Racial Equality - Inequality in the Workplace?

[Deleted]

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?

[Deleted]

It is wrong, we have the same "quota's" in this country. a percentage of jobs in the Fire service, police and military are reserved for minorities, complete bullshit in my opinion. Give the job to people that are best suited to it, skin colour should not come into it.

[semaphore]

I'm sure this happens a lot in real life, but truth be told I can hardly rely on you to give a fair and unbiased account of things (if it is even non-fictional). But of course hiring someone on the basis of their skin colour is discrimination.

[Deleted]

It is wrong, we have the same "quota's" in this country. a percentage of jobs in the Fire service, police and military are reserved for minorities, complete bullshit in my opinion. Give the job to people that are best suited to it, skin colour should not come into it.

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

[Deleted]

It happens more often than you'd think, unfortunately. Discrimination works both ways, which is something that seriously needs to be addressed by society instead of brushing such issues under a rug.

[Honzi]

This stuff happens here alot especially when the state is hiring. There's a quota for everything, even though such a quota contradicts the constitution. Ironically you have the worst chances to get a state job, when you're a man that has a swiss name. Color doesn't matter much since there's not many black or asian guys here.
However in the private industry it's the other way around.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

People like to forget that positive discrimination is still discrimination.

[Deleted]

This happens more than regular racism to be honest.

[Deleted]

In all fairness its not just the case of race.

Here there were (unsure if they are in effect since it was originally a labour policy) where there must be the same thing with gender.

The big thing is, worthiness for the job.
In a predominantly white area, the most likely employees will naturally be white, you will receive more white applications, so more good employees will be present. But if you are required to take a black person, the applicants may be poor but you are required to take one

The concept of equality is a justifiable one,however in the same manner as random may not appear random,equality in this manner is not equal since you are giving people of a minority a greater chance to receive a job that anyone else

As i said with gender, there is all the fuss about the well paid jobs, however there is nothing being mentioned on the fact that a man is less likely to be employed in a school than a woman (due to the greater fear that they are a paedophile, which is unjustified, especially since the most recent causes in the news are about females rather than males)

[Varabently]

I always wondered how affirmative action somehow can exist while equal opportunity laws also exist. Bit of dissonance there right? So wait, I can't NOT hire someone for their race, but I can hire them based on their race? How does that work? Where I work is the same thing. We got about 50% black workers. Some are great, some aren't, same as white workers. What worries me is that this is definitely not indicative of the racial makeup of the city in which I live. I can see trying to keep the work ratio equal to the population. That kind of makes sense, but just hiring more minorities to appear diverse? That seems to be taking a step back.

[Deleted]

Affirmative action is racism.

[Deadvolcanoes]

The most disgusting example of this is in emergency services.

I mean FFS these people are supposed to save your life, and they got the job because of what they look like?

[Bumbasta]

affirmative action, go to South Africa and suffer the real pain of it.

[agathangalos]

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!

[Deleted]

Personally, I find it utterly retarded. However, since it's a private entity we're talking about here, I'd say they're free to make such a choice. And they should be free to make the choice not to hire someone because of their race. Not because I think racism is good, but because freedom of association is one of the most fundamental freedoms we have.

Was there some kind of law or regulation that forced them to hire the African?

[IxilaFA]

Discrimination laws are good. They serve to make sure employers are hiring the right person for a job every time.

.....Unfortunately, the writers of such discrimination laws neglected to include protection for white people in there as well. When it comes to discrimination, culture, anything really, white people are constantly kicked around. For example, at my work, it's popular for the Mexicans and Asians to speak their own language in front of people who don't understand it, they are constantly bringing down the culture of white folk, and when it comes to getting promotions, your odds are greater if you are the same race as the hiring manager.

Affirmative action needs to be gotten rid of, and all discrimination laws need to be rewritten where even majority races have protection.

[Lothaeryn]

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!

Laws tend to "disappear" when their "purpose" is fulfilled, that is all I am going to say.

I understand why these laws were put into place, but society has advanced quite a bit, at the very least the % for the quotas should decrease with time as poverty lines between ethnicities diminish.

[Archangel Tyrael]

That's racism against white people. But surely that's laughable on its face, inorite, cuz only whites can be racists.

[Deatheryn]

It is amazing how discrimination works, a double edged sword, when it prevents someone from getting a job it is an outrage but when it gets an unqualified individual a job it is considered justice done! What a wonderful world we live in huh?!

[banan163]

That's racism against white people. But surely that's laughable on its face, inorite, cuz only whites can be racists.

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