.

Unite claims that the consortium which owns Amey, Bam Ferrovial Kier (BFK), dismissed a trade union steward after he raised concerns over dangerous working practices on the London Crossrail engineering project.

Unite claims Frank Morris and 27 others were sacked because he had been blacklisted.

Unite local organiser Simon Roy said: “Blacklisting is an illegal practice and we believe it is still happening. We want to meet with Wakefield Council and present these allegations so they can respond.”

Unite has staged more than 350 protests against BFK, and a thousand more are planned UK-wide.

Mr Morris has launched an employment tribunal claim and blacklisting test case over the allegations surrounding his dismissal last September.

Wakefield Council entered into a partnership with Amey in 2004 to manage and maintain the district’s streetlights in a public-private contract worth £120m.

Amey said in a statement: “The dispute in question by Unite relates to the BFK Crossrail project in London, in which Amey has no involvement.”

A Crossrail spokesman said: “Crossrail Limited is not aware of, and has seen no evidence of, blacklisting of any kind in connection with the Crossrail project.

“All contractors working on Crossrail must comply with the law which explicitly outlaws this practice. Crossrail has made clear to the trades unions that we will take firm, decisive and immediate action if any substantive evidence is presented.

“To date, none has been forthcoming despite repeated requests.”

Wakefield Council said it would respond to Unite directly over the union’s request for a meeting.