CONSTRUCTION workers were left shocked and disgusted after finding out they were blacklisted as part of a settlement of High Court claims against several major construction companies.

The companies, including Sir Robert McAlpine Limited, Balfour Beatty and Laing O’Rourke, today settled claims brought by 53 blacklisted trade unionists whose personal information was held by industry-funded organisations the Economic League and the Consulting Association.

More than £1.9 million in compensation will be shared by the workers, who say they were repeatedly denied employment as a result of their blacklist files, which in some cases described them as “troublemakers” for raising safety concerns.