A whistleblower has accused an English fire brigade of setting entry test pass marks significantly higher for white men than for women and ethnic minorities in order to meet diversity quotas.
West Midlands Fire Service requires white men to achieve 70 percent in a verbal, numerical, and mechanical reasoning test before they can progress to an evaluation of their physical fitness, while female candidates, black candidates, candidates with Asian roots, and other ethnic minorities only need to make 60 percent, an anonymous source who spoke to the Daily Mail claims.
The whistleblower also alleges that the fire brigade is splashing out some £2,500 a month on Facebook ads “targeted specifically at women” — in a time of swingeing budget cuts.
“This directly discriminates against white men,” the whistleblower complained.
“Not only are they discriminating against large parts of my community, but they are also using huge amounts of public money to do so.
“It’s not fair on the members of the community who rightly expect the best people for the job will be selected to serve on the front line. It’s difficult to swallow knowing people have not been able to achieve their dream careers because they are too white or too male.”
The Mail claims to have seen a leaked memo showing West Midlands Fire Service wants 60 percent of its new recruits to be women, and 35 percent from a so-called BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) background by 2021 — which would leave white men hugely underrepresented relative to their share of the general population.
While neither confirming nor denying the allegations against them, the fire brigade insisted its recruitment and selection process was “appropriate, balanced and, above all, legal.”
“West Midlands Fire Service is committed to having a workforce which reflects the diversity of the population of all our communities, and one that is welcoming to all,” a spokesman declared.
It is technically illegal to discriminate against someone based on their racial or ethnic heritage when hiring for a job in the United Kingdom, but the so-called “positive action” provisions of the Equality Act do allow for white men to be excluded from paid internships and training workshops designed to enhance job prospects.
White working-class boys currently have the worst start in life of any demographic in Britain.
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