New policy to affect Indian restaurants: Speak English!

[Harold F. Schiffman]

New policy to affect Indian restaurants

Nabanita Sircar

London, January 9, 2006

The popularity of Indian restaurants could suffer a severe setback as a
result of new British immigration policy. The neighbourhood curry house
and Chinese takeaway risk being replaced by kebab shops, if they do not
succeed in their campaign to persuade the Government to continue letting
thousands of Asian people into the country to help to make the curries.
But ministers are not listening. They have told caterers to speak English
in their kitchens so that vacancies can be filled by workers from Eastern
Europe. Meanwhile the rush of East European asylum-seekers is beefing up
the kebab house business.

Fighting to save their authenticity, the first lobby of Parliament by
representatives of Britain's 250,000-strong Chinese community has urged
politicians to make a special case to save the locally stir-fried chop
suey. A leading community member said that staff in Britain's 10,000
Chinese takeaways and 5,000 restaurants are mainly asylum-seekers,
students and illegal immigrants. But the Immigration, Asylum and
Nationality Bill, to be debated soon by the House of Lords, would impose a
two-year jail term and fine on employers hiring illegal foreigners.
Students and workers refused visas would lose the right to appeal. The
Government's new immigration strategy will encourage highly prized,
non-European professionals but would admit only unskilled workers to fill
labour shortages. The unskilled will have no right to settle.

Ashraf Uddin, the secretary-general of the Bangladesh Caterers'
Association, said that at least 20,000 workers were needed to work in
Britain's 10,000 Indian restaurants. But the Government has apparently
told them to hire Eastern Europeans. Uddin said, "Unless they know our
culture, our language, our way of working, its a complete mess." Lord
Chan, who chairs the Chinese in Britain Forum, said: "The main concerns
are clear in that 95 per cent of Chinese catering businesses are not going
to be taken over by members of the family. The person who buys the
business would need to recruit people."

Thomas Chan, chairman of the Chinese Takeaway Association, estimated that
between 30,000 and 50,000 workers a year were needed. "The head chef will
find it difficult to communicate with these Eastern Europeans," he said.
"If there is no mutually understood language, how are they going to give
instructions? It's not just a pinch of salt here and there. It's the
culture." Taflan Dikec, president of the National Association of Kebab
Shops, said that there were already 40,000 kebab takeaways, with numbers
growing fast.  Refugees had provided a source of labour but Eastern
Europeans were able to make more than kebabs.

Dikec said: "They are capable, if the Chinese and Indians gave them an
opportunity. They have this myth that Chinese food can only be cooked by a
Chinese person or Indian by an Indian." The Home Office said: "Allowing
the sector to continue to rely on low-skilled labour from outside the UK
or EU would be self-perpetuating if it means the sector continues to be
reliant on workers with particular language skills."

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5983_1594302,00430005.htm