Ericsson kept blacklist of ?troublemakers?

Swedish telecom company Ericsson is facing union action after it was revealed that its factory in Nynäshamn routinely blacklisted employees.

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‘Undesirables’, categorized among others as paedophiles, Nazis and ‘generally troublesome’, were registered and refused further employment at the engineering giant, Aftonbladet has reported.

A 30-year old is one of 28 people on the blacklist. In 1998 he worked in the Nynäshamn factory, near Stockholm. A dispute with a colleague resulted in his being punched in the face.

“I didn’t do anything. I didn’t hit back and I didn’t say anything offensive. The only thing I did was report it to my manager.”

A week and a half later he was let go.

The incident was never reported to the police yet the 30-year old was placed on the ‘most unwanted’ list. According to AB the only explanation given on the list was the word, “assault.” He is also listed as having been employed via Manpower.

“That’s not true. I was directly employed by Ericsson.” Protested the blacklisted former employee. “In addition to that, I was the victim.”

He now understands why he was repeatedly turned down for other jobs at Ericsson in Nynäshamn.

“This is completely crazy” he said.

Christer Söderström, the chairman of the trade union Metall, is fully behind the 30-year old.

“I am shocked. It’s disturbing that there has been registration of people” said Söderström. “This is deeply offensive and the union is certainly going to react.”

Söderström admits he has not yet seen the list.

According to a press release by the trade union on Wednesday, the blacklist was circulated by the company’s intranet. The keeping of such a list is in direct conflict with employee privacy legislation.

“The basis of the law is that it is not allowed to create a list without the consent of those listed.” Clarified Tommy Thunberg, a negotiator at Metall.

Ericsson has publicly distanced itself from the blacklist.

Åse Lindskog, head of public relations for Ericsson, commented:

“This is totally unacceptable. It is prohibited to keeps such lists. It appears to be an isolated case and has no support from senior management.”

Lindskog added, “We have never heard of such an act before. This is the first time we have encountered anything like it.”