Ford is appointing a diversity manager and will examine its corporate citizenship policies in Britain as part of an equal opportunities agreement with unions sparked by allegations of persistent racist bullying at its Dagenham plant.
The agreement commits Ford to set up a diversity and equality assessment review which, among other things, will cover communication and corporate image, corporate citizenship and equality auditing.
It will also create the post of diversity manager, responsible for diversity issues, and set up a joint national equal opportunities and diversity committee with union input. Similar committees will be set up in each Ford plant throughout Britain.
Ford said the idea was to produce ‘a robust basis for achieving a workplace with equality of opportunity where diversity is valued and which is free from harassment of any kind’.
The company has been subjected to damaging criticism over the past few months for apparently failing to take action over race relations problems at Dagenham.