Challenging Racism in the Workplace
(CRAW)
Contract No: VS/2012/0240
Fieldwork transnational synthesis
2013
The Working Lives Research Institute
Leroi Henry, Steve Jefferys, Violeta Angelova,
Philippe Archias, Virginie Bussat, Leena
Kumarappan, Nouria Ouali and Fabio Perocco
(please add others)
Supported by the European Commission DG Employment, Social Affairs and
Inclusion
1
Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................ 4
Funding ............................................................................................................... 4
Methods and research activities ................................................................................. 5
Informants ............................................................................................................... 5
Central research questions ..................................................................................... 6
Interview schedule .................................................................................................. 6
Secondary data ...................................................................................................... 7
Data analysis .......................................................................................................... 7
Workshops .............................................................................................................. 7
Characteristic of sectors studied ................................................................................ 8
Belgium ................................................................................................................... 8
Bulgaria .................................................................................................................. 8
France .................................................................................................................... 9
Italy ......................................................................................................................... 9
The UK ................................................................................................................. 10
Comparability of data ............................................................................................ 11
Undeclared migrants............................................................................................. 11
Discrimination in the workplace ................................................................................ 12
Career progression ............................................................................................... 12
Skills not recognised ............................................................................................. 13
Violence, bullying and abuse ................................................................................ 13
Holidays and religious observance ....................................................................... 13
Disciplinary action ................................................................................................. 14
Segmentation and outsourcing ............................................................................. 14
Inter-ethnic tensions ............................................................................................. 15
Equality in Bulgarian workplaces .......................................................................... 15
The crisis, restructuring and equality .................................................................... 15
Conclusions .......................................................................................................... 16
Employers policies on Equality and Diversity ........................................................... 18
Belgium ................................................................................................................. 18
Bulgaria ................................................................................................................ 18
France .................................................................................................................. 19
Italy ....................................................................................................................... 20
UK......................................................................................................................... 20
Union activities around race equality and diversity ................................................... 22
Equality structures ................................................................................................ 22
2
Union policies including engagement with diversity policies ................................. 23
Union activities and practices around discrimination ............................................ 23
Campaigning ..................................................................................................... 24
Training and materials....................................................................................... 24
Diversity plans and social dialogue ................................................................... 24
Casework .......................................................................................................... 25
Gate keepers..................................................................................................... 26
Bulgaria ............................................................................................................. 26
Recruitment and representation of minorities ....................................................... 26
Conclusions and overarching themes ...................................................................... 29
Ethnic monitoring .................................................................................................. 29
The rise of diversity discourses ............................................................................ 30
Multiculturalism, republicanism and neutrality ...................................................... 31
Race and other identities and collective action in unions...................................... 32
3
Introduction
Across Europe the population is becoming increasingly ethnically diverse with
migration from both within and outside the European Union transforming the ethnic
composition of workplaces. The workplace, historically the key site for identity
formation and consciousness is becoming recast as the primary site for interaction
between people of different ethnicities, national origins and nationalities. This raises
questions of the extent to which ethnic social integration and social mobility are
facilitated by activities that take place in the workplace. Indeed it also illustrates the
ways in which the meanings of these terms are contested within countries, sectors
and organisations. The project spans five countries with very different histories and
approaches to promoting equality and differing systems of industrial relations to
understand in what ways unions and others challenge racism in the workplace.
The report synthesises the key findings of fieldwork research undertaken for the
Challenging racism in the workplace project (CRAW) in five countries. It analyses
differences in approaches to race, racism and industrial relations through exploring
the role of Trades Unions in addressing racism inside and outside the workplace.
CRAW builds on a previous project, RITU, which addressed these issues during
2003-5. The project focuses on the decade leading up to 2013 with a particular
emphasis on events and processes that have taken place since the crisis of 2008.
The research consortium for the CRAW project consisted of:
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METICES Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in Belgium
International Centre for Minority Studies and Intercultural Relations (IMIR) in
Bulgaria
Association Travail, Emploi, Europe, Société (ASTREES) in France
Laboratory of research on immigration and social transformations, Università
Ca' Foscari Venezia (UniVE) in Italy
The Working Lives Research Institute, London Metropolitan University (WLRI)
in the UK
Funding
The project was supported by the European Commission Directorate General for
Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. Each participating institution made a
contribution towards the overall cost of the project, in total equivalent to 20% of the
projected costs
4
Methods and research activities
The five European partners agreed a common approach to undertaking the case
studies. Selection criteria for the case studies were based on prioritising replicating
the sectors and as far as possible the informants from the 2003-2005 RITU project
that four of the five partners participated in.
Belgium
METICES
Health
Retailing
Urban
Transport
Bulgaria
IMIR
Health
Textiles
Urban
Transport
France
ASTREES
Health
Retailing
Urban
Transport
Italy
UniVE
Shipbuilding
Construction
Metal working
UK
WLRI
Health
Post
Urban
Transport
Informants
Each case study included at least five interviewees who were identified through
contacts with trades unions with a particular aim of engaging with informants from
the RITU project. Overall we conducted over 90 interviews.
The aim of our sampling strategy was to capture the views of union officials at senior
and national levels, union officials at regional and branch level and also individual
minority and migrant workers. Thus informants included:

National level union officials such as presidents and deputy presidents, this
was particularly the case where there were no office holders with direct
responsibility for supporting minority and migrant workers.
 When appropriate and relevant we focused on officials with responsibility for
overall union policy around equality, diversity and migrant workers. This
included informants such as union and sectoral Equalities Officers, Diversity
Officers, Organising Officers and Policy Officers.
 To explore how equalities policies played out at the grassroots we sought a
range of informants with experience at individual workplaces such as:
 Leaders of local branches or other local officeholders.
 Local and national minority1 activists including leaders and activists in local
and national minority or migrant workers organisations and networks
affiliated to the unions
We are using the term ‘minority’ to refer to refer to all minority ethnic groups including European
migrants and other people who do not necessarily self-identify as minority ethnic. The term includes
both first generation migrants, the descendants of ethnically marked migrants and indigenous
minorities.
1
5
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To further triangulate the data and collect evidence from those not
necessarily active in unions we interviewed minority and migrant workers in
each of the three sectors in each country.
Central research questions
To address the research objectives the international partners developed key
research questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What are the characteristics of the three sectors and their workforces?
What is the prevalence of racism in the sector and how has it changed since
the crisis
What structures do the unions have in place to challenge racism in the
workplace
What challenges do the unions face in addressing racism
What do these processes reveal about how racism is understood in different
countries
Interview schedule
To address these research questions common topic guides for semi structured
interviews were developed by the partners. Different guides were developed for the
various categories of informant including:
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National Official,
Local Official
BME activist
BME worker.
These topic guides had the flexibility to be adapted to particular national and
organisational contexts and provided scope for interviewees to engage with the
stated concerns of the informants. The interview topics included:
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6
Characteristics of each of the three sectors
Sector economic and social contexts – with brief histories – public/private
sector
Sector workforce breakdown – ethnicity - gender – part/full time – working
hours – salary movements compared with national averages – changes over
time in recruitment
Sector trade unions National structures covering sector
National and local structures addressing diversity, race and equality with brief
history positions
National union policy and practices on racism and xenophobia covering
sector.
National and local collective agreements around racism
Local sector union policy and practice on racism and xenophobia covering
case study
The role of unions in opposing and/or tolerating Racism and Xenophobia in
case study including from fellow workers, management / supervisors trade
unionists,
Definitions of racism used by unions officially and unofficially.
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How race relates to other identities (nationality, religion, gender, class,
sexuality etc.)
Ideas / hopes for future and the limits of challenging racism
Policy recommendations to improve trade union practice
Secondary data
To supplement the interviews we collected a range of secondary data related to the
unions activities in promoting ethnic equality and or diversity. These documents
included union policies, minutes of meetings, resolutions, details of ethnic monitoring
exercises, training materials and collective agreements.
Data analysis
All interviews were undertaken in national languages recorded and transcribed
verbatim. The interviewers also made extensive field notes and each national
research team reviewed the interview transcripts and field-notes in order to draw out
key themes.
Workshops
The key emerging themes and draft reports were discussed with National Advisory
Groups of experts including trades unionists with responsibility for equality and
diversity, anti-racist voluntary groups and academics. These groups then attended
an international conference in Paris in July 2013. The national reports were
amended in the lights of these discussions and this synthesis draws heavily on
discussions developed during the Paris conference.
7
Characteristic of sectors studied
This section gives a brief overview of the sectors studied in the case studies giving
where possible their size, structure, the impact of the crisis and the demographics of
the workforce.
Belgium
The Brussels company of transports (Société de Transports Intercommunaux de
Bruxelles - STIB) is the largest employer in the Brussels region employing around
7000 workers. It is currently experiencing a severe labour shortage. Despite efforts
to diversify the workforce the national and gender composition of the workforce have
changed little since 2002. In 2012 9% of the personnel were women and 10% were
foreign nationals from 28 different nationalities (7% were originating from a EU
member state and 3% of a non EU country) when Belgian born minorities are
included the figure rises to 38% of the workforce. Since 2002 many foreign
employees have been naturalized. The minorities tend to work in manual posts and
as drivers.
The public hospital system in Brussels has undergone radical restructuring since
2004 with many mergers, however it is not clear what impact this had on
employment numbers. Many parts of the health sector are experiencing acute labour
shortages leading to the recruitment of migrant nurses and doctors. Many North
Africans were recruited to fill manual and cleaning posts. There are no statistics
collected, however, estimates based on workers names suggest that around 25-30%
of hospital staff are from minorities.
In Brussels, the retail trade represents 59,000 jobs (48,000 salaried and 11,000
independent) in 9,871 retail outlets with employment levels increasing since the
crisis. Around 12.5% of employees are migrants. In 2010 the case study, Carrefour
carried out major restructuring losing 10% of jobs on top of another 20% that had
been lost in the previous 6 years. The non-Belgian workforce has remained constant
at 6% over the last 10 years however there are no figures on the overall ethnic
minority workforce.
Bulgaria
Textiles has undergone high levels of restructuring due to post soviet transition and
increased globalisation and high levels of foreign investment. Although the textile
sector is predominantly small and micro enterprises the case study was based in one
of the largest enterprises. The sector was badly affected by the crisis but is now
recovering. However the workforce reduced from 130,000 to around 100,000 in
2012. It is based on low and often delayed wages, long hours and is overwhelmingly
female (88%). The workforce is highly ethnically mixed with large numbers of
indigenous minorities such as Roma, Muslim and Turkish workers however no
statistics have been collected on ethnicity of the workforce. However there are high
levels of minority employment particularly as many factories are located in minority
areas.
The Bulgarian health system has experienced a high degree of restructuring with
little social dialogue however the crisis is yet to impact on sallies and staffing levels
with around 100, 00 workers continuing to be employed in the sector. The workforce
is highly feminised at around 80% and has a high proportion of older workers
8
particularly in the professions due to high levels of migration by younger workers.
There are high numbers of minorities employed in this sector with most being located
in the least attractive and menial jobs although there are substantial numbers of
overseas doctors. However no records of ethnic minority participation in the labour
marker are kept.
The Bulgarian urban transport system employs around 150,000 workers with 70%
being male. The sector has very low wages although it was not affected greatly by
the crisis. There are no statistics on the numbers of minorities employed in the
sector.
France
Public Assistance - Paris Hospitals (AP-HP) employ around 90,000 people (70,000
non-clinical and 20,000 clinical) over 37 hospitals in the Paris region. The two
hospitals under study are located in an area with around 20% immigrant population.
The sector is experiencing a labour shortage which has led to recruiting overseas
health professionals. There are no statistics collected on the ethnic composition of
the workforce at a national or local level however the numbers of overseas trained
doctors is recorded suggesting that they make up around 25% of the medical labour
force. Anecdotally there appear to be many migrants clustered in the lower status
occupations in the hospitals.
The Casino Group is based on a network of 12.000 stores (hypermarkets,
supermarkets, discount stores and convenience shops) that are established in eight
different countries including 9, 450 in France. The Group’s stores tend to be in areas
with high ‘immigrant’ populations as 60% of its hypermarkets and 40% of its
supermarkets are located in underprivileged neighbourhoods called “sensitive
areas”. A central strategy is to develop a local market by adapting to the local
environment and to the local population, hence it has a high number of minority
employees. Whilst there are no clear statistics on the ethnic composition of the
workforce, with support from the EU Casino was one of the first French companies to
attempt to measure the ethnic and racial diversity of its workforce by undertaking an
experimental study of employee names on 4 sites (hypermarket, supermarket,
Cafeteria, warehouse).
RATP is the fifth largest public transport provider in the world serving 9 million
people daily in Paris and the Ile de France region. It employs 42,500 workers, mainly
drivers. It has a union density of 18% and a long tradition of social dialogue. There
are no statistics on the ethnic composition of the workforce however the company is
attempting to ensure that its workforce reflects the areas it serves and has been
recruiting in the ‘sensitive areas’ and therefore employs high numbers of minority
ethnic and migrant drivers.
Italy
Metal working in Italy employs around 1.8m workers who are overwhelmingly male
and work in small and medium enterprises. Union density is around 34%. Metal
working has been in long term decline a process intensified by the crisis where
around 30% of metal working production was lost. Overall within metal working
sector pay is higher than average but this masks important disparities around gender
9
and for precarious categories of worker. Immigrants make up around 3.8% of the
workforce but are concentrated in very small firms. The case study selected is
somewhat atypical as it has a relatively high level of immigrant workers
Shipbuilding was also in long term decline, again intensified by the crisis where 30%
of directly employed posts and 60% of indirectly employed posts were lost. However
the case study site was not as badly affected as the rest of the sector although its
outsourced employees have reduced by 30%. Typical of the sector production is
based on onsite outsourcing with two tier workforce with different conditions with the
outsourced workers being predominantly migrants from the global south and eastern
Europe.
The construction sector is composed of mostly micro enterprises with an average
size of 3 employees per firm. The sector was severely affected by the crisis but still
employs around 1.5 million workers plus an estimated 200,000 undeclared workers.
Wages are low and often hidden and accident rates are high especially for irregular
and outsourced workers. The sector has the highest number of migrant workers at
around 20% who tend to be concentrated in the lowest status and most dangerous
work.
The Italian workplaces all had high degrees of outsourcing that led to a segmentation
with precarious peripheral workers being disproportionally and in some cases
overwhelmingly composed of migrants. It should be noted that all three sectors in
Italy were affected more severely by the crisis than any of the other sectors studied.
The UK
The UK case studies focused on two of the most important and symbolic areas
where post war migrants were recruited, the NHS and urban transport. The NHS has
since its inception been reliant on migrant labour and currently minority ethnic staff
make up between 30% and 12% of the workforce depending on occupational group.
The NHS is highly feminised with women making up the overwhelming majority of
staff in all occupations except medicine. It has been less affected by crisis induced
austerity than the rest of the public sector. However it has experienced high levels of
restructuring over the last decade including outsourcing and reorganisation yet staff
numbers have increased slightly and it continues to be the largest employer in the
UK with 1.3 million employees in England. There are few reliable statistics on the
extent of and demographic characteristics of outsourced workers providing services
for the NHS. Anecdotal evidence from unions suggests that these sectors are
growing and are disproportionately staffed by female, migrant and minority workers.
Over the last decade the Royal Mail has undertaken modernisation and restructuring
including job losses. In this period the sector has been liberalised with the
introduction of competition into most of its services in 2006. The implementation of
this modernisation process has led to significant industrial action taking place in the
period since 2007 and currently the largest union CWU is engaged in industrial
action opposing privatisation which occurred in October 2013. Royal Mail employs
around 150,000 permanent workers with an additional 18,000 temporary or agency
workers employed seasonally. Currently over 13% of staff are from minority ethnic
backgrounds and 16% of the workforce are women.
London Transport…
10
Comparability of data
Cross national comparisons of the demographic composition of workforces and
particularly the ethnic composition are problematic. The case studies show
significant variations in the definitions used to describe minorities leading to a lack of
comparability. For example in Italy the focus is primarily on first generation migrants
who may or may not be ethnically marked and who generally do not have Italian
citizenship, in Belgium a distinction is drawn between foreign nationals, naturalised
migrants and the descendants of migrants although there is little data on the latter. In
France the focus is primarily on ethnically marked migrants with an emphasis on not
racialising their descendants (see discussion below). In the UK the focus is on
ethnic origins which include both established and more recent minority ethnic
communities including UK born, naturalised and non-nationals. Whilst in Bulgaria the
focus is on long term indigenous minorities.
Across all case studies there appeared to be no statistics on the religious
composition of the workforce. These affiliations have been implied by for example
analysis of surnames and or the assumption of religious affiliation due to ethnic
origins; however the accuracy of such methodologies is highly questionable.
Some of the case studies point to an important distinction between discrimination on
the basis of race (including religion) and discrimination on the basis of nationality i.e.
migrant status. Within the category of migrant distinctions were clear between EEA
and non EEA migrants and between naturalised and non-naturalised migrants. As
highlighted by the Italian and UK case studies the position of migrants from outside
the EU (or those EU citizens with migration restrictions) is structured by immigration
legislation that links their resident permits to specific employers. In this case the
scope for resisting exploitation and marginalisation is very limited and the case
studies reported a range of abusive practices.
Undeclared migrants
Undeclared migrants were seen as the hardest of the hard to reach groups for both
researchers and unions. The Italian case studies highlighted how they are in most
need of support but are unlikely to be unionised due to a fear of being discovered. As
such they were largely beyond the scope of this project.
11
Discrimination in the workplace
This section discusses the types of discrimination and discriminatory practices
outlined in the case studies. It draws mostly on incidents reported by informants and
to a lesser extent on cases appearing in the media. As such it is not intended to be
seen as an accurate reflection of the state of discrimination in the sectors but as an
example of some of the issues that union activists were aware of and issues that had
gained high levels of media traction.
Career progression
Across all sectors and countries migrants and minorities tended to be concentrated
in lower paying, lower status occupations with less scope for career progression.
Across the Belgian, French and UK health case studies broadly similar trends could
be observed with minority ethnic employees and migrants being concentrated in
lower grades. In Belgium employees of North African and Sub-Saharan origin were
mainly recruited in cleaning, technical and catering services in unqualified and not
tenured jobs. In the UK many of these services had been outsourced and were
disproportionately staffed by migrant and minority workers, whilst BME staff in the
NHS felt that they were clustered in lower grade positions.
Due to acute structural labour shortages in medicine and nursing high levels of
overseas trained doctors and nurses continue to be recruited in France, the UK and
Belgium where they are concentrated in lower grades, less prestigious specialities
and work in less desirable localities and less desirable shifts. In the UK and Belgium
some informants attributed these outcomes to direct forms of discrimination in
management. In all three countries practices such as the ways in which qualifications
were validated, the examination system, linguistic and cultural competences and the
role of networks and relationships with managers seemed to act as indirect forms of
discrimination. This raises questions about whether practices rooted in neutrality and
colour-blindness can have discriminatory outcomes.
The UK health and Postal some staff suggested that some senior jobs were reserved
for white workers and raised the importance of shared cultures and values between
candidates and managers and the fact that many of the attributes of non-white staff
such as language or cultural skills were either not valued or seen as only being
relevant to posts serving minority communities. Informants in the UK suggested that
black staff generally experienced difficulties in accessing high quality and relevant
training that is vital for career progression. Similarly in the Italian case studies one of
the most significant differences between minority and indigenous workers employed
by the same employer was in access to training for career advancement.
In the Paris and Brussels bus case studies, minorities tended to be concentrated in
driver grades with very few managers. In Brussels this was put down to career
progression being dependent on language skills which many migrants lacked whilst
in Paris it was suggested that the relatively low level of educational attainment of
minority workers inhibited their career mobility. In the Paris bus case it was also
suggested that minorities were given harder and more dangerous bus routes.
Details of career progression in retailing were less clear than in other sectors but it
appeared that in Brussels, minorities were less likely to be in senior or managerial
positions in retailing.
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In all the Italian case studies migrants worked in more junior, less skilled posts and
earned on average less than their Italian counterparts for the same work. This
significant wage differential between migrants and non-migrants led migrants to have
to work longer hours.
Skills not recognised
All three Italian cases and the UK health study illustrated a systematic deskilling of
migrants and an undervaluation of their skills and experiences which are often not
recognised. This led to immigrants to be concentrated in the lowest rungs of
occupational hierarchies. For example over half of migrant construction workers are
working as common labourers in Italy whilst in France and the UK health
qualifications from outside EU are often not recognised leading nurses qualified
overseas to work in the less regulated and private care work sector in the UK or
below their previous grades in both countries. Whilst these issues seemed to only
affect migrants rather than indigenous minorities French and UK respondents
reported that attributes held by some members of indigenous minorities and migrants
such as linguistic skills and cultural skills were undervalued by managers.
Violence, bullying and abuse
Two interrelated forms of violence and abuse were outlined in some of the case
studies. Firstly, racist and xenophobic abuse and violence from customers and
service users. Secondly, racist bullying and racist behaviour from colleagues and
managers.
Racist and xenophobic violence and abuse was a serious problem for Belgian bus
drivers requiring interventions from employers through training in conflict managed.
In this case study there were several cases of racist abuse or racist language from
managers and colleagues with these individual incidents not being taken seriously by
the employer. This led to the unions engaging with the state regulator rather than
company procedure. In the UK postal service two cases of racist comments by
senior managers were reported with little being done to address them. The UK post
and health case studies also raised the issue of racially motivated or xenophobic
bullying by managers and supervisors which seemed to be a particular problem in
outsourced areas of health. In the Post Office interventions by the union and senior
managers had reduced the levels of racist bullying although reported bullying
remains high. Similarly in the Italian case studies high levels of bullying were
reported in metal working across the sector, however, reported levels of bullying and
harassment for immigrants were double that of indigenous workers.
These issues reflect the nature of the occupations in this sector as those dealing with
the public such as urban transport were more likely to experience racially motivated
violence and abuse than those working in back offices.
Holidays and religious observance
Across the case studies informants in large organisations highlighted the issue of
migrants and minorities needing to take enhanced or ‘concentrated’ leave in order to
visit relatives overseas. In several cases leave was refused on the basis that it was
too disruptive and left the perception that the decisions were arbitrary and
discriminatory. Conversely when this was granted some indigenous workers and
officials suggested that this was giving migrants and minorities preferential
13
treatment. Related to this was the issue of taking leave for religious festivals. In both
Belgian and French bus services there were tensions between Muslim employees’
demands to be able to pray during work hours and company policies around
neutrality.
Disciplinary action
In Italian metal working and UK health sectors unions reported the disproportionality
high rates of disciplinary hearings against minority and especially migrant workers.
In some cases this could be due to direct discrimination such as racist attitudes
however the UK health study raised the issue of the extent to which indirect forms of
discrimination were embedded in disciplinary processes. For example the for
indigenous workers there was a perception that disciplinary issues were managed
informally based on shared social and cultural capital between workers and
managers. Paradoxically the opposite of this process seems to occur in the ways in
which complaints of racist abuse are processed particularly in the French health
cases where they were informally managed at a low level often leading senior
managers to be unaware of any problems.
Segmentation and outsourcing
In Italy and to a lesser extent in the UK there were clear links between outsourcing,
racial segmentation, discrimination and exploitation. Indeed two of the Italian cases
presented a picture of systematic institutionalised discrimination against migrants
which appeared to be integral to the dominant business models in the sectors. In
these sectors migrants were largely restricted from the core employer and were
instead overwhelmingly concentrated in outsourced sub-contractors often physically
working alongside colleagues employed by the main employer. In Italy informants
reported that works in outsourced companies received lower and more irregular pay,
worse and more dangerous working conditions, more intense work, longer hours and
had less access to unions.
These conditions applied to both immigrants and the few Italians working for these
companies. However migrants also reported other abuses underpinned by blackmail
such as withholding passports to ensure compliance and prevent workers from
exercising their legal rights. In the context of immigration legislation creates different
categories of worker and links work permits to specific employers discrimination
against these mostly racially marked migrant workers is both institutionalised and
embedded in the production systems of these sectors.
In the UK health case study similar but less overt processes were evident. Here
some groups of migrants were concentrated in outsourced and other precarious
forms of work. Informants reported malpractices and exploitation in outsourced and
care sector practised against migrants particularly those from outside the EU such as
salaries under the minimum wage and unpaid work underpinned by a link between
residence permits and employment contracts which puts immigrant workers in an
extremely vulnerable position leading them to accept exploitative working conditions.
Similar concerns were expressed about Eastern Europeans who occupy low status
and low paid niches in outsourced organisations such as care homes, portering and
cleaning
As discussed below this segmentation and the processes associated with it have
worsened dramatically during the crisis.
14
Inter-ethnic tensions
In multi-ethnic societies and workplaces relationships between ethnic groups are
complex. Most of the issues raised in this section tend to reflect relationships
between the dominant indigenous group and minorities and particularly ways in
which minorities are marginalised by the majority. However other dimensions to
inter-ethnic relationships were raised in the case studies. The first revolves around
ways in which some minority groups can be seen to abuse members of the majority
community. In the case of RAPT in France there is a strong perception of abusive
and offensive behaviour by some minority workers (Muslim men) against white
French women. Similarly in this case white workers reported abuse from non-white
customers.
In the UK unions and employers are attempting integrate new migrants from
countries with little experience of living in a multi-ethnic society. Hence the UK health
study highlighted examples of racially abusive behaviour from Eastern European
migrant workers towards minority ethnic co-workers.
Equality in Bulgarian workplaces
In Bulgaria informants all suggested that there were no incidents of racism or racial
discrimination in the workplace. They highlighted that there were high levels of
societal tensions and discrimination but that these had not been transferred into the
workplace. Rather they suggested that there were high levels of social mixing across
ethnic boundaries in the workplace and that recruitment and career progression were
based on examinations and merit.
Informants suggested that the high levels of social inequality between ethnic groups
in Bulgaria were not rooted in practices in the workplace; rather they suggested that
they were due to poor levels of educational attainment of minorities. In the
conference it was suggested that inadequate cultural capital kept many minorities
out of the labour market or limited their career mobility. It was suggested by these
delegates that the situation of minorities in Bulgaria would improve with greater
integration into the mainstream culture.
The crisis, restructuring and equality
One of CRAW’s key aims was to explore how the Crisis had impacted on inter-ethnic
relations in the workplace. However, whilst the Crisis sets the economic backdrop it
proved difficult to disaggregate the crisis from other political (changes in government
and the rise of the populist and fascist right) and social (Eastern European migration)
changes that had occurred over the last ten years. Thus whilst informants in all
counties reported a rise in racism and xenophobia since the crisis, this was not
always evident in racism being more overt in the workplace.
In the UK and Italy the development of mass migration from Eastern Europe and the
ways in which it impacted on the demographics of the workforces studied are clearly
an issue. Conversely in Bulgaria the migration of younger workers has led to an
aging of the workforce.
15
In the sectors studied the Crisis and fiscal austerity imposed in some countries
notably Bulgaria, Italy and the UK has caused a great deal of restructuring, whilst the
relationship between restructuring and the Crisis in the Belgian and French cases is
less clear with it having little direct impact on their health and transport sectors whilst
impacting more significantly on retailing.
Overall the case studies indicate that the crisis has caused a general worsening of
conditions for all workers however several of the case studies and particularly in the
case of the Italian outsourced industries the crisis has acutely affected migrants.
Three key themes emerge from the way that crisis has affected minority and migrant
workers in the sectors studied.
Firstly as discussed above the Crisis has intensified the negative trends identified
above relating to malpractices by employers. Furthermore in some case studies
there is a perception that job losses disproportionately affected minorities for
example redundancies in Italian ship building disproportionately affected minorities
whilst in the UK health study informants alleged restructuring and re-grading often
benefited white managers but was used as cover to remove minority managers.
Secondly the crisis has reduced the scope for minorities to resist abuses collectively
and individually. The Crisis has reduced employment opportunities and has therefore
limited the scope for individual workers to change employer in order to avoid
discriminatory practices. The Crisis has also pushed workers into more precarious
forms of work. For example in the Italian construction sector many immigrants
responded to the crisis by becoming sole employee companies a particularly
precarious form of work.
Thirdly in some cases issues around equality and diversity have been de-prioritised
by unions and employers as the focus has shifted to organisational survival and
supporting workers in restructuring. For example in the Belgian retail case study the
diversity committee ceased to operate meeting during restructuring and the Diversity
Manager post was deleted.
Conclusions
The data presented on the presence of discriminatory practices in these sectors is
somewhat uneven as it reflects important cross national differences in three key
areas. Firstly in what constitutes discrimination; secondly how discriminatory
activities are reported; and thirdly the extent to which informants are prepared to
discuss the impact of racism on them.
There were clear differences between what practices were seen as discrimination.
All countries (with the possible exception of Bulgaria) saw overt and direct forms of
discrimination. However it seems that in France an adherence to doctrines of
neutrality led to a focus on intentions rather than outcomes with forms of indirect
discrimination being largely overlooked. The case was very different in Italy and the
UK (and to a lesser extent Belgium) where indirect and institutional racism were
highlighted. In Italy there was much focus on…maybe for conclusions
There are also likely to be significant differences in the ways in which racist incidents
are reported. In Belgium a dissatisfaction with internal company processes led to
large numbers of cases being referred whereas in the UK relatively few cases make
it to the tribunal. Employers try to avoid the bad publicity associated with these types
16
of case and often settle out of court with the proviso that the applicant does not
publicly discuss the case. Hence it is relatively unusual for cases to become
prominent in the media. This is reinforced by a perception that winning tribunal
discrimination cases is difficult and the remedies are relatively small.
Finally it should be noted that the case studies revealed very different approaches to
discussing racism. In Bulgaria there was a near universal perception that there was
no racism in the workplace. In France informants showed a reticence about
discussing their own experiences of racism and preferred to discuss the experiences
of colleagues whereas in the UK and Italy and to a lesser extent Belgium informants
talked at length about both the discrimination they had suffered and the racial
dimensions to this discrimination.
17
Employers policies on Equality and Diversity
This section explores how employers’ approaches to racial discrimination have
developed and changed over the last decade and how unions and workers have
responded to this.
Belgium
In 2007, STIB signed the Charter of the diversity of Brussels-Capital and appointed a
Diversity Manager becoming the first public company to develop in a diversity policy
incorporating gender, ethnic origins, age, and handicap grounds. In 2013 rather than
adopt the diversity plan by the Territorial Pact for Employment it developed its own
plan based on training activities on specific problems. To address the problem of
violence from customers, the transport company organises conflict management
training and has created posts of supervisors in charge of supporting drivers subject
of attacks. However the company continues to generate large numbers of complaints
around racism reflecting dissatisfaction with the treatments of minority staff and more
particularly with internal grievance procedures.
Since 2008 some hospitals have been involved in developing diversity plans based
on those promoted by the Brussels government. This is based on the assumption
that hospitals should reflect the diversity of their patients. These policies have
included the development of intercultural mediation services for patients and new
foreign staff and providing translation services for patients
The Brussels federation of retailing has since 2009 provided training and certification
to increase the recruitment and retention of minorities. Carrefour signed the Charter
of diversity and adopted in 2009 the Brussels diversity plan. It has made diversity a
hallmark of the company (see also Casino in France) and has a clear aim of
ensuring that its staff (whose diversity it sees as an asset) reflect the ethnic
composition of its customer base. It created an academy which aims at training
under-qualified young people to increase minority representation. However since
restructuring in 2010 the Diversity Committee has not been active and the Diversity
Manager post was vacant.
In 2005 Delhaize adopted a diversity plan consisting of the multiplication of
recruitment channels, reviewing hiring procedures to make them neutral and more
open and diversity training for managers. However the implementation of this plan
has been inhibited as the management has excluded working conditions from the
plan which has led unions to be reluctant to engage with it. This reflects a concern by
unions to focus on the deterioration of working conditions such as low wages, work
time, pressure on workers and violence from customers, rather than diversity.
Over the last decade diversity management has become central to official discourses
in all three sectors with strong support from the local state. The focus is primarily on
improving the efficiency of services and enterprises by ensuring that they reflect the
diversity of customers and service users.
Bulgaria
In Bulgaria there is a perception shared by employers and unions in all three sectors
that there is no ethnic discrimination in the workplace. Therefore racism and
discrimination are not a priority for employers and there are currently no specific
employer policies and activities on this issue in these sectors.
18
France
The sectors under study in France have seen some of the most dramatic changes in
employer attitudes and approaches over the last decade with strong pressures to
develop workforces that reflects the communities they serve.
The Casino group’s business strategy is based on developing local markets by
adapting to local environments and populations. As such diversity is becoming
increasingly key to this strategy. Over the last twenty years the Group has
attempted, with unions and the state to increase the proportion of minority staff
through systematically reviewing recruitment processes and the training of
managers. With support from the EU, Casino and its social partners was one of the
first French companies to measure the ethnic and racial diversity of its workforce by
undertaking an experimental study of employee names. This was followed up by
another project involving over 700 outlets investigating discriminatory practices in its
hiring process. This led to a collective agreement to promote equal opportunities,
diversity and to fight against racial and spatial discrimination. This has led to the
appointment of diversity correspondents, changes to recruitment practices including
quotas for recruitment from deprived areas. Whilst unions have engaged with this
process some have drawn a distinction between increasing diversity by changing
recruitment practices and managing diversity within the organization as more needs
to be done around changing attitudes of co-workers and improving working
conditions.
Whilst RAPT does not regard racism and discrimination as challenges, it has
highlighted critical issues around managing diversity in terms of religion and
territories. It has developed a policy of positive recruitment in sensitive areas in order
that its public face reflects the communities it serves and has changed other
recruitment procedures. This has led to large numbers of young Muslim men being
recruited and clustered in particular areas. As discussed below some unions regard
this as highly problematic. The company has also produced a practical guide on
‘laïcité’ and neutrality in the company for mid managers, however unions are
sceptical about how it can be implemented and particularly emphasise that there is
little support in place to implement it.
The Health Ministry has been awarded AFNOR Certification which identifies 18
criteria of prohibited discrimination and officially regards the fight against
discrimination as safeguarding human resources management and improving
collective performance. However as evidenced in the hospitals studied there is much
hesitation about how to implement these policies and a perception that discrimination
should be addressed outside rather than inside the workplace. Despite the hospitals
serving an ethnically diverse area no special measures have been made to support
immigrant or minority patients. Similarly there are no policies to recruit in the
catchment area and no specific support given to minority and migrant staff. The
hospital is yet to gain the AFNOR Certification, however it has its own equality
charter which creates a supportive work environment, evaluates and prevents
discrimination and disseminates good practice. Recruitment by examination and
advancement by scale were regarded by interviewees as the key bulwarks against
discrimination. However there is no assessment of whether there are discriminatory
processes embedded in these ‘objective criteria’ is not clear. This is particularly
salient as there is no monitoring of ethnicity or nationality in this sector (see below for
fuller discussion)
19
Italy
The approaches in Italy are underpinned by a critical distinction between the
activities and policies of large firms and those of the subcontractors who directly
employ most migrants.
Electrolux management has given considerable attention to equality over the last
decade. It has introduced a Code of Ethics which provides for zero tolerance against
“cultural, ethnic, or gender discriminations”. This policy alongside the stabilisation of
some migrant communities has led to some immigrant workers to be acknowledged
with seniority increments and career progression. These ethics do not appear to
have been cascaded down the supply chain as outsourced workers continue to be
subject to exploitation, precarity and marginalisation regardless of whether not they
work alongside Electrolux employees.
Shipbuilding…
Construction…
UK
In the UK employers in all three sectors have had longstanding formal commitments
to equality and diversity and have expressed these in formal diversity policies rather
than through collective agreements.
The NHS has since its inception been a multi ethnic employer and has a range of
policies and structures to support equality and diversity for staff and service users.
For service users hospitals provide translation of key documentation into minority
languages. Certain specialities such as mental health have BME out-reach officers
and health awareness campaigns are run at local and national level to address the
ways in which certain illness affect minorities in specific ways. Patients alongside
staff have to interfaith rooms for prayer and contemplation and access to chaplains
representing various religions. The NHS has a formal diversity structure with senior
equality personnel in NHS Employers and the Department of Health and this
cascades down to the level of individual hospitals which have diversity plans and
diversity committees. The NHS also supports the NHS BME network an autonomous
self-organised group. Other policies include zero tolerance to racism and xenophobia
and induction and support for overseas staff and compulsory cultural awareness and
diversity training is compulsory for all staff.
Whilst these policies and structures have supported minority staff and patients some
informants questioned the effectiveness and purpose of many of these interventions.
For example they suggested that the diversity policies and committees were
powerless box ticking exercise that had no power to make any difference to the
working lives of minority staff.
The Royal Mail has an equality policy based on creating an inclusive culture which
does not tolerate discrimination, harassment and bullying. This is based on a
conception that differences create differing and specific needs which require different
responses. According to union informants ten years ago the Postal Service suffered
from high levels of racist bullying and harassment. Whilst not directly addressing
racism the unions and management signed a collective agreement around bullying
which together with union interventions around combatting racist bullying have
reduced the problem.
20
Urban transport…
21
Union activities around race equality and diversity
The section reflects on five key themes around union engagement with race equality
and diversity: equality structures; equality policies, equality activities and practices;
recruitment and leadership; and representation. Across the five countries and indeed
within countries there were major differences in the types of structures established
by unions to address equality and diversity. There were also significant differences in
the activities undertaken by unions and their relationships with employers. However
with the exception of Bulgaria there were more commonalties around the policies
that unions had established around equality and diversity. The case studies also
indicate major differences within some countries in the ways in which racism and
discrimination were addressed in different unions and in different sectors.
Furthermore within unions there appeared to be significant differences in how union
policy and practices and structures operated in individual workplaces and branches.
Equality structures
The Bulgarian unions studied all believed that there was no discrimination on the
basis of ethnicity in the workplace in Bulgaria. Thus none of the unions had any
structures to promote ethnic equality in the workplace. This can be contrasted with
the situation for gender discrimination which has been identified as an important
problem and where the health and transport unions have established a women’s
committee which have engaged in work around training and protecting rights. Whilst
the textile union has a predominantly female leadership and therefore feels no need
for women’s structures.
Some of the Belgian unions had diversity departments although at branch level the
structures varied with some unions having equality representatives responsible for
equality and communication with regional officials. Recent changes in the Belgian
union structures are a product of the collective bargaining framework at the
Economic and Social Committee and the Territorial Pact of Brussels, trade-unions.
This produced in 2008 three full time equivalent post for diversity union advisors and
five diversity manager posts allocated to support employers. These diversity
representatives participate in formal social dialogue through the Diversity Committee
of the Territorial Pact of Brussels.
All the UK unions studied had Equality Officers with responsibility for promoting
ethnic equality and responsible to elected race equality committees. In the case of
Unison and CWU they tended to focus and old minorities (south Asians and African
Caribbeans) as more recent minorities such as Eastern Europeans and East Asians
were covered by Organising (i.e. recruitment) departments. These ethnicities had
national activist networks or sectoral national groups. In Unison representatives of
black members have places reserved on the National Executive Committee and
black members are also regularly elected to serve on the committee in non-reserved
places. CWU is currently considering reserving places.
The key form of organisation for BME staff in Unison are the Self Organised Groups
which develop black activists and leverage issues around discrimination into the
mainstream agenda. CWU in theory has a similar structure but in practice the groups
are less established. All unions hold annual equality conferences. In Unison and
CWU all local branches have an elected Equalities Representative.
In Italy whilst shipbuilding and metal working trade unions have engaged in initiatives
to challenge racism at work and include migrants in union activities (see below) this
22
has not been done in a structured, systematic or on-going manner. However in
construction, Fillea-Cgil has developed a more systematic approach and is in the
process of establishing migrant workers networks.
Union policies including engagement with diversity policies
Belgium has seen a dramatic shift in the ways in which equality is being addressed.
In the past discourses based on anti-racism were regarded by employers and many
unions as being too stigmatising however the recent shift to diversity has opened up
space for more activities around promoting equality. The unions have signed a
Diversity Charter in which they committed themselves to fight against discrimination
and to promote diversity in their organization and in the labour market and their antiracism strategy has become more structured over the ten last years. In Brussels,
the CSC and FGTB policy focuses on five axes: plans of diversity, hiring quotas,
training and campaigns, and the fight against extreme right and racism. Although
ethnic monitoring of the labour market is rejected by politicians it is supported by the
Belgian unions. However the unions are split over whether or not to support
recruitment quotas based on residence with some believing that it is not enough on
its own whilst others suggesting that it compromised egalitarianism.
The Bulgarian textile unions have no specific policy against ethnic discrimination,
although there is a general non-discriminatory trade union policy that allows all
people to join the union; such a problem is thought to be non-existent in the process
of work and if it exists it is not a priority issue. The health and transport trade unions
are formally committed to equality between members and anti- discrimination
however as discrimination is perceived to be either non-existent or rare it is not a
priority.
The French unions have a formal commitment to equality however it is couched in
colour blind republican terms.
Whilst the Italian unions all had a formal commitment to equality the dominant
approach of the shipbuilding and metal working unions focuses on finding ways to do
normal union business in an ethnically segmented sector rather than how they could
meet the specific needs of migrants. For example the focus was on ensuring that
subcontracted workers engaged with initiatives in common with permanent staff.
There was little evidence of the unions focusing on the specific needs of migrants. In
the constructions case the unions focused on the relationships between immigration
laws and the conditions of immigrant workers. Other than in the construction industry
the Italian case studies reported little specific union activity around discrimination.
Unions argued that their overarching approach to industrial relations was based on
equally supporting all workers regardless of ethnicity. This ‘colour blind’ approach
has many similarities to the approaches of some to the French unions. For them a
good union will prevent abuses of all workers and argue that in unionised workplaces
there are far fewer incidents of discrimination. This argument reveals an overall
weakness in the unions support for migrant workers in that they have little influence
in the outsourced sectors where precarity and the abuse of migrant workers is rife.
Union activities and practices around discrimination
This section explores how the policies and structures outlined above play out on the
ground.
23
Campaigning
In Belgium, the UK and Italy campaigning against racism and xenophobia within the
workplace and at a societal level was a key activity of unions. In these countries the
unions ran campaigns against anti-immigrant sentiment targeting members to
counter beliefs that migrants ‘steal jobs’ or ‘lower wages’. They emphasised the
commonalities of workers experience and the critical importance of unity amongst
working people. In Belgium the inter union diversity advisors played a key role in
campaigning, disseminating information and establishing public awareness
campaigns. In the UK these activities were undertaken by a range of structures
including the branch, self-organised group and national officers.
The Italian construction unions also engaged in outreach work with migrants to help
enforce legal rights around terms and conditions for example by educating migrants
on the deductions that employers may legally make and indicating where they had
made illegal deductions from salaries. The unions has also engaged in campaigning
around systems that exploit migrant workers such as grandmasters and
discriminatory immigration regulations particularly their impacts on the children of
migrants.
Training and materials
In Belgium and the UK equality training is one of the key activities for Equalities
Departments and Advisors, they both produced large numbers of equality and
diversity documents (files, handbooks, guides, posters, etc.) in paper and electronic
form and maintain a web presence. The Diversity Advisors trained delegates and
officials at the sector level to implement diversity plans. Similarly Unison and CWU in
the UK provide training at regional and branch level for officers to identify key issues
around discrimination within their locality and sector and to mainstream anti-racism
into core union activity. In unison the training also provides support to develop
Branch Action Plans on addressing workplace racism locally including assessing
their current work and approaches, prioritising salient issues, establishing key targets
and allocating resources to meet these targets.
Diversity plans and social dialogue
Diversity planning and legal obligations around equality provided some unions in
some countries with a great deal of scope push equality onto employers’ agendas,
although a distinction could be drawn between pressure to enforce legal obligations
and consultation on employers’ diversity plans and policies.
There were many similarities between the activities of Diversity Advisors in Belgium
and Equality Officers in the UK although there were significant differences reflecting
the different industrial relations systems. The Belgian Diversity Advisors trained
local officials on how to negotiate over the company diversity plan whereas the UK
Equality Officers provided training for branches and equality representatives in their
role of ensuring that organisations develop diversity policy and plans. In the UK
unions are consulted and can retrospectively challenge diversity plans whereas in
Belgium unions are more proactively involved in the development and negotiation of
these plans. In both countries unions actively ensure that the policies are actually
implemented. In both Belgium and in UK health there is significant social dialogue at
a national or regional level. The Belgian unions participate in the regional diversity
committee whereas in the UK unions representatives participate in the NHS Diversity
24
Forum, and in local diversity forums although not usually in an official capacity.
Whilst the UK national level social dialogue around diversity has impacted on
national policy the local equality committees were not taken seriously by
respondents
In France there were significant differences across sectors. In the retailing case
Casino had developed a sophisticated approach to addressing diversity and the
unions were deeply involved in engaging with these issues. For example both CGT
and CFDT were involved in the monitoring project discussed above and worked with
Casino to develop evidence based anti-discriminatory policy to promote the
recruitment of people from disadvantaged areas including a collective agreement in
2005 on promoting equal opportunities, diversity and fight against racial and spatial
discrimination. The unions also participate in coordinating and monitoring
committees.
Casework
In addition to providing collective support for the struggle against discrimination one
of the key roles of unions in some countries is to support individual workers in cases
of discrimination. However again there were significant differences in the approaches
adopted by unions in different countries and across different sectors with some
unions processing large volumes of casework whereas other unions barely
acknowledged the existence of ethnic discrimination in the workplace or argued that
it was not the role of unions to challenge individual cases.
The Belgian Diversity Advisors organized the complaint system form the union side
including following-up of complaints. Whilst the volume of casework varied between
the Belgian unions they followed a common practice of organising complaints at a
centralised legal service and then transmitting information down to branches. In
common with the UK, the Belgian unions preferred to engage with dialogue with the
employer rather than taking the legal route.
The perception in Bulgaria that there is no discrimination may influence the ways in
which unions address allegations of racism. According to the Vice-President of the
Federation of the Trade Unions in Healthcare (FTUH):
“there is no ethnic discrimination in the process of work or at least the cases
of discrimination are rare. Sometimes the representatives of the minorities,
the Roma mainly, complain. But, as I have said, this is rarely real
discrimination, in most cases it is a requirement for work to be well done.”
This can be compared to the protocols in the UK and Belgium where if an allegation
of discrimination is made it must be investigated as discrimination by the union at a
national or regional level thereby bypassing gatekeepers who may be unwilling to
engage with equality issues. It may be worth considering whether the absence of
recorded allegations of racism reflects the absence of any discrimination in the
workplace or whether it reflects a perception amongst minorities to complain about
racism would be a waste of time. It also raises the question of whether complaints
that could be labelled as racism are labelled as something else in order for them to
be taken seriously. For example the only mention of ethic discrimination in the
Bulgarian case studies came about when ethnicity was seen by informants as
intersecting with gender discrimination.
25
In many French unions racism is still seen as a taboo subject, however the situation
varies across sectors and significant changes have been apparent in the last
decade. In the hospital case study CFDT undertook surveys indicating that large
numbers of employees felt that they had been the victim of discrimination based on
their origins. It also revealed that not only did this discrimination exist but that it was
not taken seriously by unions. Despite the high reported levels of discrimination
casework undertaken by the union is quite limited and seems to involve social
dialogue with managers rather than a more systematic approach. Furthermore the
union officials reported that the managers concerned tended not to take the
allegations seriously. This reveals a system where it is difficult it is to raise the
question of racism within this sector as it is difficult to mobilise the employees caught
in compartmentalised administrations, racist remarks are trivialised, and finally there
are no statistics on situation of visible minorities.
The situation in Casino is radically different with allegations of discrimination being
addressed formally and systematically by unions and employers. Unions are part of
a “listening and mediation” unit which manages and follows up individual complaints
of discrimination the unit can apply for mediation or arbitration to a joint commission
of mediation in order to resolve discriminatory issues.
Gate keepers
Several cases show that despite strong policies around discrimination and even the
presence of equality and diversity structures the effectiveness of these activities can
be constrained by the attitudes and practices of key gate keepers at the branch level.
The Belgian FGT and UK CWU case studies highlighting the pivotal role of branch
secretaries in determining the effectiveness of regional and national activities around
equality. In Belgium branch secretaries controlled the flow of information and
determined access to training courses thus if they were not sympathetic to equality
issues they could block access to the Equality department. This was one of the
reasons for low take-up of diversity training where only 25% of shop stewards have
received training. In the UK the situation was similar in some of the unions although
it was reduced by having more formal equality structures from national to branch
level and by making developing equality plans an accountable activity in some
unions. The emphasis in both countries was to increase the sensitivity and
commitment of branch secretaries to equality and to make them more formally
accountable for equality activities.
Bulgaria
In the Bulgarian cases as there was a perception that there was no discrimination in
the workplace union officials argued that membership of the union was in and of
itself the strongest protection against discrimination. Furthermore it was felt that by
signing anti-discrimination agreements with employers equality will be assured.
Similarly officials claimed that there were no cases of discrimination between
members of unions so the unions have no policies in this area.
Recruitment and representation of minorities
Across and between countries there are significant differences in the types of data
collected on the ethnic origins or nationality of members. Thus in some countries
discussion is based on ethic monitoring whilst in others it is based on estimates and
26
impressions, however it is clear that in most countries recruitment of minorities and
migrants was seen as a priority for unions. The priority given to ensuring
representation of minorities in office holding was less clear.
In Bulgaria whilst representing any specific needs of minorities is not regarded as a
priority the textile union is attempting to recruit minority women through campaigning
on issues like religious festivals and traditions, whilst often regarding them as an
obstacle to organisation. They are taking an ethnically sensitive approach by talking
to husbands to persuade minority women to participate in the unions in a similar way
to the attempts made to recruit Filipino care assistants in the UK where husbands
attended meetings. Similarly the transport union has target recruitment drives for
minority workers but this has been met with resistance from the minority workers.
In France in the case of RAPT several unions expressed serious concerns around
the implications of recruiting large numbers of young Muslim men. They were seen
as bringing social and cultural problems such as misogyny into the workplace and
were regarded as an extremist problem with a range of demands around food and
observance to be managed.
In Italy the situation varied and reflected the segmentation of the workplaces and
outsourcing. In metal working there were disproportionately participation in meetings
and strikes. However informants reported that the unions’ inability to redress some of
the restructuring induced by the crisis had led to a disengagement by migrants in
Metalworking unions. In shipbuilding the anti-union activities of outsourced
employers led to low levels of density in the areas occupied by migrant workers
whereas in the core jobs there were very high density. Unions tried to address this
by changing their approach to fit outsourced workers for example by holding
meetings outside the workplace and outside normal working hours. In the UK similar
approaches to organising outsourced migrant workers were reported.
In the case study area the officials reported a high migrant union density in the
construction sector and almost representative numbers of migrant delegates and
officials. The union organises migrants through providing high levels of service
inside and outside the workplace. The union is becoming increasingly multi ethnic
and regards itself as a key point of integration. Fillea-Cgil in Italy and Unison in the
UK are using very similar organising strategies directed to migrant workers. The
focus is to reach them through developing a cadre of people of the same nationality
and then developing networks of immigrants within the union.
The organising departments of the UK unions are focusing on recruiting migrant
workers through developing a network of migrant activists and organising around
sector specific issues to recruit new members. Historically ethnic minorities have
high levels of union density in the UK, more recently Unison and CWU also have
targets for recruitment of minorities with specific training given to branch officers.
However for established ethnic minorities the focus is more on representation than
recruitment. Unison and CWU in the UK are committed to ensuring proportional
representation of minorities in their structures however they have had differing levels
of success. Unison has met its fair representation targets for committee membership
at national and regional level and in conference delegations in addition to office
holders. However CWU is still in the process of establishing its targets and is
currently developing a system of ethnic monitoring although at present it has few
black office holders particularly outside London.
27
In the Bulgarian textile unions there are few statistics on the ethnicity of leaders and
activists although the union informants suggested that there were large numbers of
minority leaders particularly Turks. Similarly in the health union whilst there is no
monitoring of the ethnicity of officeholders the union has a policy to promote the
election of minorities. However they suggested that minorities are held back from
holding office due to their poor education which inhibits their capacity to negotiate
with employers
In France the case studies illustrate how some employers are prioritising ensuring
that their workforce represents the communities they serve. However it is less clear
that the unions in these sectors have engaged with this agenda and due to a lack of
ethnic monitoring the situation in the French unions around representation is not
clear. Previously UNSA tried to encourage increased diversity on its electoral lists
however the initiative failed as the membership elected incumbent officials with
established credentials. Similarly Italy has witnessed increased representation of
migrants but this is still not proportional as it has taken time for activists to establish
their credentials with fellow unionists.
In Belgium the unions have supported migrants’ welfare for six decades however
whilst southern Europeans were recruited and became office holders ethnically
marked migrants such as Moroccans, Turks and sub-Saharan Africans remained
underrepresented as officials at branch regional and federal level. However whilst
there is no monitoring of ethnicity of officials there appear to be greater numbers of
North African and sub-Saharan shop stewards and officials over the last ten years.
28
Conclusions and overarching themes
The section explores some of the overarching themes that emerged from the reports
and discussion in the conference. It highlights some of the key differences in
emphasis between the different countries and processes of difference and
convergence in the ways in which racism in the workplace is addressed.
Ethnic monitoring
In several countries (Belgium, France and the UK) the issue of ethnic monitoring is
totemic and highly symbolic of the different approaches to racism. It illustrates some
of the sharpest divisions in policy and practice between countries revealing very
different attitudes in how to deal with racism. When exploring the different
approaches to ethnic monitoring it is informative to ask the following questions. What
is being collected? By whom? Why is it collected? And most importantly what is
actually done with the data collected? A further question is what does the approach
taken to ethic monitoring say about the ways in which issues of race, racism and
discrimination are approached by the state, employers and unions in each country.
What are the political discourses around race?
There are vast differences between countries in what if anything is collected. No
statistics collected on migrants and minorities in any of the sectors in Bulgaria due to
a perception that there is no discrimination in workplaces against ethnic minorities. In
France and Belgium due to historical and cultural reasons ethnic monitoring is illegal
although the position is fluid and several proxies such as residence and nationality
are being used to monitor some of the demographic characteristics of the workforce
and Belgian unions are now supportive of monitoring.
In both France and Belgium there was strong market pressure in the retail and to a
lesser extent transport sectors to develop a workforce that reflects the demographics
of customers and service users. Whilst in the French hospital sector there was
political pressure to reflect service users’ backgrounds. However with the exception
of Casino in France there were few reliable statistics on the ethnic composition of the
workforce. Some of the French cases had no statistics which creates a blind spot
where individuals and social partners cannot understand the extent of the migrant
and minority workforce let alone the problems they face.
The Casino group is attempting to increase the proportion of minority staff through
systematically reviewing recruitment processes. As a first step and in order to
benchmark this process it became one of the first French companies to measure the
ethnic diversity of its workforce by undertaking an experimental study of employee
names. Casino is currently the only French company to publish the results of its
surveys into the origins of the workforce enabling it to show that its policies are
actually having an effect. Furthermore it is able to understand how its policies and
other forces differentially affect different categories of minorities by disaggregating
minorities in terms of different ethnic groups, educational attainment levels and
localities.
In the UK public sector it is a legal obligation to collect ethnic data and the practice
has become embedded in the consciousness of those addressing racism. Monitoring
is seen as being vital for benchmarking and evaluation, in that it can be used to
identify problems around equality such as persistent patterns of discrimination and is
used to track the results of interventions made to resolve the problem. Unison gave
examples of using monitoring to identify discriminatory patterns and practices around
29
recruitment, career progression, disciplinary actions and grievances in the NHS. In
addition to addressing racism in the workplace the unions all argued that effective
ethnic monitoring within the union was vital to ensure that the union membership
represented the workforce and that the union represented its membership. All unions
were engaged in ethic monitoring of the membership, officials and conference
delegates although some had progressed further than others.
However many informants in the UK and the NAG argued whilst ethnic monitoring
was critical the process was often rendered meaningless by employers as little was
actually done with the statistics. Despite this the majority of informants and NAG
members argued that they still provided evidence of an issue to be addressed and
that it was impossible to implement and evaluate equality programmes without
monitoring.
The rise of diversity discourses
One of the most significant changes over the last decade has been the rise of
diversity discourses in much of Europe which has coincided with some social
partners taking issues of discrimination more seriously. However some informants
argue that diversity discourses have also been used as a means of removing race
equality from political and social agendas.
Diversity management is largely market driven and underpinned by a belief in the
business case for diversity which motivate and enable change. This approach
highlights how an inclusive working environment benefits businesses and how poorly
managed diversity can impose costs on businesses. Thus as in the cases of retailing
and public transport in France and Belgium it emphasises the benefits of having a
workforce that represents the demographic of its customers or clients and it
highlights the increases in productivity of a well-integrated diverse workforce.
However as discussed below it also potentially represents a shift away from
‘equalities’ approaches rooted in morality, social responsibility and underpinned by
legal rights inherent in citizenship.
In Belgium one of the most striking features of the research was how the attitudes of
employers had shifted with far greater public commitment (and unions) to addressing
discrimination and this had been manifest in a range of policies, structures and
practices. Engagement by employers with diversity discourses was seen as
facilitating this change as unions and managers as a more politically and culturally
appropriate way of discussing equality in the workplace as it did not have the
negative connotations associated with discourses around race and racism. This led
to a range of structure sand practices discussed above.
Informants and participants in the workshops welcomed the greater engagement
with discrimination but with caution. Two key concerns were raised: it represented an
‘Anglo Saxon’ shift from legal regulation to market driven action which in the context
of power imbalances between unions and employers led to increased autonomy for
managers. Secondly it was argued that diversity management could be a tool for
avoiding engaging with race and racism.
Many unions adopted a pragmatic approach in engaging with the managerial
concept of diversity as a tool to redress discrimination, for example in Brussels
FGTB utilised diversity plans as a space of social dialogue on discrimination.
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However they were constrained by the fact that the employers determined the
contents of the diversity plan set the agenda for what was to be discussed. In this
case they argued that there was a tendency for race to be downgraded and
overlooked. This issue was repeated by several informants in UK and Belgium who
argued that diversity was often used to remove race and racism from agendas with
the focus being increasingly on gender with race and particularly institutional racism
being marginalised. In Bulgaria it seemed that gender discrimination was widely
seen as a social problem and openly debated. In contrast ethnic discrimination in the
workplace was only even mentioned when it intersected with gender disadvantage.
Multiculturalism, republicanism and neutrality
Popular political discourse posits altitudes to race as a continuum with Francophone
republicanism and neutrality at one pole and Anglo Saxon multiculturalism at the
other with other approaches veering between the two. We found that the situation
was far more complex and nuanced than this with both the terms being highly
contested and their meanings shifting over time and in different situations with what
appears to be a significant convergence in terms of outcome if not policy.
In the UK organisation on the basis of ethnic origins is an established practice in
some unions and seen as one of the key tools to address racism in the workplace,
develop a cadre of black activists and leverage equality into mainstream union
activities. Whilst these institutions were widespread they were not universally
accepted with some branch officers questioning their purpose and the outcomes of
their activities. The other countries did not report similar types of organisation
although in Italy Fillea-Cgil was in the process of establishing migrant workers
networks in the construction industry
In France there was a perception that Republicanism and neutrality in the public
services automatically leads to equality. Thus being blind to difference will cement
the workplace and public services more generally as institutions for social
integration. In the case of RAPT commitment to neutrality and equality overrode any
notion that Muslim workers had a right to any forms of special treatment to support
their religious observance and in both France and Belgium a commitment to
neutrality made it difficult for unions to engage with perceived discrimination on the
basis of religion. However the Christian union CSC appeared more critical of the
balance between neutrality and infringing freedom of religion.
Despite there being a great deal of resistance to multi culturalism the case studies in
both France and Belgium have illustrated employers engaging in forms of positive
discrimination and quota setting which in the UK would be amount illegal indirect
discrimination. Although these cases use territorial residence rather than race or
ethnic origins as the key determinate this would also amount to indirect racial
discrimination in the UK as it disproportionally and adversely impacts on white ethnic
groups. Whilst the unions in Belgium and to a lesser extent France were supportive
of these approaches conversely these practices do not seem to have been
implemented in the union movement where advancement and office holding is
dependent on competitive elections whereas in some, but not all, UK unions places
on committees and some posts are reserved for ethnic minorities. Furthermore in
some but not all unions these practices have led to minority ethnic workers being
elected to very senior and non-reserved posts in their unions.
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Race and other identities and collective action in unions
This section concludes by exploring some of the narratives used around race and
racism by informants in all five countries. One of the key areas of interest for the
CRAW research teams was understanding how employers and trades unions
officially and unofficially articulate ideas around race and racism in the partner
countries and how this is expressed in both policy and practice on the ground. We
found very significant differences on how racism was understood and articulated by
informants and fundamental differences in the extent to which informants were
prepared to discuss race, racism and discrimination. All countries explored direct and
overt forms of discrimination and racism such as racial violence, abuse and direct
forms of discrimination. However there was significant differences in the ways in
which they discussed these and other forms of racism.
In Bulgaria there was a near universal perception that whilst racism was widespread
in society as a whole there was little or no racism or discrimination in the workplace
and that inequalities in the workplace were due to differential education attainment.
The informants drew a distinction between discrimination which was seen as treating
minorities less favourably and racism whish was equated with racial hatred, violence
and segregation. Indeed one informant drew a strong distinction between ‘individual
acts of discrimination’ which did occur and racism which did not occur in eh
workplace. This raises a question around the applicability at a practical level of
terminology such as race, discrimination and racism which we explore below.
In France and Belgium many informants were extremely uncomfortable discussing
racism and interviewers had to use proxies such as diversity, neutrality or discussing
the impact of racism on third parties. In this situation led to issues around race
equality being off their agendas as it was regarded as a taboo subject that could not
be discussed. In some of the French and Belgian cases racism and discrimination
were not been seen as issues, however this could well reflect the meanings
attributed to the terminology rather than a desire not to engage with these issues as
they regarded issues around religion and disadvantage territories as being critical. In
Belgium unions addressed with some of these issues was addressed through
engaging with diversity discourses which seemed to ‘detoxify’ them…
The French cases focused mostly on direct forms of overt discrimination based on
personal prejudices. However the Casino case illustrates that there is increasing
engagement with understanding more indirect forms of discrimination which
contrasts sharply with the dominant republican colour blind approach which tends to
overlook how discrimination can be embedded in formally neutral and objective
practices.
There were striking similarities in the ways that informants in Italy and UK discussed
racism. In particular they related outsourcing and ethnic segmentation of the labour
market to institutionalised racism. This focused on the role of the state in structuring
ethnically segmented labour markets which embed ethnic disadvantage and how
structures, cultures and practices come together to produce disadvantageous results
for minority and migrant workers.
One of the most striking differences in some countries was the increased tendency
to label discrimination as being religiously rather than ethnically or racially based. In
Belgium there was much use of the term Islamophobia and for some informants this
was seen as distinct from racism. Whereas in the UK there was much discussion of
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anti-Muslim discrimination and prejudice, however the term ‘islamophobia’ was not
mentioned with these behaviours, attitudes and practices being labelled as racism.
Two of the French case studies and to a lesser extent some attitudes in the Belgian
case studies illustrate an approach to diversity which has little interest in racism but
rather focuses on laïcité or neutrality and secularism. However this approach shifts
the area of concern from racism to problematizing the cultural practices or perceived
cultural deficits of minorities. In this situation the minorities can be seen as a problem
in and of themselves to be managed. It has the danger of shifting concern and
interventions away from racism and discrimination i.e. the attitudes and practices of
the powerful and the state. Instead the focus is on the problems caused by outsiders’
cultures, how these problems can be managed and they ways in which outsiders can
be assimilated into the dominant culture.
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