Report warns of workplace racism

A Filipino worker was tied to a chair by a racist colleague in the North while another was locked in a freezer, a community representative has claimed.

The allegations emerged as new research found almost half of Filipinos living in the North say they have experienced racial harassment in the workplace.

Co-workers are the most common source of the abuse, with bosses and customers also guilty, the study of the local Filipino community found.

The number living in the region has increased greatly in the last decade, from around 300 in 2001 to an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 currently.

Many have travelled to the North to take up jobs in the health sector.

Filipino community representative Jason Braga, 36, who has lived in the North for nine years, said some of his compatriots were frightened to report abuse in case it harmed their chances of staying in the country.

“I was told of a nurse being tied up in a chair and a hotel worker being locked up in a freezer,” he said.

“But these people did not want to give further details, they are scared. When I first came here I also experienced problems, people telling me ’why don’t you go to your own country’.

“We have heard of managers shouting (racist) things at Filipino people but they don’t want to complain because their future is in their manager’s hands.”

The report by the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM), which was outlined at an event in Stormont, found workers from the Philippines are vulnerable to exploitation, particularly those working in the fishing industry.

The NICEM research also highlighted the many immigration difficulties encountered by Filipinos trying to settle across the UK, including limited access to social security and tight restrictions on bringing family members with them.

Bosses refusing to pay agreed wages has an impact on visa issues, as applicants for Indefinite Leave to Remain status need to have a pay rate that exceeds a set UK Border Agency level.

While a senior care assistant at a nursing home should be paid over £7 an hour, a union survey last year found that the average Filipino employed in this post was getting £6.70, a figure below the UKBA criteria.

In the study of almost 150 adult Filipinos living in the North, 42% said they had been racially harassed at work.

Of those who alleged abuse, 48% said they had been targeted by a colleague, 44% by a customer and 33% by a manager.

As well as calling for changes to UKBA rules for gaining citizenship and work permits, the report calls for action to be taken by the Stormont administration to improve the situation of locally based Filipinos.