New TUC report highlights ongoing problems with workplace racism

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has published a report finding that 41% of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) workers have experienced racism in the workplace, and that 81% of those who have faced such racist behaviour don’t report it due to worries about not being taken seriously or facing negative consequences. With 3.9 million BME employees in the UK, the TUC has expressed concern that hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of racist treatment, ranging from so-called ‘banter’ and jokes to bullying and harassment. The TUC has subsequently called on the government to work with trade unions and employers to ensure that employers take action to prevent workplace racism, to improve workers’ rights, to ensure ‘swift and effective’ penalties for the wrongdoers, and to introduce mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting.

Other findings of the report include:

• 8% of those who experienced racism said they left their job as a result
• 35% said the incident made them less confident at work
• 26% of those who experienced harassment said that they had wanted to leave their job but were not able to due to financial or other factors
• 48% of those who did report the conduct were not satisfied with how it was handled, with 7% saying that reporting the racist incidence made their treatment at work worse.

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