The Unite union has called for a "Leveson style" inquiry into the blacklisting of construction workers, describing it as "a national scandal on the scale of phone hacking".

Britain’s biggest union has welcomed the commons debate due to take place on 23 January on the issue of blacklisting, initiated by shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna.

Mr Umunna is expected to call for the information commissioner to adopt a process for informing victims of blacklisting so they can seek compensation.

Unite says secret files have been held by an organisation called the Consulting Association on thousands of workers in the construction sector.

This, the union says, resulted in workers being denied employment for raising health and safety concerns and announcing they belonged to a trade union.

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According to Unite, over 40 of the UK's largest construction firms have used a blacklist.

It said some of the firms which built the Olympic park have admitted to using a blacklist.

In a statement, the union said Ron Barron, the head of industrial relations at Crossrail, was sacked over the offence.

Unite believes that Crossrail "has failed to look at the evidence of blacklisting on the project" and has called on Transport for London to investigate possible blacklisting.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: "This is a scandal on the scale of phone hacking, except it is the lives of thousands of ordinary construction workers which have been ruined. There should be a full and proper inquiry.

"Construction companies have been allowed to get away with a conspiracy to spy on thousands of ordinary construction workers and destroy their careers.

"Lives have been ruined and families have been torn apart just because workers have raised safety concerns in Britain's most dangerous industry or just because they exercised their human rights to belong to a trade union.

"The construction industry effectively had their own private Stasi style police force to spy on and blacklist workers. They even used these spies to blacklist workers for the construction of the Olympics.

"We applaud Labour's shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna for putting this issue on the political agenda - it is time for justice."

(IT)