Racism rife as people with Irish sounding names twice as likely to be given job. ERSI

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Re: Racism or not ?

A friend of mine was Supervisor where one of the guys in the warehouse was coloured.

He was taken on to to a particular job, but once he got his foot in the door he started on - how come I have to do this and nobody else has to, even though that is what he was taken on to do.

Another non Irish worker taken on proved quite difficult to work with too, because of his religious beliefs.

Both were very difficult to work with and put the company off taking on any more non Irish workers as they were just too much hassle.

Companies run a mile from anybody playing the race card
 
Re: Racism or not ?

DavyJones said:
Racist.
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Oh dear.

Is it deemed racist to say coloured?

I had black orginally and then went back in and changed it because I thought that might be offensive.

I am not racist but am the first to say I have had no close friends in said nationalities (for want of a better word) that you could have conversations about stuff like that, so have no idea how they wish to be correctly addressed. I did have African neighbours at one point, but the day to day conversation never got around to backgrounds/etc. To be honest, I actually steered away from any references to any colours whatsoever for fear of (unintentionally) insulting them. It was kind of like taking your words out and examining them before you spoke. And I still probably said the wrong thing!
 
Re: Racism or not ?

MandaC said:
Oh dear.

Is it deemed racist to say coloured?

I had black orginally and then changed it because I thought that might be offensive.
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Black is more PC I think, but yeah it's hard to know. PC seems to change on a regular basis.

On a side note, a black guy wrote a song a few years ago (it was in the charts) about how white people have different colours ( when they are cold, hot, sick etc) and that white people have a cheek to call black people coloured. It is amusing.
 
Re: Racism or not ?

MandaC said:
Oh dear.

Is it deemed racist to say coloured?...
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It's more racist to attribute to his race any difficulties people had in dealing with him. You can find good and bad individuals in any ethnic category.
 
Re: Racism or not ?


I am not saying I agree with them. I am saying what happened. If someone says - why have I the rubbish job - is it because I am black and the real answer is, no, that is what you were told the job would be at interview, it causes no end of bother for the employer at the end of the day.

My sister had an incident where she caught a traveller stealing in the shop she managed and confronted her. Person had been coming in and stealing small items for ages and the other staff (younger students) were afraid of her so just turned a blind eye. Person was barred from the shopping centre for same reasons and had a criminal record as long as your arm, but Gardai said waste of time prosecuting as the person never got to leave the premises with the item that had fallen into their bag.

Said person attacked my sister and tore her around the shop by the hair (my sister was pregnant at the time) and then tried to bring a case against the shop for discrimination. Shop owner wanted to pay up for it to "go away", but my sister said if he did that she was leaving, so went herself to the hearing and said her piece. Of course, common sense prevailed and the person involved got nothing. But how many people in business would have just paid up to make it go away.

Same thing in jobs, employers are terrified of any accusations of racism/discrimination and will steer away from the topic if at all possible.
 
Re: Racism or not ?

Remember Kid Creole and the Coconuts? In black parlance what is a coconut? A person who's black on the outside but white on the inside. A pejorative description of a fellow human being of the same ethnic (got to be careful here) hue. So, a person of the said hue is able to discuss persons of similiar hue without prejudice but a person of a different hue cannot. This is balderdash .......... created by self styled liberal intellectuals and followed on the path to righteousness by lesser imitators who take the easy way out. You have only got to look at the UK and their style of cultural integration to see what a success that is . People of all races can live in harmony side by side and discuss things in real debate. But trying to square the circle by implying that everything in life follows a perfect pattern is utopic. Life, nature and culture are not level playing fields.
 
Re: Racism or not ?

Padraigb said:
Our own what? Our own people, I suppose. So we favour some people over others simply because they are Irish, and we claim that is somehow right.
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Irish yes but Cork people need not apply...

Lex that means you.
 
Re: Racism or not ?

MandaC said:
I had black orginally and then went back in and changed it because I thought that might be offensive.
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Consider this would you be offended if a black person called you white.

There is far too much pussy footing around when it comes to peoples colours.

They are black, red, yellow, olive skinned, brown or green (just in case any martians or the little folk are reading this) and we are white.
 
Re: Racism or not ?


No I would not be offended, because it is a fact, but to be honest people are afraid to say anything because it can be construed as offensive. I mean, some people are fat and that is a fact too, but its kind of like, don't mention the war.

I agree there is too much Policitical Correctness and pussy footing around but at the end of the day nobody wants to insult any body else. By me tying to be nicey nice I have probably offended my ex-neighbours and I did not even realise it at the time.
 
Re: Racism or not ?

Pique318 said:
Do you ever suffer from racial discrimination ? I mean because of your colour ?
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I have been.

When I was living in London I've been discriminated against because I was Irish and used to get plently of hate stares from young black men on the tube.

Having said that my best friend in London was a black guy called Presley.
 
Re: Racism or not ?

Pique318 said:
Do you ever suffer from racial discrimination ? I mean because of your colour ?
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Funny this, because I went today to a market/warehouse type supermarket that opened up near to where my mum lives. I was definitely in the minority (by about 200-1) and a couple of stares (by a small number of people), I might add, made it quite clear I was not welcome. I just kept on shopping (anything for shopping, me)

On the way out, I overheard one woman who had also made a sharp exit on the phone to someone from home saying "but sure how was I to know"

I also experienced a racist incident (by teenagers) whereby I was the minority when I was living in Lucan (odd as it may sound)
 
Re: Racism rife as people with Irish sounding names twice as likely to be given job.

Who would you give the job to Eddie Murphy or Barak Obama?

I worked with a guy many years ago who would not give a job to a person who used the Gaelic version of their names. He figured they were subversives. The same man would not hire a man with a pony tail!

I know that in Norn Iron in the bad old days employers used schools attended to work out the religion of the applicant. Girls names such as Roisin (or any een) were in one category while Hazel/Rose/Violet/Daisy (or any flower) were in the other category.

I know that in some parts of rural Ireland you will have difficulty getting a job interview if your name is Ward or McDonagh.

Using names to discriminate is about as irrational as you can get.
 
Re: Racism rife as people with Irish sounding names twice as likely to be given job.

At the heel of the hunt, it is within the employers right to hire whom he/she wants to. As most employers have a keen eye on the botom line, I would imagine that the best (for the company) man/woman wins.
 
Re: Racism rife as people with Irish sounding names twice as likely to be given job.

Simeon said:
At the heel of the hunt, it is within the employers right to hire whom he/she wants to. As most employers have a keen eye on the botom line, I would imagine that the best (for the company) man/woman wins.
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Absolutely.

Have to say though, Barack Obama is a really great sounding name.
 
Re: Racism rife as people with Irish sounding names twice as likely to be given job.

Simeon said:
At the heel of the hunt, it is within the employers right to hire whom he/she wants to.
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Employers must comply with the law of the land. (This includes the various anti discrimination measures, child labour regulations, etc enshrined in Irish law).

Employers must also comply with various industry regulations which govern the qualifications of employees (for instance if someone employed as a pharmacist must meet the relevant qualifications as set out by the regulatory body).
 
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