Speaking at the City Council meeting last Monday (June 10th), Councillor Tynan said, "I know most councillors here
tonight oppose the practice of ‘Blacklisting’ but after talking with many of you, I know some are concerned about
naming specific companies. Therefore I am withdrawing the problematic parts of this motion so that all councillors in
this chamber can show their opposition to blacklisting by supporting the amended Motion 11.2 which now only contains the first
sentence and the last paragraph.
Why should you vote against blacklisting?
Blacklisting is
The termination of employment for issues not related to performance,
for example:
- Raising legitimate health and safety concerns
- Being
a member or activist of a trade union
- Belonging to political parties whose ideals employers
do not share
- The clandestine sharing of lists of said workers names by employers in order to
deny access to future employment
Blacklisting not only contravenes
citizen’s rights to freedom of association, or their political freedoms to belong to a party, but it also endangers
their safety, as well as curtails their employment chances by means of unlawful surveillance and contravention of data protection
laws in this country.
We should also note that in our closest neighbour, the UK
A class action High Court Case is pending on blacklisting
Panorama is screening an expose
on the practice tonight on BBC
A high proportion of Irish workers in the UK are affected by this.
It is important that we pass policy to make sure such unlawful practices are not carried out
over here in Ireland, and therefore I urge you to support the motion.
The motion should now read
“Cork City Council publicly affirms its opposition to ‘Blacklisting’,
an illegal practice that victimises workers on the grounds of trade union membership and legitimate trade union related activity.
This Council believes that blacklisting is an illegal practice and should not
be rewarded or tolerated. In conclusion Cork City calls for legislation to deny public contracts to any employer engaging
in such activity.”