Ethnic minorities still face racism in catering sector

Racism is such a problem for catering that white couples are refusing to have Asian waiters serve them at their weddings,a leading union official has warned.

Kashmir Bilgan, regional organiser of the Leicestershire GMB, says racial discrimination is a growing problem butethnic minorities put up with it because they cannot risk losing their jobs.

In Leicester, where more than 60,000 people (a quarter of the city's residents) are Indian or Pakistani, she has had complaints of waiters being banished to kitchens at white weddings.

She said: "Some couples don't want people with a different colour skin serving them, so the Asian staff are left to do the background work, such as washing pots and chopping vegetables."

"Exploitation in catering is fact not fiction because at the end of the day any job is better than none and so rights are eroded," she added.

According to Karen Keates, of the Commission for Racial Equality, many of London's four- and five-star hotels treat Afro-Caribbeans as second- and third-class citizens.

"You get them doing menial jobs so they are invisible to the public. Recruiters are largely white and they tend to see it as a risk to employ someone who is black," she said.

John Dhaliwal, manager of Mem Saab Indian restaurant in Leicester, said: "It is more difficult for ethnic minorities to progress."

An insider at Birmingham City Council added: "Afro-Caribbeans often work behind the scenes as assistant chefs in restaurants because there is still some sensitivity about people's prejudices." by Louise Bozec