A WHOLE GENERATION OF YOUNG BLACK
PEOPLE REJECTED IN THE LABOUR MARKET & FAILED BY GOVERNMENT.
By Zita Holbourne, National Co-Chair
BARAC UK
When Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (BARAC) UK was
formed in 2010 a primary focus for our campaign was the expected impact on
young black and minority ethnic (BME) workers of austerity and cuts amplifying
the discrimination towards them in the labour market that already existed.
Over the past five years the disproportionate impact of cuts
on this group has been largely ignored or disregarded by government,
politicians and media alongside the double impact on black and minority ethnic
women and black workers generally.
When young black people are featured it is to demonise them
and blame them rather than to look seriously at the crisis they face, which has
included the scrapping of EMA, tripling of university fees, lack of work
opportunities, discrimination in the
labour market and the increase in zero hour contracts and casual work as the
only option when they do get a foot in the door, as well as the knock on impact
of their families being hit by poverty
because of job cuts, increased pension contributions for public sector workers,
pay freezes, low pay and discrimination at work. There are over a million young people
unemployed but one in two young BME people are without work. But in addition to this, the failure to adhere
to the McPherson recommendations arising out of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry,
means that institutional racism in the police forces still impacts on young
black people. They are racially profiled
and targeted disproportionately in stop and searches, up to 33 times more
likely to be stopped than their white counterparts. They face racial and religious stereotyping
and harassment in education, the workplace and wider society.
Today the Labour Party has released a report based on
official figures from the House of Commons, revealing that there are now 41000
16 to 24 year olds from black and minority ethnic communities long term
unemployed – a 49% rise since 2010, with the number unemployed for more than a
year having risen by 50% since the con-dem coalition. A Labour Party spokesperson has declared his
astonishment at the figures but the question is what is Labour doing and what commitment
are they giving to address this horrendous situation?
Equality Impact Assessments are treated largely as a tick
box exercise. When a Judicial Review was taken by a union because
redundancies impacted disproportionately on black (and disabled) staff a judge ruled that a made up retrospective
diversity impact assessment was suffice to demonstrate due regard indicating that the courts have no
real understanding or training on EIAs and the equality duties. When black
workers or applicants do wish to pursue legal action the fees for Employment
Tribunal prohibit austerity stricken would be claimants from lodging cases.
In 2010 BARAC served a Freedom of Information request on the
Treasury asking them for an Equality Impact Assessment to demonstrate what
consideration they had given to the impact on race of their proposed cuts. Their response was to cite public interest
immunity as a reason for not making the EIA public.
The cuts to the EHRC have meant that work on enforcement has
reduced despite a damning report produced by the CRE just before they ceased to
exist which demonstrated that the majority of public sector organisations were
failing to comply with the equality duty.
In a speech to the CBI in November 2012 David Cameron said
he was ‘calling time’ on equality impact assessments describing them as
‘bureaucratic nonsense’ and ‘tick box stuff’. He said they were unnecessary
because there were enough ‘smart people in Whitehall’ who would think about
equality when developing policy.
As a mother of a young black man I have witnessed first-hand
the soul destroying attitude of employers towards young black people in the
labour market and had to advise, campaign and represent some of those young
black people in cases against educational institutions and workplaces /
industries.
My son is in his final year of university but when he
approaches employers in the industry he wants a career in and has studied for
the past three years to work in he is largely ignored. Letters seeking not just
paid work but internships, work experience, shadowing etc. are ignored and he
does not even receive a response the vast majority of the time. When he does it is to inform him that he must
have experience in order to be successful in securing opportunities to gain
experience. The whole point is that he needs the opportunities to gain
experience to apply for jobs. One employer for a part time job he applied for
working in a coffee shop told him that he wasn’t suitable even though he had
recent experience in the catering industry, because he wasn’t experienced in
making coffee. What happened to training people to do a job? How long would it
take to train someone to make coffee?
The truth is that it has nothing to do with experience but an excuse to
reject young black people by employers, many of whom have no regard for
equality legislation or policies.
The experience of
many young BME people trying to enter the labour market is that employers are
not interested in giving them opportunities or investing in them for the
future. Many public and voluntary sector employers are still cutting jobs as
part of the con-dem coalition’s austerity measures and when young black people
do get jobs they often experience a climate where institutional racism and
harassment and bullying are allowed to thrive. Every day is a battle for survival;
job satisfaction and security are alien concepts. The jobs available are minimum wage, casual
and temporary posts and mostly zero hour contracts. This means that they can’t plan for the
future, save, rent a home – let along think about buying one - and they don’t
know if they will earn enough to survive from one week to the next.
Cuts to the public and voluntary sector mean that the
opportunities are no longer there for a new generation of black workers. There were
over 37,000 less BME public sector workers in 2012 than 2010 with the biggest losses
in the South East with 12,702 less BME workers. Of the 17,000 voluntary and
community organizations working with minority ethnic communities in the UK, 53%
had received funding from statutory sources and many of these organisations
have been forced to close their doors because of funding cuts. Forcing public sector workers to work longer
in order to receive their pensions mean that young people will be practically middle
aged before they event get a foot on the career ladder in the public sector.
Instead of blaming each other for this crisis political
parties ought to be seriously looking at an urgent and robust action plan to
address this horrendous discrimination and not just talking about it but putting
their words into action. Young black
people don’t have a whole lifetime to waste in poverty and misery waiting for
government to address this and should not have to live like third class
citizens in the meantime – a whole generation being failed and rejected.
In the wake of a general election, black communities don’t
need to hear from political candidates how terrible it all is – we know this –
we are living and breathing it and as a parent it fills you with anger, dread
and pain in equal measures to know that a worse future is being passed to your
children than was passed to you by your parents who faced horrific racism. What we need to hear and see is real and
urgent commitment, effort and action to address this gross discrimination. In the meantime we should consider boycotting those
employers who discriminate against young BME people.
