The town branded too white and too British

[__Kratos__]

A town is being stripped of scores of public sector jobs because its residents are "too white and British".

The Prison Service is relocating the posts to a nearby city where there are more ethnic minorities.

The incredible decision, which could lead to an investigation by the Commission for Racial Equality, was disclosed yesterday in a leaked official letter.

It is the first known case of its kind, but MPs warned similar moves could secretly be taking place across the country as civil servants are under enormous pressure from ministers to boost the number of ethnic minorities working in the public sector.

The 80 office jobs are being transferred from the depressed former steel town of Corby, in Northamptonshire, to Leicester.

The Tory General Election candidate for the town, which suffers from deprivation and is in desperate need of jobs, wrote to the Prison Service to demand an explanation.

In an astonishing reply, director of finance Ann Beasley - one of Home Secretary John Reid's top civil servants - said the town had too many white British residents.

As a result, it does not satisfy the drive to recruit more ethnic minorities.

Under the heading "key influencing factors", the letter states: "Our ability to attract a more diverse workforce - 93.7 per cent of the population of Corby are white British, compared to 59.6 per cent in Leicester>"

Mrs Beasley also implies Corby's residents are also too stupid to keep the jobs, which are mostly clerical posts buying equipment for the prison service.

She states that 17 per cent of people living in Leicester are qualified to degree level, compared with only nine per cent in Corby.

Furious opposition politicians were stunned by the reply and accused Labour of effectively being racist against whites.

The Conservative's diversity spokesman, Dominic Grieve, said: "This is very worrying. The Government should not be penalising people because of the ethnic make-up of where they live. The Government needs to explain just how widespread this policy is."

Louise Bagshawe, the candidate who received the letter, said: "Labour has controlled Corby council for 23 years and the town is very deprived. We have the lowest wages in Northamptonshire. Now locals are being told that Corby is too British for British jobs."

She added: "I told Ann Beasley our town already has a thriving Polish immigrant community, but she ignored this. Corby is just beginning to turn the corner, but we need good jobs.

"Gordon Brown loves to bang on about Britishness - if he means it, I call on him to reverse this disgraceful policy and tell Corby people they aren't too "white British" for Government jobs."

Kettering's Tory MP Philip Hollobone, whose constituents are also facing job losses, added: "People will be hugely offended that a decision like this is being made on racial grounds."

The Home Office last night stood by the letter, saying that attracting a "more diverse workforce" was a "key factor" in moving the jobs.

Discriminating against somebody on the grounds of race is outlawed by the Race Relations Act 2000.

But the Act does allow public bodies to take "positive action" to meet recruitment targets. In this instance, it would be illegal to say that the jobs must be filled by ethnic minority recruits, but moving to an area where they are more likely to apply for the posts is not illegal.

Staff based at the Crown House building in Corby will lose their jobs on March 19 when the building closes for regeneration work.

It had been assumed the Prison Service would find a new office in the town - which has an above average unemployment rate of 5.7 per cent, compared with 5.2 per cent nationwide. But officials, keen to fall in with Labour's "diversity agenda", seized the opportunity to move jobs to Leicester, one of the UK's most ethnically-mixed cities.

Staff have been given the option of transferring, but few - if any - are expected to agree to the lengthy commute.

A spokesman for the Commission for Racial Equality said that if they receive a complaint from any of the workers involved, they will start a full investigation.

A Prison Service spokesman said: "The potential sale of the property has given Her Majesty's Prison Service the opportunity to look at what provides the best option for the Prison Service and therefore the taxpayer in the medium to longer term.

"The key factors that influenced our decision to relocate to Leicester were the closer proximity to a greater number of prison establishments, better transport links, the ability to recruit professional staff and the ability to attract a more diverse workforce."

Source

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It's alright to openly discriminate against whites now? That's just insane. I love how they offered the "whites" jobs if they wanted to drive to the new location but the move for minorities was because they didn't want to drive that far for work.

[m. Moe]

Wow........... I am almost speachless with this. Too white and British?

[Caesar]

LOL its like that in some parts of Canada from what my friends have said, and Massachusetts. you have a much better chance getting state contracts if you are a minority even if it costs more.

[Lord Umbarger]

You know, in the U.S., when we take jobs away from qualified persons because they are too white, we call it "affirmitive action". One new federal court house in Georgia was three years over schedual and 12 million dollars over budget. You can lay a cola can on its side at one end of the building and it will roll out the exit door on the other end of the building, a total of over 300 feet!

[Fluffybunny]

When I was applying for Firefighter positions I never put "white/caucasion" as my race, rather I put "Native American"... Somethig that I never did before, but the fire departments are so desperate to hire minorities that blacks or mexican folks automatically have a 20% increase in points; a step up on the grading process before they even walk in the door.

There are white guys that score 100% on written tests, perfect on physical tests, all kinds of prior training and years of experience and they lose out to a black guy with no experience and little training with mediocre test scores just because the department needs to fill a racial quota. It is disturbing and wrong.

[Michelle]

It's a terribly disturbing trend that has been going on for far too long, especially in jobs that are as life threatening as yours...among other professions.

[MissMelsWell]

When I was applying for Firefighter positions I never put "white/caucasion" as my race, rather I put "Native American"... Somethig that I never did before, but the fire departments are so desperate to hire minorities that blacks or mexican folks automatically have a 20% increase in points; a step up on the grading process before they even walk in the door.

There are white guys that score 100% on written tests, perfect on physical tests, all kinds of prior training and years of experience and they lose out to a black guy with no experience and little training with mediocre test scores just because the department needs to fill a racial quota. It is disturbing and wrong.

I know exactly what you mean Fluffybunny. My bf years ago applied at the SFD, had great test results, and was 438th on the lists because he was a caucasian male. He gave up which was a shame, he'd have been terrific at it.

I know when my daughter applies for work, she choses "OTHER" because she's half Roma (Gypsy if you have to call it that) but the only reason she does that is because thinks the question is stupid in the first place--she figures she's got them if anyone asks about what ethnicity she is, and she can turn the job down if they're hiring her because she's "Other". Of course, because she's female, she still gets special treatment (as do I), because of the industry we work in is a little short on women. Believe it or not, it bugs both of us... a lot. But we have to work, and we can't kill ourselves wondering if we were selected because we were women or because we were the best person for the job. It's torture (and almost impossible to tell why we were hired).

[liokee]

When I was applying for Firefighter positions I never put "white/caucasion" as my race, rather I put "Native American"... Somethig that I never did before, but the fire departments are so desperate to hire minorities that blacks or mexican folks automatically have a 20% increase in points; a step up on the grading process before they even walk in the door.

There are white guys that score 100% on written tests, perfect on physical tests, all kinds of prior training and years of experience and they lose out to a black guy with no experience and little training with mediocre test scores just because the department needs to fill a racial quota. It is disturbing and wrong.

It's the same here, Fluffybunny (or was - they say it's changed, but it hasn't) with the Toronto Police. Don't get me wrong, I'm from a cop family, but I think it's disgraceful that they seem to always find a reason NOT to hire a white male for the position - no matter what his scores were. In the 90s, it was called 'employment equity' by the NDP Provincial government at the time, and it's done nothing but damage to the Police force.

I've even heard a horror story from someone in my family: he was with the Police for over 15 years and when it was time for him to break in a new partner, he was given a visible minority female to work with. He didn't really care - he's only interested in doing the job. But he quickly learned that the only reason she'd been hired was because of her gender and her minority status. She didn't have a valid driver's license! She refused to carry a fire arm! In all honesty, I think it was the last straw for him, and he ended up quitting. Truly, would you want this woman to come and try to save you, in an emergency? How would she get there, take the bus?!

I know exactly what you mean Fluffybunny. My bf years ago applied at the SFD, had great test results, and was 438th on the lists because he was a caucasian male. He gave up which was a shame, he'd have been terrific at it.

I know when my daughter applies for work, she choses "OTHER" because she's half Roma (Gypsy if you have to call it that) but the only reason she does that is because thinks the question is stupid in the first place--she figures she's got them if anyone asks about what ethnicity she is, and she can turn the job down if they're hiring her because she's "Other". Of course, because she's female, she still gets special treatment (as do I), because of the industry we work in is a little short on women. Believe it or not, it bugs both of us... a lot. But we have to work, and we can't kill ourselves wondering if we were selected because we were women or because we were the best person for the job. It's torture (and almost impossible to tell why we were hired).

Yup, MissMelsWell, I know what you mean... I worked in a male-dominated profession for the better part of 8 years, and I spent most of those 8 years busting my butt to prove I could do just as good a job (in many cases, better ). But because it was an old boys' club, I was never sure if I was hired because they thought I would be good for the position, or if they just wanted people to see that they were 'equal-opportunity' employers. It's truly frustrating... Although, that said, most of the guys I worked closely with respected me and treated me well after a couple of years, and I was sad to leave it. You can learn some really interesting things about men when you work with them long enough, that they forget you're a woman...

[Caesar]

I've even heard a horror story from someone in my family: he was with the Police for over 15 years and when it was time for him to break in a new partner, he was given a visible minority female to work with. He didn't really care - he's only interested in doing the job. But he quickly learned that the only reason she'd been hired was because of her gender and her minority status. She didn't have a valid driver's license! She refused to carry a fire arm! In all honesty, I think it was the last straw for him, and he ended up quitting. Truly, would you want this woman to come and try to save you, in an emergency? How would she get there, take the bus?!

She didn't have a valid driver's license and She refused to carry a fire arm, and she is a policewoman, how can this be. lol this is unreal lol wow I thought the U.S. was bad with its political correctness. but who does this really hurt?

[liokee]

She didn't have a valid driver's license and She refused to carry a fire arm, and she is a policewoman, how can this be. lol this is unreal lol wow I thought the U.S. was bad with its political correctness. but who does this really hurt?

Yep, it's pretty ridiculous, eh? I remember wondering, "HOW did she get hired?!", and all I can think of is that they intended to train her for her license... but as for the fire arm thing... dunno. This would have been just before the NDP government instituted their 'employment equity' quotas, I think... probably in the mid-late 80s. I'm sure there were more qualified people out there - probably even more qualified women, but they were likely white. I don't understand how it's suddenly okay to pass someone over, based on their skin colour, even if it's white. I thought that's what racism was...

[Caesar]

Yep, it's pretty ridiculous, eh? I remember wondering, "HOW did she get hired?!", and all I can think of is that they intended to train her for her license... but as for the fire arm thing... dunno. This would have been just before the NDP government instituted their 'employment equity' quotas, I think... probably in the mid-late 80s. I'm sure there were more qualified people out there - probably even more qualified women, but they were likely white. I don't understand how it's suddenly okay to pass someone over, based on their skin colour, even if it's white. I thought that's what racism was...

"Eh" now THATS Canadien lol or "go Leafs"!!!

But this topic reminds me of This story so it seems to be happening all over.

[el midgetron]

You can lay a cola can on its side at one end of the building and it will roll out the exit door on the other end of the building, a total of over 300 feet!

Warning: Do not attempt rolling coke cans in any federal or public buildings. Doing so may result in having your head kicked in by Homeland Security.

lol wow I thought the U.S. was bad with its political correctness. but who does this really hurt?

Theres alot more to this than what might appear. NY just (or is moving to) banned the "N" word. Its a word I have no use for, however it still another example of our rights are being chiseled away. Regardless of the color of your skin, these laws are all wolves in sheeps clothing.

[Caesar]

Theres alot more to this than what might appear. NY just (or is moving to) banned the "N" word. Its a word I have no use for, however it still another example of our rights are being chiseled away. Regardless of the color of your skin, these laws are all wolves in sheeps clothing.

Oh I agree. I don't use the "N" word either, I notice black people like to use it though like in their music, would NY go after them?

Just insane!

[Celumnaz]

outlawing discrimination was a bad move

[Atheist God]

It's alright to openly discriminate against whites now? That's just insane. I love how they offered the "whites" jobs if they wanted to drive to the new location but the move for minorities was because they didn't want to drive that far for work. disgust.gif

Like I said before white people are discriminated again'st just as much in a lot of cases more then minorities are because minorities never get in sh** over it.

[Lord Umbarger]

QUOTE(Lord Umbarger @ Mar 2 2007, 04:24 AM)

You can lay a cola can on its side at one end of the building and it will roll out the exit door on the other end of the building, a total of over 300 feet!

Warning: Do not attempt rolling coke cans in any federal or public buildings. Doing so may result in having your head kicked in by Homeland Security.

Nah, I wouldn't go do it today! I was working there while it was nearing completion. I was part of the trim carpentry crew. My first day on the job one of the guys that had been there for a while showed my that little trick.

There are white guys that score 100% on written tests, perfect on physical tests, all kinds of prior training and years of experience and they lose out to a black guy with no experience and little training with mediocre test scores just because the department needs to fill a racial quota. It is disturbing and wrong.

The local police here where I live are like that too. They would rather hire an ex-con than a white person because of their racial quotas but, if I were to hire a person simply because they are white, the whole system would come down on me.

They banned the "N" word in some small Texas town and the people made the mayor repeal the law! How do you ban a word? Why would you even waste the taxpayers money to do it? If that its the biggest problem your community is faced with then they don't need you running the town. This from the same people who outlaw plants too, I guess. Why don't they outlaw the word "Cracker", or "Kike"? Isn't "Honkey" supposed to be an equivilent word?

Edited March 2, 2007 by Lord Umbarger

[justcallmefox]

Somehow, this all seems like some sort of reverse discrimination to me...

What's the problem with hiring a white male, so long as that's not the ONLY reason that you're hiring him?

[MissMelsWell]

I know for a fact that once I was hired for a job specifically because I was female. And it had little to do with EOE.

I worked in IT at the time, and had some specific skills with e-mail migration that none of the other sys admins had, and had some experience with server clustering, wihch was a skill they were somewhat short on as well. So I was hired for my skills, but not entirely.

There were 9 young guys in the department, and frankly, they were all a walking HR Violation. We worked behind closed and locked doors although we occasionally crept out of our cage to do a little desktop support (which was something the manager was rightfully terrified of).

The manager in this case was super concerned that one of his little manly men was going to step out of line (and that had happened in the past) and land the department in serious trouble. He told me in the interview that he was specifically looking for a woman who knew what she was doing, was slightly older than the rest of the team, and was also particularly thick skinned. He hired me and his little plan actually worked! What I found was that I had a good intuitive sense of when to be one of the guys, when to be sister and when to be mother. I never had to get into anyone's face and yell at them for being sexist. But what I could do was stem an escalating issue with a humorous, but serious "Don't make me come over there and put you in time out!" or other creative warnings. But on the other hand, I could also be one of the guys when one of the ladies in other departments deliberately baited them and that DOES happen no matter how much we want to think it doesn't.

Was hiring me wrong? They did hire me based on my sex and were quite clear about that, they probably could have found a man rather quickly that was more skilled than I was, but in my opinion, that manager made a good business decision.

I guess my point is, if I'm going to be hired specifically because of my gender, I want to know about it and I want to know what the specific reason is. EOE isn't a good enough reason.

[Celumnaz]

personally if "white male" is the qualification the employer wants, more power to em

even if there's a more qualified black person.

*ME*? I'd pick the more qualified.

But just because that's what I would do I don't think it's right to make it mandatory or punishable for others.

If they want stupid white people instead of smart whatever-the-color-or-non, imo it'll reflect in the sinking of the business, even faster if they lose patrons due to racist perceptions.

let the market forces work

[el midgetron]

Why don't they outlaw the word "Cracker", or "Kike"? Isn't "Honkey" supposed to be an equivilent word?

The reason I have heard as to why the scale is unbalanced when it comes to "N" and craker, is that there is no history of oppression behind the word cracker. I have even heard people argue that black people simply can not be racist no matter what they think or say about other (non-black) people. Personaly, I don't think history makes much of a difference when it come to people expressing hate in the present tense.

Somehow, this all seems like some sort of reverse discrimination to me...

There is no such thing as "reverse" discrimination. Discrimination is discrimination no matter whos doing it or who they are doing it to.

Race is just one of the meny ways they keep us divided and fighting with each other. All of the "hate" groups in America are controlled from the inside by the CIA.

I never had to get into anyone's face and yell at them for being sexist.

Whats wrong with being sexy?

[Mars]

I noticed in my own highschool, black and latino children are openly racist against whites and the teachers or whoever seem to allow it more.

[The Three Ventriloquists]

This is wrong we are so obsessed now with "equality" that we are giving women and minorities bonuses while penalizing white males isn't this the same kind of rascism and sexism that everyone thinks is so evil?

[KingTomis]

No, you cant be sexist towards a man and it isn't racism if your white.

[Lotus Flower]

In this stupid "PC"world we live in (and I don't mean the computer kind), it's no wonder the whole planet is going wrong, if two people go for one job the right one to choose is surely the one most suited, whether it be qualifications or mental make-up, whether they be white, black, blue, purple, red, green, yellow, grey!

This is the trouble nowadays, there are so many rules and regulations that everyone has to abide by, it is getting nigh on high to breathe let alone pass wind!!

They say what about this person's rights and that person's right, the thing is they are only remembering the minorities' rights and disregarding everyone else's - it doesn't seem to matter that possibly thousands of people's lives and rights could be violated, as long as they fill in their quota of minority posts.

Choose those most suited, no matter what their colour, race or religion and the rest will naturally fall into place, oh sorry, I forgot, just a bit too easy and full of common sense!!! :angry2:

[The Three Ventriloquists]

Im not saying that racism towards minorities does not exist it is a cruel reality butthey should not instantly get special rules so rascism is not put onto them because that in itself is rascism because you aregiving favour to a certain race. In my opinion the second everyone has black curly hair caramel skin and one blue eye and one brown one the better because no one will have anything to be racist (or claim rascism were it doesn't exist) about.