Government must investigate Sodexo racism claims, says Labour
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Version 0 of 1. Labour is calling for the government to investigate allegations of racism at one of the largest outsourcing firms in the UK before a decision is made on the awarding of a military contract to run British bases in the Mediterranean. The Guardian revealed on Wednesday that Sodexo, a multinational company that operates privatised prisons, NHS pathology services and school kitchens, is facing damaging claims about racism in the personnel department of the defence division. The claims arose after an employee was hit by her director, who said it was "punch-a-black week". The firm is in pole position to win a contract to run six military bases in Cyprus. The deal is worth up to £100m over three years and the winner will be announced in the next few days. Jon Trickett, shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, said "there needs to be a proper investigation and consideration to determine the facts in this case before the contract is let. If this had been the civil service or government department then there would have been an inquiry. I cannot see why this should not happen for private companies in receipt of public contracts." Trickett said there was a provision under public sector contract law that allowed bidders to be disqualified if they had "committed grave misconduct in the course of their business". "If the allegations are true then they are highly offensive and this sort of behaviour should not be part of any workplace least not a taxpayer-funded one." It is claimed that black staff in the department in Colchester felt they were being stigmatised as lazy. The company is also accused, by at least one employee, of "creating and inciting a hostile climate of distrust against difference". In one instance, a white male executive allegedly had to remonstrate with a junior colleague who, upon the arrival of a black employee, said: "There is another black one, they are taking over." In October 2012 an African-Caribbean female manager was punched by a top executive of the defence division, who was a white man. When she asked why he had done this, he responded: "It's punch-a-black week". After an investigation the female staff member left with compensation and the manager also left. Two non-white female employees of the human resources department are currently taking the company to court over claims of racism and sexism. Sodexo said: "We are aware of the serious allegations within our defence business published in the Guardian. We take allegations of this nature extremely seriously, and in no way do we tolerate these behaviours at any level within our organisation. A number of the allegations outlined in the article relate to a historic case, which was thoroughly investigated under our disciplinary policy at the time and resulted in a senior manager leaving the company in 2012. "We have a strong diversity and inclusion strategy in place and this includes strict policies and procedures to deal with any allegation which goes against this. It would be inappropriate for us to comment on the recent allegations while our investigations into these are ongoing." A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: "We take the conduct of all our contractors very seriously and investigate and consider diversity policies where relevant to the subject matter of the contract." |