2012 stadium builders are accused of blacklisting troublemakers

THE company building the stadium for the London Olympics has been accused of unfairly "blacklisting" potential troublemakers seeking jobs on the 2012 project.

Sir Robert McAlpine, which is part of a consortium constructing the 80,000-seat venue in Stratford, is one of 40 companies named in an investigation by a government agency that polices data protection laws.

The Information Commissioner claims that Sir Robert McAlpine paid to access details of 10,000 potential employees on a database. It is claimed the database held names accompanied by notes such as "poor time keeper, will cause trouble", "Irish ex-Army bad egg" and "lazy and a trouble stirrer".

Fears that thousands of employees had been blacklisted were sparked by a raid on the offices of a private detective from Worcestershire who is accused of charging £3,000 a year for illegally passing on details.

Sir Robert McAlpine allegedly made a payment of about £6,000 to Ian Kerr, of Droitwich, for information on workers between April and June last year. Around the same time, construction started on the Olympic stadium where the number of workers on site has risen to about 500.

Other construction companies under investigation have also won contracts with the Olympic Delivery Authority.

These include Balfour Beatty, which won the £303 million aquatics centre job, and Laing O'Rourke, which is part of the CLM consortium with a £400 million contract as project consultants.

The companies face legal action and fines if found guilty of breaching data protection laws.

Sir Robert McAlpine denied it was blacklisting workers.

A spokeswoman said: "Sir Robert McAlpine is aware of the ICO's investigations into how the construction industry uses data while these investigations are ongoing.

"On all of our projects employment is offered on the basis of experience and expertise. No one has ever been denied employment on any of our sites, including the Olympic main stadium site, on the basis of their beliefs or background."

One union described blacklisting as "deplorable".

Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of construction union Ucatt, said: "It is especially deplorable that blacklisting appears to have taken place on the Olympic Stadium, the showpiece structure for the whole Olympics."

A spokesman for the ODA said: "This issue is being looked at by the Information Commissioner's Office. All our contractors are required to operate within the law."