Racism is damaging lives and holding back the UK’s recovery

Britain’s retail trade union Usdaw has backed a Trade Union Congress call on the Government, to change the law and place employer’s under a duty of care to prevent racism from arising in the workplace; after a new report found that two in five Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) workers have faced racism at work in the last five years. 

The report also exposes “hidden” institutional racism for BME workers – like being unfairly disciplined at work or being passed over for promotion. TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said; “Racial injustice at work is damaging lives and holding back the economic recovery the UK desperately needs.“ 

“Many told us they experienced racist bullying, harassment – and worse. And alarmingly, the vast majority did not report this to their employer. Others said ‘hidden’ institutional racism affected their day-to-day working lives, from not getting training and promotion opportunities, to being given less popular shifts and holidays.” 

In 2022, Shirine Khoury-Haq became the Co-op’s first female chief executive in its 178-year history. As of March last year, a fifth of the UK’s leading firms still had all-white boards. Mrs Khoury-Haq, who is also of Arabic and Turkish heritage, said there must be a “stated intention” to change this. 

The Co-op is the UK’s fifth biggest food retailer with more than 2,500 shops. It has nearly 70,000 staff and is owned by its members. As The Mirror reported back in March: Mrs Khoury-Haq moved to the UK in 2000 and at first sent out CVs using her then married surname, Beikman. She said: “I was getting responses saying, ‘do come in for an interview’ and ‘be great to meet you next time’. 

After remarrying, she used her maiden name, Khoury, with Haq, her Pakistani husband’s surname – and the replies dried up. She said: “Suddenly a name change and zero. It felt like one name was accepted and the other wasn’t.” She also said Co-op staff suffer “day-to-day racism”, adding: “You don’t have to go very far to hear how people experience it, just based on how they look.”

Hussein Al-alak is the editor of Iraq Solidarity News (Al-Thawra). You can join @husseinalalak in conversation on Twitter.