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Part 2 Behaviour at work
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In truth,
I have never been set on the buses, but I have had
one or two attacks. I remember one night when I
was working as a conductor. The route was Stole
on Bradley by the clinic. The last bus from Bilston
was at eleven o clock by the clinic to Bradley Lane.
Most of the people would get on Oxford Street. These
buses were quite small. Once you had taken on so
many passengers, you would say "Sorry, no more!"
On this night I said this, but as soon as the bus
set off someone chucked mushy peas and bits of food
at me. Luckily I had just stepped onto the bus to
collect the fares and all the food was on the back
of the bus. It was really strange! We used to get
a lot of agro from passengers on the buses.
How did the mushy peas incident make you feel?
At times you would feel down, thinking you are not
appreciated doing this job. In those days it was
part of the culture to be looked down at, to be
ignored and to be harassed. I think we dealt with
it quite well!
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Did you accept the way
you were treated?
No. I have never accepted it. I have never entertained
the idea that I am less than anybody. Some of it,
you put it down to the culture. Some people are
totally ignorant.
What I found is that people who have travelled were
much more enlightened, and you could have a better
discourse than those who didn't know where Darlaston
was - if they lived in Bilston.
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Was it difficult to cope with?
It was not easy at times. Yes it would affect
you in terms of your confidence and in terms of
your aspirations. Because you couldn't get homes,
the council would not help you get somewhere to
live. If you wanted to buy a place you were limited
on where you could buy - which house you could
buy. That was one of the limitations. No matter
how much money you had as a black person, you
were not able to buy the property you wanted.
How were you made aware of it?
It was quite visible. Some people were quite explicit.
They'll say - "No blacks". Even some
factories. Most factories would have a notice
stating the vacancies they had, and some would
go as far as to state: "No blacks" on
the notice boards. Some, even if they didn't state
it outside - the moment you arrive you know you
are not welcome.
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With institutional
racism, you feel you are alone. You are fighting
on your own. When I moved to social service my workload
was double. My supervisor felt it was not fair.
Although there were other Asian social workers,
I was the only Asian social worker who was a specialist
in dealing with Asian families. She wrote to the
director and said that I needed assistance, but
no response came. By then I was living alone with
my three children and I was finding it difficult
to cope financially.
One of my colleagues asked me what scale I was on.
I told her. She responded with disbelief. She said
that she was an unqualified social worker with no
formal qualifications, and was on a higher level.
"Why?" she asked. Why was I below her
scale? It was then I realised that I had not had
the time to enquire about scales/wages which were
being received by my white colleagues. Nor were
we given the same facilities as the white social
workers. Then I realised that I was being paid far
less than unqualified social workers. Whenever I
said I ought to have a pay rise, my principal worker
said I should go for formal qualifications. Only
then would I receive a "progressive".
My fight began with the department - which took
ten years. I was doing exactly the same work as
qualified social workers - child abuse, domestic
violence, homelessness and housing problems. Because
I had my teaching qualification and not CKWS, I
was being paid less. Eventually, in 1992, they gave
me the correct level of pay, which all qualified
social workers were receiving. It took 10 years.
I felt my seniors were responsible to look at my
work load and my responsibilities which were far
greater than others. Yet I was paid less.
This was never realised until three white unqualified
social workers, working in the same area, they were
receiving higher wages than me. Then I realised
this was not fair. Other Asian social workers were
going through the same difficulties - qualifications
from back home - not recognised - but they had gained
their experience in this country. They were not
treated the same way as their white counterparts. |
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I remember
my daughter Pauline. She had chicken pox. And I
said to the matron at the time, "Matron - my
daughter isn't very well! I need a couple of weeks
off to look after her".
(Matron) 'How dare you, nurse Bennett!' she said.
'You will not tell me when you can have your time
off. I will tell you when you can have your time
off!' And she "flunkst" out of the room.
I went back to the ward and I thought - 'After all.
She should not speak to me like that.' - within
my heart. 'Who the bloody hell do you think you
are'. So I went right back up the ward and called
her by name and said, ' May I have a word with you?'
She said, 'Yes nurse Bennett, but if it is regarding
having time off - my word stands.'
She went into the office. I backed the door so she
couldn't get out. To be honest I told her straight.
'Listen. My daughter is sick at home - I'm having
the time off!'
She said, 'I've already told you nurse Bennett!'
I said, 'Let me tell you something. Look around
this ward. Do you see any of these patients look
like me?
She said, 'What do you mean?'
I said, 'Exactly what I have asked. This is the
last time I will work in your establishment.' |
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I like an
adventure. I went to London. Left my job, they didn't
want me to go. I said no, I want to make a new move.
So I went to a place called Orpington in Kent. I
thought I was going to get a job straight away -
as a draughtsman. I couldn't. That's when I found
discrimination. With all my qualifications I couldn't
get a job. So I had made a move to improve myself
and started a new life somewhere else. I had to
take a job in a machine shop in the maintenance
department, tool room. I stayed there two years,
then I realised the mistake I had made. Suddenly,
from an office job to come back to the shop floor.
How were you dealing with the rejection? How were
you clear that it was discrimination? How did it
become evident to you that it was discrimination?
Well, you could see people coming to the machine
shop, from the tool room, from the drawing office
and they had made a lot of mistakes in the drawing
- and I had pointed these out. Well, I knew more
that them! I am here, they also knew it as well.
But there was nothing you could do about it because
there was no support behind you, you didn't know
where to go in that time. You didn't know what to
do if you were discriminated. You just went along
with it. You internalised it, it can happen to you
and that's it. |
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What forms of racial discrimination and abuse did the the
interviewees experience from their work colleagues, customers
and employers?
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