Racial Equality - Inequality in the Workplace?

[N-7]

I'm not white but I find this extremely wrong.

[Namarus]

Ok so, ive been working for my company for about 2 years now. We employ around 1400 people, and in my department there are around 40 workers.

Most of the people who work there are white. I live in a predominantly white area.


Every year during our busy periods, we get temp workers to help cover the extra workload, these are 3-6 month contracts, so me and my colleagues get to know them quite well during that period.

Last year we get this guy called Dan, and he was fantastic. Very hard worker, great guy, and performed more than satisfactory. He was also white.


This year we are taking on a permanent extra member of staff and had a series of interviews. Dan was amongst them. Everyone knew he was going to get the job, even the managers who were interviewing him. He was perfect for it.


But wait...............


He didnt get the job, and instead the job went to a random African guy that nobody had ever heard of, who had little experience of what the job actually entails. When we asked the managers what had happened, they all fell silent and refused to answer. There were hints that Head Office forced them to hire a black guy, solely based on his skin colour, so that it looked like we are equal opportunity employers.

Now hold on a second, i am all for equality, especially in the workplace, but surely somebody should get a job based on merit and not because of their skin colour?


Does anybody else see this situation as completely wrong? Or is it just me?

Something that you haven't answered in your post. Was the "black" guy any good at the job? Did he learn the ropes quickly enough? Is he a hard worker? Were you one of the people interviewing him? Why an earth would your managers discuss with you a subordinate how people did in their interviews? There are rumors that it was affirmative action .. did you just make that rumor up yourself?

Your post is pretty one sided.

[N-7]

Something that you haven't answered in your post. Was the "black" guy any good at the job? Did he learn the ropes quickly enough? Is he a hard worker? Were you one of the people interviewing him? Why an earth would your managers discuss with you a subordinate how people did in their interviews? There are rumors that it was affirmative action .. did you just make that rumor up yourself?

Your post is pretty one sided.

a random African guy that nobody had ever heard of, who had little experience of what the job actually entails.

[Ret4resto]

He didnt get the job, and instead the job went to a random African guy that nobody had ever heard of, who had little experience of what the job actually entails. When we asked the managers what had happened, they all fell silent and refused to answer. There were hints that Head Office forced them to hire a black guy, solely based on his skin colour, so that it looked like we are equal opportunity employers.

Now hold on a second, i am all for equality, especially in the workplace, but surely somebody should get a job based on merit and not because of their skin colour?


Does anybody else see this situation as completely wrong? Or is it just me?

You stated that the job went to a man that nobody has ever heard of, yet somehow you are "knowledgeable" about his work experience? Are you actually knowledgeable? or are you just assuming that just because he's black he has no basic understanding of the requirements for the job? SOME white people have this warped opinion concerning affirmative action, I have to chuckle at the stupidity that is often posted when it comes to this topic. Affirmative action calls for employers to diversify their staff, this does NOT mean employers are hiring complete idiots just because they're Non-white. When Affirmative action didn't exist mass discrimination existed in the work force with the majority of jobs going to white men, hell discrimination against minorities still exist even with affirmative action.

And guess who benefits the most from Affirmative Action? WHITE WOMEN, don't believe me? do the research for yourself.

lastly this is an obvious race bait thread

[banan163]

Something that you haven't answered in your post. Was the "black" guy any good at the job? Did he learn the ropes quickly enough? Is he a hard worker? Were you one of the people interviewing him? Why an earth would your managers discuss with you a subordinate how people did in their interviews? There are rumors that it was affirmative action .. did you just make that rumor up yourself?

Your post is pretty one sided.

i kinda agree, there could be alot of reasons to why he got picked and why his boss didnt chose to talk to you about it. just because you don't know the person dosen't mean he wasn't accepted to the right terms of skill.
I don't think it's appropiate to accuse anyone for racism/discrimination before you know the whole story. we have only heard your side of the story, the manager could have his reason. you never said you interviewed any of these guys, so how do you know he isn't right for the job?
But if this whole thing is true, it sucks tbh.

[Archangel Tyrael]

that's racism to any race, just because he was black dosen't mean it was fair to asian/hispanic ppl. and yes it should be same requirement dosent matter skin color.
But this happens alot on the other way around aswell

In this case, it was against a white person, as explained by the poster.

But yes, it is racist against anyone that isn't black.

[anveena]

Everyone knows it's not racism or discrimination, if it's against white people

[skrump]

Hey don't worry, in a couple generations our white asses will be the minority and then our grandchildren can exploit this to their hearts content! It'll all come full circle, baby!

At worst your grandchildren will be getting laughed at or slaughtered by the new majority who won't really give a dam about them, their beliefs or their supposed rights.
At best we will populate the country with interracial children who lose all ties with their racial backgrounds, and also unify under a single language.

[banan163]

Everyone knows it's not racism or discrimination, if it's against white people

Trust me, i see it that racism doesn't have any color, i'm Hispanic but my skin color is more white than any (maybe a little more tanned than normal):P
But it is also a fact that sometimes it's not only the "black" ppl taking out the racism card but the "white" ppl also feel sorry for them and for some reason they start the whole charade.
I remember when Re5 came out and the whole racism thing came up about the zombies being black and the protagonist being white. to be quite honest it was more "white" ppl complaining about it being racist:P
I also heard that racism is a big thing in Usa atm that black ppl is a racist as white, if not even more.
Like i said racism has no color

[Deleted]

At worst your grandchildren will be getting laughed at or slaughtered by the new majority who won't really give a dam about them, their beliefs or their supposed rights.
At best we will populate the country with interracial children who lose all ties with their racial backgrounds, and also unify under a single language.

What are you talking about? Are you going to "breed minorities" and create little white children because you are scared of multiculturalism? To the OP surely the "black guy" himself wouldn't like the thought of him getting the job just because he is black - it would probably insult him as much as somebody who was trying to be directly racist.

[Maxilian]

Well i don't think that he got the job because he was black or anything... i'm pretty sure he got the job because he was a foreign, i don't know why... but when someone is trying to get a job in another country the people react like:

"Well... you'r foreign... did you came here ilegal?"

"ermmm.... no, i came here to get a better change of job, and to learn from a new culture"

-HE HAVE TO BE A GENIUS!... why?... I DON'T KNOW BUT HE HAVE TO BE!-

"CONGRATULATION MISTER! YOU'R NOW THE NEW MANAGER!"

"ermm.... but i haven't even gave you my curriculum..."

[Abrasion]

I actually tested this out. I was on "the big job hunt" last year after I graduated. I noticed I didn't get any calls for jobs I applied for in the government.

After I found a job, and to prove a point to some friends of mine, I applied for two different jobs for shits and giggles with no intention of taking the position. I applied for two entry level positions related to my field. One, I sent it my actual resume that had my home number listed for contact info. The other, I put a fictitious female, foreign sounding name that listed my cellphone as the contact. For extra luls, I took my education background off the foreign one.

Guess which one got a call back? I won a free movie from a friend on that bet. Good times.

[Namarus]

Well if you are white and speak English you can always get a job in China as an English teacher. They actively discriminate positively to white english speakers.

[Deleted]

This is exactly racism in the other way. They hired the guy because he was black to show that you're a diverse community and such. This is obviously wrong as he was not qualified at all for the job but they won't say anything because of political corectness and all the bullshit.

[Deleted]

I agree that quotas are paternalistic, burdensome, and borderline discriminatory. The problem is that when there was no quotas, minorities were routinely excluded from jobs and academia arbitrarily, just because they were minorities.

Do you know what it means that you can be denied promotions, jobs or services only on terms of your race/gender/disability? And don't say it wouldn't happen now, tell me instead what would you do to solve the situation if it was going to happen again as it happened in the past.

[Deleted]

I agree that quotas are paternalistic, burdensome, and borderline discriminatory. The problem is that when there was no quotas, minorities were routinely excluded from jobs and academia arbitrarily, just because they were minorities.

Do you know what it means that you can be denied promotions, jobs or services only on terms of your race/gender/disability? And don't say it wouldn't happen now, tell me instead what would you do to solve the situation if it was going to happen again as it happened in the past.

It doesn't matter. Replacing discrimination with discrimination is no better.

And this isn't a case of the government saying "you can't discriminate". This is a case of a company discriminating against the white guy so that they can appear in the eyes of the public as if they do not discriminate against blacks. It's their choice, they're free to do it, but it's stupid.

The real problem is if you start passing laws that try to implement affirmative action and similar crap. That's really unacceptable.

[Archangel Tyrael]

I agree that quotas are paternalistic, burdensome, and borderline discriminatory. The problem is that when there was no quotas, minorities were routinely excluded from jobs and academia arbitrarily, just because they were minorities.

Do you know what it means that you can be denied promotions, jobs or services only on terms of your race/gender/disability? And don't say it wouldn't happen now, tell me instead what would you do to solve the situation if it was going to happen again as it happened in the past.

So we're living in the past now?

[Deleted]

It doesn't matter. Replacing discrimination with discrimination is no better.

And this isn't a case of the government saying "you can't discriminate". This is a case of a company discriminating against the white guy so that they can appear in the eyes of the public as if they do not discriminate against blacks. It's their choice, they're free to do it, but it's stupid.

The real problem is if you start passing laws that try to implement affirmative action and similar crap. That's really unacceptable.

If the company was going to hire the black guy anyway, they shouldn't have even let the white guy think he had a chance. Apparently that company had only one opening, and it was to implement an equal opportunity policy, so it was misleading the white guy.

So, it's unacceptable. Instead you find more acceptable that minorities should find themselves excluded. Don't say that's not what you said, i know. But it's a very likely result of a lack of equal opportunity policies (because it's already happened). If you don't find that acceptable, then tell me: what are your solutions against discrimination?

---------- Post added 2012-06-10 at 07:35 PM ----------

So we're living in the past now?

The past tells us how we reacted when there was no measurements against discrimination.

[Arcanimus]

yeah i agree, skin colour should not factor into it at all. should not have to hire a white person over an asian person who is more suited for the job example just to fill a quota

Fixed that for you.

Seriously though, it happens every day. Get used to it.

[Brangh]

Hopefully people do not think that these decisions are based only on race, because they are not.

We had a man who had to take a year off to handle the ailing health of both his father and then his mother, which caused him to be terminated because he need a month beyond the one year limit. Low and behold, soldiers start returning home when they post for a replacement for his job. It was still open when he applied again, even though he would have to take a salary cut. In the end, despite him being fully trained with no known prior reprimands other than his termination (that was public to my knowledge at least), they ended up hiring a veteran who has openly stated he needs a paycheck until he starts getting his VA disability pension (VA and the Office of Personnel Mgmt are months behind on processing new annuitants apparently). He left 5 months later and the position remains open because they experienced and fully trained guy had to take a job elsewhere.

Businesses discriminate because government asks them to and I do hate it when it is solely based on that constant pushing. I have no problem with a business choosing someone based on their personal background if they are using that person as a front to sell to a specific demographic, foreign country, etc., mostly because that just makes some sense from my point of view.