Kif Kif and ABVV bring a civil action against Adecco

In April 2009, the anti-racist organization Kif Kif and the socialist trade union ABVV, brought a civil action against Adecco, the global leader in employment, which was being accused of discrimination at work. It all started in 2001 when they found out that Adecco used separate lists for autochthons and immigrants. Autochthons were encoded with the abbreviation “BBB” (Blanc Bleu Belge), which refers, in the cattle industry, to a purely Belgian cow race. That way, Adecco was able to register if a company wished for foreign temporary employees or not. By going to court, Kif Kif and ABVV want to show that any type of discrimination at this level, should be handled and punished very seriously.

Sanne Diependaele

www.nieuwsblad.be

How to decrease the racial labour market gap?

According to a study on racial discrimination in the labour market imposed by Van Hoof, a Dutch minister of state, ethnic minorities are struggling with different problems when they are looking for a job. First, many foreign jobseekers aren’t master of the Dutch language and most of them left school without graduation. The second problem is the way by which immigrants search for work: they often use an employment agency, whereas employers seek their personnel via advertisements. At last, some employers don’t hire immigrants because in job interviews the cultural difference creates a barrier or because they want to avoid risks. Therefore, the researchers are convinced that language courses, improving the information about racial differences at work and dealing with the high rate of immigrant school leavers will reduce the racial gap.

Sien Eylenbosch

www.integratie.net

Ethnical sounding name? No job!

An investigation into the racial labour market gap by the National Centre for Social Research in Britain has given proof of a widespread discrimination against jobseekers with foreign names. The researchers created 3 different identities with a typical Asian, African and English name, but all with similar British education, qualifications and work experience. Afterwards they sent the application letters of these 3 false persons to 987 companies with selected vacancies. The result confirmed what the government already suspected: the Asian and African jobseekers received less by half positive reactions. The employment minister Jim Knight is still stunned by the size of the race bias and said companies are not taking advantage of real talent.

Sien Eylenbosch

The Guardian Online