Who am I?

My name is Chontay Marie Nathan. I am 23 years old from East London. 

I was a key worker at Tesco over the last few months due to COVID-19 as a temporary employee. There have been numerous complaints of racism about the online delivery manager at Tesco Gallions Reach. 

Tesco has refused to properly investigate and act on these complaints - now I'm taking legal action to hold them to account. 

#BlackLivesMatter  #institutionalracism  

What am I trying to achieve?

The system needs to change - the policies and procedures in place at Tesco do not respect or support black lives. We need real change. Tesco had countless opportunities to provide a satisfactory outcome. Tesco must publicly show what they are doing to rectify their countless wrong doings and racial discrimination.

My experiences of racism in the workplace

I raised a formal grievance letter (which you can read here) after being told by the Gallions Reach Store Manager that I could make a complaint on behalf of younger black women who were told by the female online delivery manager "You all look the same" which is why she apparently could not remember their names. During the investigation other racially discriminatory issues came to light.

I was informed that I could make a complaint on behalf of these younger women. I blew the whistle on race discrimination.

Subsequently, a manager from Bromley by Bow Tesco attended to take statements from me, witnesses and 2 of the women who the comment had been made.

After around a week of interviews being conducted and statements being written I heard nothing back. Finally I confronted the store manager regarding the outcome and I received a letter the next day.

I was told my complaint was void as it did not happen to me directly. This was contrary to what I had been expressly advised that I could make the complaint on their behalf. Tesco failed to investigate and deal with the racial discrimination that I had complained about in good faith. The process followed was inadequate and I consider the failure to amount to a detriment. 

Then another racist attack happened.

A black night shift worker was verbally abused during an argument with a white personal shopper.

He was called a ‘Black C**t’ twice in front of the same female online delivery manager and many witnesses. Following this incident the racial abuser was permitted to carry on working by the female online delivery manager.

This further attack is now being investigated as someone else had to put the grievance forward because again management did nothing. Tesco is falling short of zero tolerance against racism.

Following a meeting which occurred a month after the first incident. The female online delivery manager then put in a racial grievance against me. This was victimisation and made to silence and punish me for speaking out. Tesco failed to discipline a white manager for her blatant racism against young black female key workers.

On 6 July, as a direct result of the discrimination and detriments, I was forced to resign from my job. I believe I have been treated less favourably, and victimised because I raised serious public interest issues about race discrimination and in particular, Tesco’s breaches of the Equality Act 2010. 

Why am I raising funds? 

I am raising funds in order to pay solicitor fees. This is for justice of all parties involved. The social media outcry has raised the alarm and others are coming forward. 

My case raises important public interest issues that need to be heard. In particular, my employer, one of the largest supermarket chains in the UK, has overlooked the fact that discrimination by association is unlawful.

I am raising £20,000 to start with to cover tribunal costs and we anticipate more cases may be brought.

We need your support: please contribute and share this page now on social media, via WhatsApp and email!

Thank you for reading the information above. Young key workers are some of the most vulnerable employees in our workforce deserving of protection from discrimination and harassment. I hope together we can ensure the UK's biggest employer restructures their systems and provides justice for such abhorrent systemic racism.