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LONDON (AP) - Eight major British construction companies say they will compensate workers whose names on a secret industry blacklist kept them from getting work.
The companies issued a statement Thursday apologizing for their involvement with The Consulting Association. Its chief officer, Ian Kerr, held data on 3,213 construction workers and traded their personal details for profit.
The British data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office, says it took over the database because people may have been denied employment because of it. The database included information on personal relationships, trade union activity and employment history.
The regulator fined Kerr 5,000 pounds in July 2009 for breaching the Data Protection Act.
The firms creating the compensation plan are Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Costain, Kier, Laing O'Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine, Skanska UK and VINCI PLC.
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