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Force supermarkets to show bias in favour of ethnic staff says Phillips
Last updated at 23:22pm on 24.04.07
Trevor Phillips told MPs that businesses are currently blocked from responding quickly enough to population changes
Supermarkets have expressed concern after Britain's race watchdog said they should be forced to recruit more ethnic minority by positive discrimination.
Trevor Phillips said retailers should have new powers making it is easier to attract employees to reflect the make-up of their local communities.
The new Commission for Equalities and Human Rights chairman told MPs that his body should have sweeping powers to permit positive discrimination to prevent jobseekers from migrant communities being disadvantaged.
It would involve scrapping 30-year-old rules forbidding bias on grounds of race or sex to make it easier for employers to recruit from certain ethnic backgrounds.
He said firms such as Tesco and Sainsbury wanted greater flexibility to hire staff.
But retailers - including Tesco - immediately condemned his controversial comments as 'unfair and discriminatory'.
They also said shops and supermarkets already did a 'very good job' at representing the face of their local communities.
The British Retail Consortium, which represents thousands of shops, said: "Because shop staff tend to work relatively near where they live they are already likely to reflect their local communities but retailers will continue to recruit on ability to do the job not on race.
"Trevor Phillips seems to be calling for retailers to be allowed to discriminate in favour of particular groups.
"That means discriminating against others. We believe retailers will reject this sort of unfairness and go on recruiting on merit alone."
Mr Phillips - whose commission will begin work in October - said that businesses and public bodies were blocked by anti-discrimination laws from responding quickly enough to local population changes.
He told the Commons' communities and local government select committee on Tuesday that retailers should be given new freedoms to seek out staff from ethnic minorities.
He said: "You cannot for example now, in an area where the population profile has changed very rapidly over three years, say 'We would like to attract Asian staff'.
"I think that Tesco or Sainsbury's or anybody else who is in the business of serving a local community would like to have the opportunity to do that.
"To some extent, the framework we have at the present time prevents you from doing that quickly - to respond to commercial needs."
Mr Phillips - former chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality - denied some staff would face the sack to make way for the new recruits, insisting any new rules would have 'the right safeguards'.
He said the commission - which merges separate disability, race and equal opportunities bodies - would like to see changes included in the promised Single Equality Act.
There are currently 91 pieces of legislation and European directives governing equality and human rights laws in Britain.
A spokesman for Tesco, which employs 260,000 in the UK, said: "Our workforce is very, very diverse and our stores pretty much represent the face of their communities.
"We do recruit locally, although it's not always possible for reasons of low unemployment and low skills, so we reflect our local populations."
Last month Mr Phillips called for the radical 'positive action' law in his Equalities Review, drawn up for Tony Blair at a cost of £400,000.
It said new rules should make it compulsory for the civil service, the NHS, councils, quangos and other public sector organisations to show bias in favour of some minority groups when hiring workers.
Many private companies supplying goods or services to the state sector would also be forced to copy their employment policies.
Reader views (14)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
I guess Mr T Phillips has his quotas too, apparently of unasked for and unwelcome suggestions to change the constitution of this country.
- Helen, Norwich
Remember those signs that said 'Whites only'? Without splitting hairs, how is this different? He should be arrested for actively encouraging racism toward the white population of this country. Goodness knows how he got this job.
- Isabel, Woking, England
1. Positive discrimination demeans the very people it is supposed to favour.
2. The interpretation of the law is based on double standards. How many cases have there been of discrimination against whites?
- Martin, London, UK
I agree with JK - my local supermarkets in SE London seem to employ from the local community - there's a vast array of nationalities. Who exactly is going to commute great distances to earn minimum wage in a supermarket anyway? If supermarkets are forced to hire outside what may be a predominantly white area at the whim of some race watchdog, I'm sure they'd face an uphill struggle! Leave it to the market rather than meddling with "positive discrimination"!
- Mark, London
There's no such thing as "positive " discrimination. Discrimination is discrimination, and it's suposed to be against the law (if you're white).
- Frank, Wolverhampton, England
This guy should be stopped in his tracks as this is racist towards whites and as Brandon said it's happening more and more and Trevor Phillips should be held accountable for what he's doing here.
- Sarah, London
My local supermarket is representative of the community it serves; all the weekend checkout girls are blond, middle class, well spoken 17 year olds.
It is, and I can find no other word for it, great. I actually enjoy going to the supermarket now.
Hooray to supermarkets hiring staff from their local communities!
- Jk, London, UK
Hire on the basis of perceived ability, NOT because she is a "smasher". Get rid of these idiots who "decide" how business should operate.
- T J Franklin, UK
Discrimination is discrimination which ever way you look at it.
- Francis Smith, Rouen, Francis
Positive discrimination or Affirmative Action is just another name for discrimination pure and simple.
- John, Harrow
Maybe Mr phillips is actually being anti-minority? Is he saying that all minorities are good for is working in supermarkets? This man is truly unhinged, all cases should be treated on their own merit regardless of skin colour or ethnic background, if you're unsuitable for the job then you will not be employed, it's a simple premise that even a former TV presenter should be able to comprehend.
- Trevor Roll, London
Let's see now, we are going to force English companies to NOT hire English workers but instead to hire immigrants. Wonder how the English citizens will respond to this scheme.
Hope for an election so you can unseat these fools before your country is lost forever.
As someone once said, " Your government has run Amock".
- Big Arch, Wellington
Thats right, go down a road that's already been travelled - practicing discrimination in the name of fighting discrimination. It has failed elsewhere and has been dropped - how does this guy come off saying that it would work now?
Perhaps he just wants to stir up racial tension through the resentment of the people he plans to 'legally' discriminate against so that he can then say his job is needed more than ever - hows that for a self-fulfilling dream job!
Racism stinks whichever direction it comes from. It precludes the need for individuals to actually think for themselves, others already having done that for them.
- Rogan M., DFW TX USA
That policy would indeed be racist towards whites? What concerns me in modern day Britain, is that there are no groups or watchdogs looking out for discrimnation against whites; And this is clearly happening more and more.
- Brandon Thomas, London UK
