Kevin Rowan column
Oct 30 2006 By Kevin Rowan, The Journal
Uefa, the governing body of European football, is rightly being praised for its "tough stance" in banning Nikola Mijailovic of Wisla Krakow for five matches for racially abusing Blackburn's South African forward Benni McCarthy.
This intervention is to be applauded, but my own feelings that this is, in fact, a lenient punishment are tempered only slightly by the promise of further, more severe sanctions should such offences reoccur.
Zero tolerance on racism means little if in reality such blatant abuse results only in this selective suspension, Mijailovic will be able to play in domestic matches, banned only from Uefa ties. And why did it take Uefa to intervene instead of the club, as his employer, taking action?
If a similar situation was to occur in a workplace in the North-East we would expect the employer to take a firm line and to discipline the employee concerned.
Sadly, it is a further indication that racism remains a challenge for us all. A recent report commissioned by the Tyne and Wear local authorities showed just how significant the challenge still is.
Surveying black minority ethnic residents, researchers discovered 67% had experienced racism in the area.
And while 68% were aware of race equality policies where they worked, 21% felt they had been unfairly treated by their employer because of their ethnicity, skin colour or religious belief.
A similar figure, 20% had received unfair treatment from colleagues on the same basis.
In addition, TUC research in this region shows that black minority ethnic workers are more likely than white workers to be employed in low-paying, insecure occupations with generally poorer terms and conditions, despite their qualifications.
The same is true for migrant workers, this "under-occupation" being a growing characteristic in our economy.
This coupled with some of the negative experiences of migrant workers coming to the North-East, which includes a mixture of community resentment and cases of employer abuse, exposes the distance we have to travel to be the kind of region that can confidently attract people to come and live and work in an area that welcomes them and offers them a good quality of life.
This is something we must do to become a successful, prosperous, progressive and cosmopolitan region.
The emerging Regional Economic Strategy Action Plan, which places a clear emphasis on attracting skilled workers to this region, and the strategy commissioned by the regional equality and diversity board, provide a significant opportunity to continue meeting these challenges. Community cohesion based on inclusion and integration must be part of the platform on which the future success of the North-East is going to be built.
That is going to require some strong and united leadership at all levels in the region.
Kevin Rowan is regional secretary of Northern TUC.
