Invisible Racial Discrimination in the UK Hotel Industry - Case Study Example

Abstract Great Britain is a country with a high ethnic percentage. Its approach toward ethnic minorities is janus-faced, with an increasingly repressive and restrictive view about offering employment opportunities to them. “Nearly half of Britain's ethnic minorities, including people of Indian origin, believe that their experience of racism was a key barrier to a sense of belonging to Britain.” (Sonwalkar, 2008). This behavior is further supported by the strident media, which holds the minorities and migrants responsible for ruining British culture, values and tarnishing its image across the globe. Among many other calamities, this has resulted in increasingly strict immigration conditions. Although some initiatives have been taken to upgrade the relations with the minorities, the racial discrimination inherent in the social mindset and practices persists. “The U.K. has one of the highest levels of racially-motivated violence and harassment in Western Europe, and the problem is getting worse.” (Human Rights, 1997 cited in Shah, 2010). This paper discusses the experience of ethnic minority workers in the hotel and catering industry. Research provides evidence of racism faced by the ethnic minority in Britain in various walks of life in general and the hotel and catering industry in particular. The hotel and restaurant industry is known for its harsh working environment, specifically for the employees who are from ethnic minorities or migrant community, in terms of oral contracts, minimal training, long working hours, late-night working, unpaid overtime, unpaid official leave, delayed salary payments, discriminated recruitment, biased promotions, job insecurity, bullying, insult and abuse. Introduction Racism, as practiced in the British society, can take both visible and invisible forms. “Indirect discrimination is where there is a requirement, condition, provision, criterion or practice which has an adverse impact on one group disproportionately.  However, such discrimination is not unlawful if it can be justified by the employer.” (PJH Law, 2009). Indirect discrimination can be regarded as invisible racism. It occurs as a result of regulations or practices which have a detrimental effect on people from a certain race. One example of invisible racism is the condition by a hotel HR department to hire only those employees residing within a one-mile radius with the hotel in the center, knowing that the majority of ethnic minority resides outside the defined limits, indirectly avoiding applications from the ethnic minority. Ethnic minorities and migrant community makes a significant part of the hotel and catering industry. “The independent restaurant sector, including restaurants as well as takeaways and cafes, has been a popular activity for ethnic minority businesses in the UK” (Atkinson and Hurstfield, 2003 cited in Altinay, L. & Altinay, E, 2006, p.204). According to the 2001 census, almost three-fifths of workers in the hotel industry in London, which makes about 59% of the total population of workers in London, expressed themselves as other than White British. (Wright and Pollert, 2005, p. 27). These communities have always been a victim of racial discrimination in the UK. “Racism is one of the biggest problems to all ethnic minority groups in the UK. In 1999, the risk of being “the victim of a racially motivated incident” was significantly higher for ethnic minorities than for White people.” (Frohlich, 2006). Woking in the hotel industry in UK is not easy for employees belonging to the Ethnic background because of the deep-routed hatred against them in the British society. “The extent to which racism is a problem in the UK hotel and catering industry is unclear, yet its existence is undeniable.” (Goldsmith et al, 1997). A lot of research has been carried out in the past to reveal racism faced by ethnic minorities. An interviewee Sylwia, a Polish chambermaid in a hotel reported how one housekeeper slapped another Polish woman in the face because she didn’t understand the instructions she was given in English. (Mcllwaine et al, 2006, p.12). Historically, the response to what exactly constitutes racial discrimination is not very sound, yet it is agreed upon that any action or comment by an offender which is specifically related to race can be termed as racial harassment of the recipient. Argument One of the key reasons behind the existence of racial discrimination toward the ethnic minorities is firstly their lack of awareness in their rights, and secondly their majority. “Racist behavior is more common in areas where there are many immigrants or in towns where there are many international students.” (ukstudentlife.com, 2009). The following table shows the distribution of various regions in UK with respect to the percentage of Ethnic Minority population: Category North East North West Yorks and the Humber East Midlands West Midlands East London South East South West England % % % % % % % % % % White 97.61 94.44 93.48 93.49 88.74 95.12 71.15 95.10 97.7 90.92 Mixed 0.49 0.93 0.91 1.03 1.39 1.08 3.15 1.07 0.76 1.31 Indian 0.40 1.07 1.04 2.93 3.39 0.95 6.09 1.12 0.33 2.09 Pakistani 0.56 1.74 2.95 0.67 2.93 0.72 1.99 0.73 0.14 1.44 Bangladeshi 0.25 0.39 0.25 0.17 0.60 0.34 2.15 0.19 0.10 0.56 Other Asian 0.13 0.22 0.25 0.28 0.40 0.25 1.86 0.29 0.10 0.48 Black Caribbean 0.04 0.30 0.43 0.64 1.56 0.49 4.79 0.34 0.25 1.14 Black African 0.10 0.24 0.19 0.22 0.23 0.31 5.28 0.31 0.13 0.97 Black Other 0.02 0.08 0.07 0.09 0.19 0.10 0.84 0.06 0.05 0.19 Chinese 0.24 0.40 0.25 0.31 0.31 0.38 1.12 0.41 0.26 0.45 Other 0.17 0.20 0.19 0.18 0.27 0.27 1.58 0.37 0.19 0.44 All minority ethnic groups 2.39 5.56 6.52 6.51 11.26 4.88 28.85 4.90 2.30 9.08 All ethnic groups = 100% 2515442 6729764 4964833 4172174 5267308 5388140 7172091 8000645 4928434 49138831 Source: Office for National Statistics Census, April 2001 cited in Pollert & Wright, July 2005, p.6 Growth of non-white population in UK The non-white population in UK has been constantly increasing over the years. It can be graphed as follows: Source: CRE FactFile2/0NS Census cited in Fairey, 2007 Despite various efforts by the British government to eliminate the differences between the locals and ethnic minorities, in the research carried out by the Labor Research Department, “the national average wage was found to be £376 a week (£19,552 a year) for white employees, but only £347 a week (£18,044 a year) for EM workers.” (Labor Research Department, 2005 cited in Pollert & Wright, July 2005, p.7). Median hourly pay by ethnicity and gender for employees over 18, 2004 Category £ per hour Male Female White 9.31 7.06 Non-white 7.54 7.50 Black 7.00 8.27 Indian 9.56 7.60 Pakistani/Bangladeshi 6.25 6.24 Mixed 7.60 7.58 Source: LFS 2004, published in LPC, 2005, p.118 Unawareness of employment rights in the Ethnic Minority Knowledge of employment rights among workers, especially those from the ethnic minorities in UK is poor. “A random survey of people’s awareness of employment rights in the West Midlands found that women, ethnic minorities, young people and the low paid were least likely to be aware of their rights.” (WMLPU, 2001 cited in Wright & Pollert, 2006, p. 6). To overcome the deficiency in awareness, some employees try to take support from community organizations about problems at work. However, the level of community support available varies with regions. Organizations supporting ethnic groups are much less to be seen in South West, as compared to London and West Midlands, where there is a variety of well-established organizations for supporting ethnic minorities. But to seek advice from such community organizations can also be unfavorable for the ethnic minorities in that, they may loose their current job, if the employer gets to know of their efforts to learn their rights. Oral Contracts: Many times, the ethnic employees are deceived by their employers, who do not enter into any written agreements with their employees, knowing the legal complications they would have to face, once the matter is raised to gain legal attention. This itself leads to racism, and results from racism itself, because the employees from ethnic minorities agree to enter into an oral commitment with their employees for they have no choice otherwise. Due to widespread hatred among the White locals, it is very difficult for the ethnic minorities to seek employment anywhere. In such environment, they feel fortunate to be offered a job. Agreement matters less to them. Therefore, there are no written terms and conditions to inform the employees of their own rights or their obligations toward the employer. Employers use this weakness of the apparently worthless employees as an opportunity to enforce long working hours, unpaid overtimes, and unpaid official holidays. “Few hospitality employers meet all of the basic requirements set by employment legislation and that managers/proprietors are poorly advised/trained about 'good practice'.” (Price, 2007). A Lithuanian waitress was interrogated in a research to analyze problems faced by ethnic minorities at work. She said that taxes were paid by the employer, but she did not receive payslips: “At the end of tax year I will get P45 and everything will be there: how much I was paid and how much taxes I paid. But they don't give any payslips every week or every month. I understand that the manager is too lazy to deal with all those papers so gives this form to everyone at the end of the tax year. And everything will be written there… But this is the way it has always been and this is how they do. It is interesting. I would like to know how much taxes I pay and so on.” (Female, Lithuanian, restaurant worker, London cited in Wright & pollert, 2006, p. 22.) A study of low pay in London (Evans et al, 2005) included the hotel and catering industry. This study of 341 randomly selected low paid workers found the lowest rates of pay to be in the hotel and catering sector, below contract cleaning, home care and the food industry. Some 19 years ago, the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) undertook a formal investigation into recruitment and selection in hotels (CRE, 1991) in response to concern that the sector was failing to consider equal opportunities in employment practices, and found only one ethnic minority manager out of 117 hotels investigated. A number of recommendations about improving recruitment, contracting and training were made by the CRE, but the inequality of opportunities between the British Whites and ethnic minorities still persists. “The UK hotel industry has taken few initiatives towards equality of opportunity and that suitably qualified ethnic minority applicants do not apply for careers in hotel management.” (Hamylton & Jameson, 1992). Conclusion This is a harsh reality that ethnic minorities and migrants in UK are generally looked at with disgust by the British locals. “Immigrants have been characterised as ‘cunning’, ‘loathsome’, ‘unprincipled’ and likely to ‘swamp’ British culture.” (Craig, 2007). Racial discrimination leads to an immense waste of human potential resulting in low productivity. Agnes Ridley, a well-qualified Malawian immigrant, wrote in People Management (23 February 1995, p. 30), “ I see a life of wasted potential and steadily growing frustration characterized by one theme: discrimination in employment.” Not only are the ethnic employees treated badly by the employers, but there have been cases where customers have passed racist comments to the ethnic staff working in hotels in UK. “Staff at the Noor Tandoori restaurant in Coventry Street in the city told Leicester Crown Court that the two men shouted racial insults at staff and management, accused them of being members of Al Qaeda.” (Smith, 2007). In light of all this, it is imperative to remove the cultural barriers in the way of British socio-economic growth. “…there is a fundamental need to remove the 'white gaze' as the only or dominant way to observe and make sense of the world.” (Hughes & Stephenson, 2005). Recommendations The key factor which can play a role in uprooting racial discrimination in the hotel industry is the senior management’s commitment to creating a non-discriminatory environment. Ethnic minorities are more likely to be recruited or promoted in firms where employers take actions to destroy the barriers to equality that often exist. “Zero tolerance of racial discrimination in the workplace must be led from top management.” (NEON, 2008). Some recommendations for upgrading the hotel sector in general, and implementing equal opportunities’ policies for migrant and ethnic minority workers are listed below: Employment rights and information Following guidelines if practiced can help resolve the racial-discrimination issue: Measures should be taken to spread awareness about the employment rights among the masses. Small employers should be funded to understand and implement the right system in which all employees are treated equally, because a couple of interviewees have complained about this in a survey. “When you talk about this the employers get agitated and say ‘we cannot because we are a small business’.” (Wright & Pollert, 2006, p.42). Sources of information should be cheap, user-friendly and readily available to ensure effective transfer of knowledge to the recipients. Employers should be offered privileges on employing workers from ethnic minorities, in terms of upgradation of hotel ranking. Employers should be funded to equip their workers with necessary training, so that they can enhance their skills. The training should include language courses. Half the people from ethnic minority are identifiable only because of their language-pronunciation, which tells them from the British locals even if they are white. Zchek and Polish, if learn to speak English in the British accent like Canadians and Australians can make themselves look British, and hence avoid racism inherent in the British society against them. Services such as the Service Workers’ Advice and Action Project should be re-established, with statutory and trade union backing. Government should take measures to increase funding for organizations supporting ethnic minorities. Information about such organizations is readily available online. “There are lots of places you can find help in your own community to deal with racism and racial discrimination.” (Carnell, 2009). Migrants and Ethnic community can find text online to help improve their English speaking skills useful for employment in the hotel industry. “Trainees and employees in the hotel and tourist industry need English both to communicate with guests and to negotiate with English speakers.” (Harding & Henderson, 2004 cited in learn4good). Case studies: Invisible racial discrimination in the UK Hotel industry Case study-1 Mrs Vogelenzang, 54 and Ben Vogelenzang, 53, run the nine-bedroom, Bounty House Hotel near Aintree racecourse in Liverpool. They were accused of passing racial comments to a Muslim woman who had been staying at their hotel for four weeks while she received treatment at a hospital nearby. They had argued with the Muslim woman over the breakfast table in their hotel about the Islamic history and cultural traditions, when she was wearing the Hijab. The Christian couple had offended the lady by commenting negatively on Islam and Islamic dress. When questioned, the couple expressed it as their right to explain their beliefs. The couple was member of the Bootle Christian Fellowship. Their solicitor, David Whiting, mentioned they were not supposed to indulge into such a conversation for legal reasons. “They have been charged under public order laws with using ‘threatening, abusive or insulting words’ that were ‘religiously aggravated’.” (Petre, 2009). They were arrested, fined upto £5,000 and faced a criminal record as a result of the woman’s complaint to the police against them. Case study-2 There is a trend of recruiting migrants and ethnic minorities, in the hotel and catering sector because of the tendency of these people to work at pays, lower than what suits the complexity of job. Due to the increasing unemployment across the globe, these people feel so blessed to be offered jobs in the hotels, where they would be earning twice as much as they did in their own countries. “It appears that foreign staff are more likely, as opposed to more willing, to work long hours than the rest of the catering workers and more likely to work shifts and week-ends.” (Knight, 1971 cited in Wood, 1992, p.33) The National Minimum Wage in UK was £4.85 / hour for those employees who were aged 22 or above, and £4.10 / hour for the ones aged 18 to 21. Later, the figures were revised in October 2005. Since then, the NMW has been £5.05 / hour for those aged 22 and over, and £4.25 / hour for the employees aged 18 to 21. “The adult national minimum wage is to rise from £4.85 an hour to £5.05 from October and £5.35 in 2006, Tony Blair announced today. The Prime Minister said that the increase would affect around 1.4 million workers, with women particularly benefiting. The rate for 18 to 21-year-olds will rise from £4.10 to £4.25.” (Woodcock & Lyons, 2005). These are the minimum set standards of wage for employees working in hotels in basic grade jobs, which include bar, house-keeping, porters, dish-washing and restaurant. But there is a trend of paying NMW to employees working at the operating level. A Human Resources manager of a Bournemouth group of hotels when interrogated, revealed that irrespective of the demand of the complexity of job in terms of skill, the employers refuse to pay their employees above the NMW. “We’ve got a head chef from Slovakia who was earning £2.50 an hour in Slovakia, we offered to pay him £4.85 [the NMW at the time], he was over the moon. And for us that was incredible because we should be paying, you know, a lot, lot, lot more than that. But it suited him, it suited us and of course again that’s going to keep industry wages low if you’ve got somebody who has been to college, comes out with their certain qualifications and now says ‘I don’t get out of bed for less than £10.00 an hour’ and yet you’ve got Mr. Slovak who will come and do it for £4.85, where is the industry going, where is the whole of society going in that it will always keep wages low? And therefore the National Minimum Wage is a good idea.” (Human Resources Manager, Bournemouth hotel group cited in Wright & pollert, 2006, p. 14). Due to the widespread unemployment and poverty across the globe, people tend to work for hotels in UK even at the NMW, because of it being larger than their home-country wages. Hotel-managers in the UK market tend to benefit from this weakness of migrants which costs them only a NMW to satisfy their employees working even above the basic level. The hotel and catering sector is already known for its harsh working environment and low wages, and this behavior of employers further adds to the roughness of the environment of the hotel industry through further depressed wages. Additionally, these low-paid workers are far happier to work as compared to expensive local British White employees. Therefore they work harder. Yet, this attitude of employers toward the employees falls under the category of racial discrimination. It distinguishes between the British White locals and Ethnic Minorities on the basis of difference in pay. Case study-3: Not more than a year ago, a Muslim catering manager named Hasanali Khoja, aged 60, was forced to cook bacon and pork sausages, and was threatened by the hotel line manager, that he might end up losing his job if he refuses to carry out the orders. The Muslim catering manager refused to cook pork firstly because it is forbidden in Islam, and secondly, he was supposed to manage and not cook himself as per the requirements of the Catering Manager-post. He mentioned that he had been insulted by the line manager. “I was very humiliated and stressed out and was unable to continue.” (Khoja, Catering Manager cited in Caterer Search, 2009). Case study-4: The commission for racial equality (1989: 7) has outlined several common forms of discriminatory behavior, one of which is unfair disciplinary action, dismissal or selection for redundancy. The following case-study explains some of these: An ex-employee of the Novotel Hotel has complained about the discrimination she faced during her job, on Youtube. It is evident from her way of speech and pronunciation that she belongs to ethnic minority. One can also judge that from the faulty English she has used to express herself in the videos. The employee complains that she was forced to be present in a meeting while she was sick. The hotel management organized a meeting about her unapproved leave during her sickness, the proof for which she later provided the hotel management with. She informed the management that she had been absent because of her illness, yet she could not convince them. She has complained about abusive language, the hotel management had used in talking to her. She also explained that she was sent threatening letters from the hotel management on uploading the recorded calls on youtube. (Working in the UK! Intimidation at the Novotel Hotel!, 2008 cited in Youtube). References Altinay, E. & Altinay, L., 2006. Determinants of Ethnic Minority entrepreneurial growth in the catering sector. The Service Industries Journal, 26(2), pp.203-221. Carnell, L., 2009. Who can help on racism, [Online] Bullying UK. 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Poor Personnel Practice In the Hotel and Catering Industry: Does It Matter?. Wiley Interscience-Human Resource Management Journal, [Online]. 4 (4), p. 44-62. Available at: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119972921/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 [Accessed 14 February 2010]. Shah, A., 2010. Racism. [Online] (Updated 12 January 2010) Available at: http://www.globalissues.org/article/165/racism [Accessed 15 February 2010]. Smith, A., 2007. Two customers at Indian restaurant jailed for racially abusing staff. Caterersearch, [Internet] 05 July. Available at: http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/2007/07/05/314741/two-customers-at-indian-restaurant-jailed-for-racially-abusing-staff.html [Accessed 14 February 2010]. Sonwalkar, P., 2008. 'Racism still plaguing UK's ethnic minorities'. Rediff India Abroad, [Internet] 3 April. Available at: http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/apr/03race.htm [Accessed 15 February 2010]. Thomas, D., 2009. Muslim caterer accuses the Met of discrimination. 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