Whites only?

[sparrow]

I saw this article on stuff and thought I'd put it up for comment:

www.stuff.co.nz/thepress/4804897a24035.html

Have your say: Taxi customers asking for white drivers
Rebecca Todd - The Press | Monday, 29 December 2008
Email a Friend | Printable View
Related Links
Subscribe to Archivestuff
Comment on this story
Advertisement

Advertisement
Christchurch taxi companies are fielding calls from customers requesting white drivers, a National MP says.
Nicky Wagner says she has spoken to several taxi drivers and company owners since the brutal slaying of Afghan driver Abdulrahman Ikhtiari earlier this month.
"Several said they had people call who only wanted white drivers," she said.
"You can say it's a racist comment or say there's a perception by the public that ethnic drivers don't know the city as well so they end up driving longer to get to their destination."
Wagner said the companies, who did not want to be identified, believed it was a racial issue and always told people they could not assign drivers according to their ethnicity.
She said she had heard horrendous stories of the abuse taxi drivers suffered, especially on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
"They are appalling stories; some have scars from the knives used on them."
She said there needed to be better communication between drivers and the police.
Incidents often happened during the busiest times for police, so they could be difficult to follow up immediately.
"There are a large number of immigrants working in the taxi industry, bars and restaurants, dairies and service stations," she said.
"They work at night, generally lowly paid and serving the community, and are getting abused, and it's not good enough."

[sparrow]

I think Nicky Wagner's comments on what people have said to her are very interesting. While she is quick to down play the racism aspect, taxi driving is not the only employment area this extends to. I remember Student Job Search releasing a statement that many employers ask for "whites" only in job applicants and many migrants that are well-qualified, and working in low pay jobs are there because employers don't want to hire immigrants.

[naki]

It would be good to think that all companies were as protective of their immigrant employees as this cab company claims to be. It would be even better to believe that they were doing it for altruistic rather than fiscal reasons.

The realistic response ispeople are going to hire, employ and patronise whichever service providers they prefer, for whatever reasons they choose. There will come a day in the not too distant future when cost-cutting measures mean that we have less choice in who we hire, and even less choice in how much service we get. Shops like The Warehouse have already shown that we get less variety and less service when we allow them to discount their way into our high streets. If you don't insist on a certain standard of competence and service from trade providers, pretty soon only the cheapest and nastiest product is left.

[misilon]

Im not surprised at the trend that seems to be taking the world we live in at the moment
racism is a reality
there was a time when homosexuality was a taboo subject now its legalised
civil union and all that jazz

prostitution is legal
blah blah !!