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Government plans to outlaw blacklisting of trade union members
Thu 03 Dec 2009
Employers will not be able to blacklist trade union members under new proposals from the government.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is planning to reform employment law in order to clamp down on what it considers to be an unacceptable practice.
This should allow trade union members who believe they have been blacklisted by an employer to take legal action and pursue compensation.
Subject to parliamentary approval, the new rules could be implemented as early as the first half of next year.
According to employment relations minister Lord Young, the government is determined to stamp out the blacklisting of trade unionists.
He described the legislative proposals as a proportionate and robust way of addressing the problem.
This has been welcomed by construction union Ucatt, which said most of the major companies in the sector blacklisted workers until early this year.
The group added that the introduction of laws designed to prevent blacklisting is long overdue.