L’Aston Martin is one of the teams that has fought the most in the defense of human and social rights. Sebastian’s presence on the track Vettel and that of Matt Bishop at the head of communication are examples: the two are always very attentive on civil and environmental issues. But no one can win battles alone, and it is precisely in Aston Martin, according to a former employee, that serious episodes of racism have occurred. To report them is Aidan Louw25, born in South Africa and a British citizen.
Louw, according to what he confessed to Sky Newsallegedly suffered racist insults while working for a supplier of the Silverstone team, where he had been hired since February as a laminator in the construction of parts of the cars driven by Vettel: “Before even entering that environment, I was anticipated that there would be a particular language. They called me brownie, then darkie. They didn’t call me Aidan, Aidy or anything like that. They called me brownie, and then they switched to ‘no‘. Here, there I draw the line, and they have crossed it. I also revealed to someone that I had had a boyfriend in my teens. As soon as everyone found out, they tried to destroy me as a man. I don’t want to be seen as a victim, also because it’s not just me. My community is the victim. We don’t ask for special treatment just because of ethnic origin or sexual orientation. We only ask for equal opportunities“.
We have a zero-tolerance policy on discriminatory behavior of any kind. We were extremely disappointed that two of our supplier’s contractors had behaved so appallingly. We acted swiftly and applied our zero-tolerance policy. They no longer work for that supplier, therefore. https://t.co/5uOTGZOAGt
– Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team (@ AstonMartinF1) July 15, 2022
Louw was fired by Aston Martin for poor performance and compliance with deadlines, as reported again Sky News, but defended himself by stating that precisely these harassments affected his work performance. Aston Martin specified in a tweet that it has a zero tolerance policy towards racism, homophobia and all types of discrimination. And at Silverstone they did not hesitate to follow it also in this case, dismissing the employees in question: “We have a zero tolerance policy towards discriminatory behavior of any kind. We were extremely disappointed that two of our supplier’s workers behaved in such a scary way. We acted quickly and applied our zero tolerance policy. They no longer work for that supplier“.
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