Bosses at Leamington factory move to quash racist abuse of workers - The Leamington Observer

Bosses at Leamington factory move to quash racist abuse of workers

Leamington Editorial 7th Jul, 2016 Updated: 28th Oct, 2016   0

BOSSES at a Leamington factory have moved quickly to stamp out racist abuse in the wake of the EU referendum.

It comes after comments were made to eastern Europe employees working at AGA Rangemaster following the vote in favour of Britain leaving the European Union.

A notice was placed on a board at the Eagle Street factory warning staff they could face disciplinary action or possible dismissal if they were found to make disparaging comments to fellow workers.

The notice read: “Following the referendum vote it has come to the company’s attention a small number of disparaging and inappropriate comments have been made to our employees from outside of the UK.




“Any further instances of this behaviour will result in disciplinary action up to, and including, dismissal.

“If an employee feels they have been subjected to any unfair treatment or negative behaviour they should inform their manager immediately.


“Any person – be they an employee, a contractor, visitor or on a temporary contract – should be treated with respect and courtesy.”

A spokeswoman for AGA Rangemaster maintained it had been an isolated incident and the company had taken steps to ensure any repeats would not be tolerated.

She added: “We are really proud our company has a truly diverse workforce and a team of people of all nationalities who work happily side by side across all our UK operations.

“Over the past few days there have been a couple of isolated incidents where unacceptable remarks have been made to a few of our colleagues who are from eastern Europe.

“This has never happened before so we wanted to immediately make it clear that this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated and therefore have put up the notice.”

It comes amid national fears of a rise in so-called hate crimes. In the week following the vote there was a five fold increase in reported racist crime – with over 300 incidents logged.

Among five incidents recorded by Warwickshire Police were two incidents of racial abuse in Leamington.

A 29-year-old man was arrested on Victoria Terrace on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly and possession of a class B drug. He was bailed to return to the police station on July 10.

And an incident of racist abuse was also reported in Rotherfield Close. No one was arrested.

Warwickshire Police’s Chief Constable reaffirmed the force’s commitment to tackling such crime.

Martin Jelley said: “Hate crime is not tolerated in Warwickshire and we will do everything within our power to ensure that offenders are dealt with appropriately.

“All reports to us are thoroughly investigated and the care and support of victims is at the heart of all that we do.”

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