Crossrail has rejected claims of blacklisting employees on the Crossrail project.  

Yesterday, MPs called for an investigation into the blacklisting of workers in the construction industry including claims by the Unite union of blacklisting workers at the Olympics and Crossrail.

During the debate, shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna said that what occurred was “nothing short of a national scandal”.  

The existence of this list of blacklisted construction workers was exposed by a raid by independent information rights and data privacy body Information Commissioners Office on a private company called the Consulting Association. The investigation revealed that over 40 construction companies had been checking potential employees against a 3,213 strong list, maintained by the Consulting Association. 

Information on the database includes personal details, including their trade union history.

Earlier this week, Cullum McAlpine, a director at construction firm Sir Robert McAlpine, admitted to MPs that the company had used the list to reduce the possibility of "deliberately disruptive or unlawful behaviour" on its sites.

In a statement, Crossrail says it “rejected the unsubstantiated claims made by the Unite union that blacklisting has taken place on the Crossrail project”.

Andrew Wolstenholme, Crossrail chief executive officer, says: “Crossrail Ltd is not aware of, and has seen no evidence of, blacklisting of any kind in connection with the Crossrail project. If Unite has any evidence then we wish to see it; we have made this point a number of times and yet none has been forthcoming. Crossrail has written to the trades unions on several occasions setting out our commitment to taking firm, decisive and immediate action if any substantive evidence can be presented. 

“All contractors working on the Crossrail project must comply with the Employment Relations Act 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations 2010, which explicitly outlaws the blacklisting of construction workers. All our contractors are fully aware that blacklisting is unlawful as well as being a breach of contract which would result in immediate action by Crossrail.”

A Crossrail spokesperson tells Recruiter that the issue is an historic one. “The Consulting Association was closed down in 2009, we didn’t award our first contract until December 2010,” he says.

A spokesperson for the Olympic Delivery Authority tells Recruiter: “We are aware of the comments made by Cullum McAlpine, and we are studying what he said.”

Stewart Room, a partner in Field Fisher Waterhouse’s privacy and information law group, tells Recruiter that while companies can be fined up to £500,000 for breaches of the Data Protection Act, which cause individuals “a substantial degree of distress”, such a sanction only applies if the breach took place after May 2010.

"It is critical to understand when an offence actually occurred. If any incident predates that date there is no such financial penalty,” Room adds.