Unite, the UK’s leading union, is demanding that no stone is left unturned in discovering the full extent of the Special Demonstration Squad’s (Spy Cops) role in blacklisting workers and infiltrating trade unions.

Blacklisting admitted

In the closing statements to the first tranche of the Mittings Inquiry into Undercover Policing, Dave Barr KC the counsel to the inquiry, for the first time accepted that information on individuals who were spied upon was frequently passed to employers and that spy cops infiltrated unions and spied on their members as part of their cover.

Workers spied on decades

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Finally it has been admitted what our members have always said. For decades not only were workers secretly spied upon by undercover police officers, for no good reason, but information was then frequently leaked to employers who used it to blacklist workers.

 “Now the inquiry has finally accepted that blacklisting frequently occurred, no stone must be left unturned in discovering the true scale of blacklisting by the spy cops and reveal who in authority gave the green light for this. Equally there must be complete exposure of the infiltration of trade unions including answers as to why it happened and who considered it acceptable.

“This is the very minimum that workers and their families, who had the lives destroyed by blacklisting, deserve.”

Further hearings

The first tranche of the inquiry examined the actions of the SDS between 1968-1982, forthcoming tranches will examine the more recent activities of the Spy Cops operation.

ENDS

Notes to editors

For media enquiries ONLY please contact Unite senior communications officer Barckley Sumner on 07802 329235 or 0203 371 2067.

Email: [email protected]

Unite is the UK and Ireland’s leading union fighting to protect and advance jobs, pay and conditions for members working across all sectors of the economy. The general secretary is Sharon Graham.