Government Minister Terry Lister has said that companies that discriminate against whites will be put under the same scrutiny under new Government race laws as companies that discriminate against blacks.

The Minister for Development and Opportunity was at pains to emphasise that the new laws for the Commission for Unity and Racial Equality were about a good racial mix in the workplace.

"It cuts both ways. It is not just about blacks. It is about every company having a racial mix. There are black owned companies that have very few white staff and they will have to justify this.'' Mr. Lister was talking to The Royal Gazette about the implementation of new laws which will give teeth to CURE codes of practice.

The laws have been brought in by the Government to promote racial equality and remove racial discrimination in the work place.

It will mean that employers will have to fill in comprehensive forms about the racial make-up their employees.

Recruitment, training, promotion and dismissals will now be put under the microscope and companies will have to prove that they are striving for racial equality in the work place.

Mr. Lister has been at pains to emphasise that no company would be made to take on underqualified staff to make up numbers and has said that the drive is not one of racial quotas.

Mr. Lister said that all sectors would have to look at their racial mix. He said: "For example if I have very few white females, I should look at this and maybe look at why this is.

"If there is a company with 60 employees and they are all black, we will check that they have done everything they can, such as put adverts for jobs in The Royal Gazette which is the normal place to advertise. Of those ten who applied, all ten have been black. "Then they may come to us and say `what else can we do?' and together we will work it out. We will continue to monitor the company and check what they are doing is fair and proper. But at the end of the day we cannot make people apply for a job.' The new law will affect all businesses with over ten employees, a total of 528 companies on the Island.

Information will be collected by the Government and processed. Companies will be divided into similar groups and the data compared between businesses.

And over the next five years Mr. Lister hopes that through the new CURE laws that the racial mix in companies across the board will improve.

Of all the subdivided categories in the scheme, retail will be the largest.

The new Act has just been passed in Parliament and is due to go to Senate this week. Companies which fail to register with CURE face a fine of $1,000. Those which fail to provide information will be fined $5,000.

DISCRIMINATION DIS Terry Lister