Tuesday 3 March 2015

Blacklisted Call for Independent Inquiry

THE Blacklist Support Group has repeated its call for a fully independent public inquiry into the scandal of blacklisting, after the revelations that appeared in the Guardian and the Mirror proving beyond a shred of doubt that undercover police officers spied on union activists and systematically colluded with big business in the blacklisting operation.

Steve Acheson, blacklisted electrician and Blacklist Support Group chair, issued the following statement:
'The police were spying on union members whose only crime was to stand up for their fellow workers by asking for their wages to be paid on time or improved safety on building sites.  The weekend press reports and the 'Blacklisted' book by Smith & Chamberlain have blown apart the establishment cover-up which has repeatedly denied any police involvement in blacklisting.  The evidence is there for all to see.'
 
Blacklisting is no longer an industrial relations issue.  It is a national scandal: a conspiracy between big business and the police to spy on union members.  And the establishment cover-up still continues to this day.  The so-called police investigation, 'Operation Herne', which has denied any police link with blacklisting has no credibility whatsoever.
 
When celebrities' telephone conversations where intercepted by News International, the Leveson Inquiry was set up almost instantly.  Not one celebrity lost a single days wages because of phone hacking.  Blacklisted workers suffered years of victimisation, sackings and unemployment.  Families suffered and in some cases, individuals committed suicide.  But decades of human rights abuse against working class union members obviously isn't considered as important as celebrity phone hacking.
 
Blacklist Support Group, MPs, trade unions, lawyers, academics, investigative journalists and human rights groups have called for a public inquiry.  An investigation by a senior civil servant at BIS or a QC will not suffice.  Only a Leveson style fully independent public inquiry will expose the full depths of this human rights conspiracy.
 
Blacklist Support Group challenge every politician standing in the General Election to answer one question: 'Do you support a fully independent public inquiry into the blacklisting scandal?'

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