Workers need protection from the upsurge in racist assaults and abuse at work since the Brexit vote last year, the TUC has said. The union body points to a major new poll of over 1,000 Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) working adults conducted by the TUC and ICM.
The ‘shocking results’ revealed over a third of the BAME people asked had witnessed or experienced racial abuse in the seven months following the referendum vote. Almost one in five (19 per cent) had suffered or witnessed a racial assault.
The poll is part of a major TUC project to combat racism in the workplace. It is calling for the government to develop a full race equality strategy, including tough action on harassment and discrimination at work.
The TUC has urged the government to bring in rules about ‘third-party’ harassment, protecting workers who deal with the public as part of their jobs. It argues employers also need to have a responsibility to call out racist harassment, rather than the current system of ‘tick-box’ policies which they believe are very rarely implemented.
Commenting last month on the poll findings, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “The scale of abuse is shocking. We have to come together and draw a line in the sand about what is acceptable in modern Britain in 2017 – and the government has to take a lead.”
She added: “It’s unacceptable that shop workers, bus drivers and street cleaners face abuse from members of the public – and their employers don’t have to do anything to protect them.”
