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Kerr said, “There was a lot of discussion at meetings [of the
Consulting Association] about Crossrail because there was a perception
that it was going to be a problematic contract. Like the Jubilee Line had
been.”
People were put on the blacklist for being militant, raising health and
safety issues—or for simply being active trade union members.
Sometimes the reasons for blacklisting were ridiculous. One person
wrote to their local paper mentioning Nelson Mandela. Another sent a
May Day greeting to the Morning Star. But nonetheless it ruined lives.
In contrast, Kerr was paid £47,500 a year on top of a car, life
insurance, private health cover and a Christmas bonus of half his
December salary.
Kerr claims that the names and the rest of the files were destroyed.
He told the committee, “I considered what to do with all this and the
obvious thing to do was to get rid of it. It was so thoroughly burnt that
there’s no chance of it remaining.”
Continues
Kerr confirmed that there was at least one other blacklisting company
in existence and that blacklisting continues to this day.
Blacklisted worker Steve Acheson told Socialist Worker, “That man
has ruined my life. The secret files the Consulting Association kept on me
were used to unfairly dismiss me on job after job, for no more than raising
genuine safety issues such as drying facilities and Weil’s disease caused by
rats urine.”
“But he was only the foot soldier for the directors of multinational
construction firms. Whether they are from big business, the state or the
unions, the guilty should be brought to justice.”
Dave Smith from the Blacklist Support Group told Socialist Worker,
“Kerr himself is a pathetic figure—but a pathetic figure that got rich and
lived the high life by running an illegal blacklist that put thousands of
innocent decent hard working people on the dole for years. Read More
Economy: