Two Scottish recruitment consultancies operating in the construction sector have expressed shock at a Parliamentary committee’s suggestion that major construction firms may still be using a known ‘blacklist’ of workers.

Over 40 builders used the list of 3,213 construction workers, maintained by a company called the Consulting Association.

A Scottish Affairs Committee report released yesterday (16 April) asks for evidence on whether blacklisting is still going on, and whether legal changes are needed to prevent a process by which, “workers were denied employment without explanation, financial hardship was caused, lives were disrupted and sometimes ruined”.

Ronnie Harris, the owner of Scottish construction, building and manufacturing specialist Blue Print Recruitment, tells Recruiter that he has worked in construction recruitment for 25 years and has “never really come across it [blacklisting]”.

“I’ve worked with a lot of the big companies and I’ve never really seen it,” he says, adding that while he did not rule out it taking place, the story “bemuses” him.

Meanwhile John-Paul Toner, a director at recruiter Contract Scotland, said that he was “shocked” to hear of the blacklisting taking place in Scotland, having associated it more with England, and in particular Olympics-based projects, as has been widely reported.

Toner says the company “had no direct experience of such practices, not even rumours from site”.

He says the company would not “condone any approach to recruitment that uses any criteria to discriminate against a candidate other than that candidate’s capability”, and added that: “That blacklisting continues to be used only serves to emphasise the importance of reliable feedback” being given from clients.

A spokesperson for construction industry union UCATT tells Recruiter: “The fact of the matter is that we don't know if it is still continuing… Blacklisting is by its nature a secretive business, so fears remain.”