Construction set to kick out racists

The government and leading construction industry trade bodies are setting up a new committee to look at how the industry can tackle its appalling record on racism.

Key industry bodies such as the Construction Confederation and the Construction Industry Training Board will sit on the committee and try to come up with solutions to change the industry’s record on race.

Not enough effort

The move is a result of a meeting held in June between the DETR, Commission for Racial Equality and the Department for Education and Employment. They decided that the industry was not making enough effort to combat racism. This followed a damning report by the CITB last summer, which discovered that just 1.9% of the construction workforce was from an ethnic minority.

In the last year, the number of ethnic minorities in construction rose from 1.9% to 2.4%. But construction still employs the lowest number of ethnic minorities of any industrial sector in Britain.

Helen Stone, chairwoman of Movement for Innovation’s diversity group, says companies should set quotas for recruitment of ethnic minorities, depending on the demographics of their local area. The head of the Commission for Racial Equality, Gurbux Singh, agrees with this policy. “A company’s workforce needs to reflect its demographic. In an area with a high proportion of ethnic minorities, a construction company’s staff should reflect this. Not just at entry level, but in senior positions also.”

Singh urges companies to “translate policy into action” by setting targets, creating a policy round bullying and harassment and forming support groups. The Commission for Racial Equality has experienced its own problems in turning policy into plans with its leadership challenge. Launched originally in 1997, the scheme aimed to sign up businesses to tackling racism in their companies, but Singh admits it became a rubber stamp. It is being re-launched in November, with the emphasis on action, not just signatures and the CRE is in talks with construction companies about signing up to the challenge.

Recruitment of workers from ethnic minorities is not the only problem. Retaining them and creating a good working environment once they are in the industry is just as vital. The CITB report found that 39% of employees in the construction industry from an ethnic minority said they had been subjected to racist comments at work.

‘It’s an image problem’

CIOB chief executive Chris Blythe doesn’t believe that construction is racist, however. “I think the industry lacks understanding and can be blind to the issues involved.” Blythe also puts down the lack of ethnic minorities in construction to the age-old image problem. “I don’t think ethnic minorities value construction as a profession and would rather become, for example, a doctor or accountant before thinking about construction as a career.”

Practical steps are being made to change the industry. The CITB, through its regional offices, works with ethnic minority communities and schools to encourage children from ethnic minorities to consider a career in construction. It has a “young presenters” scheme, where people from ethnic minorities who have worked in construction for four to five years go into schools to speak about their experiences.

CITB recruitment campaigns have focused on ethnic minority media and, in the coming year, CITB will be focusing on getting people from ethnic minorities to take construction degrees by encou-raging construction companies to take them on for summer placements.

Chief executive of CITB Peter Lobban stresses the need to involve smaller construction firms. “Big companies are getting involved. We need to widen the net to include small- and medium-sized companies in these initiatives” he says.

One way could be through the checklist CITB are helping equal opportunities taskforce Change the Face of Construction to produce. Like a site-safety checklist, it will provide a short guide to how you can ensure your site/office is “as racially open as possible”, in Lobban’s words. The guide is only available now in draft format.

helping hand

Change the Face is also setting up mentoring programmes for minorities in construction (CM July/August 2000). The scheme aims to provide support for new recruits to the industry from more experienced professionals. Housebuilder Berkeley Homes and construction firm Simons have already put their names to the programme, which perhaps signals a more positive future.

Another way of supporting minority groups already in construction is support groups. Gurbux Singh also advocates this, but only as a temporary measure. “There is a risk of marginalisation, but I have seen support groups work in local government. It provides a common, coherent voice for minority groups and creates confidence. It can provide a stop-gap to create a culture change.” A change that construction is certainly in need of.