Rampant workplace racism is preventing black workers from advancing in their careers.

This is the claim from a new Trades Union Congress (TUC) report launched last week.

According to the TUC, black workers consistently miss out on training opportunities.

While 28% of black and minority ethnic workers (BME) are graduates, 20% are never offered training. This compares to just 17% of white workers who claim the same, 20% of whom are graduates.

But where BME workers are employed in workplaces with trade union recognition, or are in the public sector the openings to training are much improved.

Brendan Barber TUC General Secretary said: “Racism at work is still preventing too many black workers from fulfilling their potential. We need new legislation that will force all employers to give equal access to training for all workers. The TUC is campaigning to extend Britain’s race relations law to make all workplaces respond positively to the training needs of black workers.”

The TUC say that Pakistani and Bangladeshi employees are particularly hard hit, facing real barriers to training opportunities.

Thirty-nine per cent of Pakistani employees and nearly half or 47% of Bangladeshi employees have never been offered training. And in the case of Bangladeshi men, this rises to more than half (51%).

Other key findings:

• Some 31% of BME workers have never been offered training by their current employer. This compares with 29% of white employees not being offered training.
• Public sector employees are much more likely to be offered training by their employer. Only 15% of BME public sector employees say they have never been offered training, compared to 37% working in the private sector. The equivalent figures for white employees are 14% and 35%.
• Those belonging to a trade union have a huge advantage in being offered training. Just 16% of unionised BME employees have never been offered training compared to 36% who are not union members.
• In certain industrial sectors there is a clear divide in equality of access to training. For example, in manufacturing nearly half (48%) of BME employees say that they have never been offered training compared to only 37% of white employees.
• The ‘qualification divide’ has a huge impact on who is offered job-related training by their employer. For the workforce at large, there is a clear ‘training hierarchy’ with only 17% of employees with a degree saying that they have never been offered such training compared to 55% of those employees without any qualifications.