Bradford North MP Terry Rooney has welcomed Government plans to put an end to the blacklisting of trade union members by employers.

The Government has announced moves to prohibit the blacklisting of workers for trade union membership.

It follows a report from the Information Commissioner which identified that 40 construction companies – including two with Bradford connections – were vetting possible employees for trade union membership, Mr Rooney said: “I believe that the right to join a trade union is one of the fundamental rights of a member of a free and democratic society.

“The actions of some employers seek to return us to the dark days when membership of a union was reason for dismissal or non-recruitment.

“This attitude is not only old-fashioned and backward-looking, it puts people’s lives and wellbeing in danger, particularly in those industries such as construction where worker health and safety is a major concern.

“There will be a short period of public consultation before the proposals are laid before parliament and I would urge anyone with an interest to make their views known when the consultation is launched in the next few weeks.”

In March the Information Commissioner’s Office published the names of companies which bought information on potential employees from a West Midlands consultancy firm.

Two of the firms, NG Bailey and Morrison Construction Group, have links to Bradford.

Ilkley-based N G Bailey is one of the UK’s largest private construction firms and Morrison Construction, described as a former subscriber to the database, has contracts with Yorkshire Water and Bradford Council.

The ICO raided the Consulting Association and seized the database containing details of more than 3,000 construction workers which is believed to have been running for more than 15 years.

Alan Ritchie, general secretary of the construction workers’ union UCATT, said the revelation confirmed suspicions by some trades unionists that the blacklisting of union members and whistle-blowers still occurred on a large scale.

The union welcomed the Government’s decision to act but was disappointed that the process will be delayed due to a fresh consultation exercise.

Mr Ritchie, who was himself once blacklisted, said: “The Government has partially listened to the union’s demand that blacklisting must be outlawed once and for all.

“But it is very disappointing that the process will be dragged out due to an unnecessary consultation.”

Blacklisting was made illegal in 1999.

However the necessary regulations were never enacted.

Following a consultation exercise in 2003 the Government decided against tabling the required regulations because it believed that there was no evidence that blacklisting still took place.

Mr Ritchie added: “Blacklisting should have been outlawed ten years ago.

“The Government were mistaken in believing it was no longer a problem.

“Our members were all too aware that blacklisting still occurred. During the last decade thousands of workers have been illegally denied work.”

At the time of the ICO report a spokesman for NG Bailey said the company had launched an investigation into the allegations.

Yorkshire Water pledged to investigate the allegations of illegality against its contractor.

UCATT is demanding that the delay in outlawing the practice of blacklisting does not result in any of the 40 construction companies involved in the process escaping prosecution.