The reality of workplace racism vs the absurdity of Farage

The work experience of many Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) citizens can be described as ‘last to be hired, first to be fired and in between racially harassed’.

Figures released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) this week showed that since 2010 the number of unemployed BAME people aged between 18-24 has risen by 49%.

The experience of unemployment is nothing new for BAME communities, as national statistics show that they are two and a half times likely to be unemployed compared to the white community and surprisingly this has been the case for the last 20 years.

There has been little change in the inequalities in employment experienced by people in ethnic minority groups as white men and women have maintained a consistent advantage over the past 20 years compared with men and women in almost all other ethnic groups. Black Afro-Caribbean and Black African men and women have had persistently high levels of unemployment over the past 20 years, more than twice as high as the White rate and in some cases more than three times as high. Pakistani and Bangladeshi men and women continue to have much higher unemployment rates than White men and women.

Conducting ‘like for like’ comparisons lead to the only conclusion – that there is structural race discrimination in the UK labour market.

So why is this? It is absurd (and racist) to conclude that BAME people are not good enough for jobs but clearly recruiters and employers are surrounded by cultures that are defined by negative stereotyping of BAME people and this is the basis of deciding to reject or offer a job. The answer is usually a rejection.

Once in employment, BAME peoples’ work experience is characterised by low pay, lack of promotion, insecure employment and racial harassment.

Nigel Farage’s comments that he would abolition race discrimination legislation is quite simply absurd.

So what is to be done?

What does this mean to all employers and their recruiters faced with short-listing and interviewing from a job opportunity.

The Labour Party needs to focus on three strategic actions:-

Firstly, ‘the stick,’ strengthen anti race discrimination legislation  (for example abolishing fees for taking a case of race discrimination to Employment Tribunals) and improving employment rights so workplace trade unions can recruit, represent and challenge racist employment practices.

Secondly, the ‘carrot’, the business case,  BAME Communities have a collective disposable income of over 60 Billion in the UK – so employers, particularly in the private sector should robustly weed out racist practices and cultures if they want BAME customers.

Thirdly and finally, use the moral case for opposing racism – simply put ‘it is wrong to discriminate on the basis of skin colour’.

It is welcomed that the ‘silence on racism’ is being broken by the announcement from Labour Party – and Sadiq Khan MP in particular – that  “Labour’s BAME manifesto will outline our plan to build an economy that works for ethnic minority families and to tackle race inequality.” The Labour Party also need to engage with key BAME stakeholders to ensure finally, that BAME people secure changes that gets us closer to a vision of a post racial Britain.

Kamaljeet Jandu is the Chair of BAME Labour