Aga workers threatened with the sack after 'racist incidents' following Brexit vote

Workers at the Aga Rangemaster factory in Leamington Spa have been threatened with the sack after a spate of racist incidents following the Brexit vote.

Bosses were forced to send a letter to all staff members following a number of incidents where "unacceptable remarks" were made to Eastern European workers.

Staff have since been warned they could be sacked if there are any further comments made to foreign workers.

The notice, which was sent to all workers, states:

"Following the referendum vote it has come to the company's attention that a small number of disparaging and inappropriate comments have been made to our employees from outside of the UK.

"Any further instances of this behaviour will result in disciplinary action up to, and including, dismissal.

"If an employee feels they have been subjected to any unfair treatment or negative behaviour they should inform their manager immediately.

"Any person - be they an employee, a contractor, visitor or on a temporary contract - should be treated with respect and courtesy."

The letter was leaked by an anonymous employee and it isn't known how many incidents have been reported at the site since the Brexit vote on June 23.

But one worker said: "Tensions have been noticeably higher since the decision to vote leave.

"I saw that Leamington voted to remain but there must be some people working here who were happy with the out result.

"I think a lot of people see it as their opportunity to tell workers from Eastern European backgrounds what they really think.

"There hasn't been any major incidents but I've heard comments like 'go home' said during arguments.

"I don't remember any incidents before the referendum, it is a shame that racism is creeping back into the workplace. I'd hoped we'd seen the last of that sort of nonsense."

A spokesperson for AGA said:

"We are really proud that our company has a truly diverse workforce and a team of people of all nationalities who work happily side-by-side across all our UK operations.

"Over the past few days there have been a couple of isolated incidents where unacceptable remarks have been made to a few of our colleagues who are from Eastern Europe.

"This has never happened before so we wanted to immediately make it clear that this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated and therefore have put up the notice."