Latest on the Lidl racism scandal. My letter to the Fife Free Press: Sir, - I welcome the partial climb-down by Lidl in the face of roars of protest across the UK at their racist policies against Polish staff and I congratulate the Fife Free Press on breaking this story which became national news, involving diplomats at the highest level. I am still anxious, however, that Lidl appear to consider it acceptable to ban staff from speaking amongst themselves in their own language in the staffroom, lest an English-speaking member of staff suspect they are talking about him or her. Such a problem, if indeed it exists, says far more about the paranoia and egotism of the person complaining than the Polish staff members. I had a pleasant conversation today with Mr Reece Aitken, of Lidl’s PR department, who called me from their Scottish HQ in Livingstone to discuss this matter. I hope that I managed to convey to Mr Aitken the essence of just how and why their staffroom ban is wrong and probably still illegal. We exchanged points of view: Lidl considers that Polish people should stop talking Polish when a British person walks into the room because “they are capable of speaking English and so should do so.” I countered that a Polish person would be equally capable of giving up their seat for a British person, giving them the keys to their car and all manner of things. It does not follow that they should do such things, just because they can. I explained that, while a person might converse well in a second language, it is a welcome relief to be able to revert to their first language, if just for 5 minutes, now and again, and rest their brain. Should Lidl persecute people for relaxing for a brief moment in the sanctuary of the staffroom, while they gather energies for the forthcoming portion of their shift? Would we feel it justified for Spaniards to upbraid us for conversing amongst ourselves in English, Gaelic or Scots while in a Spanish bar? As reasonable as it is engineered to appear on the surface, Lidl’s mandate that Polish people snap immediately into English the moment a British person appears is unreasonable, unfair and racist. I await further news via the Fife Free Press pages that Lidl has done the decent thing and rescinded completely these unrealistic policies regarding languages other than English. Yours, etc. Bill Mair
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 17:40:27 +0000
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