TUC hotline reveals extensive race abuse

The TUC's Root out racism hotline, which ran for a week in June, has revealed an appalling catalogue of verbal abuse and complaints about promotion among black and ethnic minority workers. And the TUC believes that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Almost 450 people called the hotline, with just over half coming from afro-Caribbean workers. A quarter were from Asian workers.

Many of the callers had suffered verbal abuse at work relating to their race or religion and some reported being the victims of physical violence. Callers also reported that racist abuse at work led them to take time off sick with stress, depression and anxiety. Many found it painful to recount their experiences and some broke down while speaking.

Callers also reported problems related to their job prospects, for example being refused references, being consistently overlooked for promotion, being downgraded without explanation and not being informed about training or overtime opportunities.

The hotline was part of the work of the Stephen Lawrence Task Group, set up by the TUC to look into ways to tackle institutionalised racism in the workplace.