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Cases of discrimination in employment
They’ll come around here with their entire family to ask for favours making a very poor impression on our current
and potential customers”.
All of the workshops said the same thing. Following are the discriminating businesses:
- Talleres Suizo.
- Mecánica Ramán.
- Talleres Las Cruces.
- Taller José Banda.
20.
Madrid.
Employment.
Direct discrimination.
The FSG received notice of a discriminatory incident through its
alert service. It had to do with the dismissal of a young Roma man simply for being Roma. He told us that had
been working in the company for a year and a half and had not had any problems before. He feels certain that
one of the bosses overheard a conversation he had with his co-workers about ethnic groups.
We thanked the young man for reporting the incident since knowledge of these discriminatory situations allows
us to shed light on the discrimination that the Roma Community continues to suffer in the area of employment.
21.
Basque Country Employment.
Direct discrimination.
A participant in the Acceder employment programme
received a tip from her labour counsellor and called a company to inquire about a job offer as a clinic assistant.
They told her that it was a one-year post and that she would need a certified diploma. The enterprise media-
tor replied that there was a person with a long track record and excellent references and, despite not having a
certified qualification, she took part in a course at the Town Hall and is currently working on getting her diploma
certified. The worker at the employment agency then asked us to go ahead and send the person in so that they
could assess her candidacy. At that point the enterprise mediator mentioned that the candidate had been to
this employment agency before and that she was Roma. The person then said that she remembered who the
candidate was and insisted that the certified diploma was an indispensable prerequisite.
This is a clear example of how people are treated differently based only on the prejudices and stereotypes that
people have of the Roma community.
22.
Basque Country Employment.
Direct discrimination.
Someone from the FSG labour counselling department
went to speak to a clothing store manager to find out why two trainee students from the Acceder Programme
were dismissed.
The person responsible for security said these girls had stolen articles from the store and that nearly all of the
Roma trainees who do their practical training at the shop end up shoplifting. He went on to say that if it were up
to him, no person coming from the FSG would be allowed to do their training at that shop. He also said that that
the workers are fearful of Roma trainees and that is why they prefer not to discuss this any further.
In this case, negative prejudices and stereotypes towards the Roma community played a significant role in the
dismissal. The person in charge of security had never even met the people he is rejecting but assumes that the
majority of negative events taking place in that shop are caused by members of the Roma community.