The stoppage, given immediate but covert backing by union leaders, halted production of Fiestas and Mazda 121s, and was expected to be joined by the night shift.
Black, white and Asian employees joined the unofficial strike in the latest flare-up at the plant where 45% of the workforce is non-white. Workers were said to be wearing stickers on their overalls demanding the sacking of an allegedly racist manager, and `justice and respect'.
Ford said 800 people had taken part, and maintained last night it was unaware of the reason for the action, insisting it practised a policy of `zero tolerance' towards racism. But insiders said: `There's a hell of a lot of racist attitudes and actions within Dagenham. It's like a tinder box and takes little to light the fuse.'
Yesterday's action is the latest incident to hit the plant where, for the past six months, union leaders have failed to persuade local managers to hold a joint inquiry into the implications for Dagenham of the report of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry into institutional racism.
Shop stewards who led the walk-out in the paint, trim and assembly areas of the plant said they had lost confidence in local managers to resolve what they called the endemic problem of racism.
Angry union officials accused the local managers of at best turning a blind eye to repeated incidences of racist abuse and bullying, and at worst of complicity.
Sir Ken Jackson, leader of the AEEU engineering union, said: `Race relations have improved at Ford over recent years but there are still clear examples of outrageous abuse which Ford has signally failed to deal with.'
As shop stewards demanded an urgent inquiry by the commission for racial equality, Bill Morris, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union, reiterated his call for talks with Jac Nasser, Ford president.
In what Mr Morris described as the worst case of racist intimidation his union had experienced, Sukhjit Parma, an engine plant worker, suffered a four-year campaign of racist abuse, culminating in threats to his life.
Two weeks ago at an east London tribunal Ford admitted racial discrimination, harassment and victimisation towards Mr Parma.
`Unless people outside the plant get a grip on the situation and put structures in place that the staff have confidence in, there'll be more of these wildcat walk-outs,' union sources said.
The last straw, one insider said, came last week when an AEEU shop steward, Jaswir Tega, who was working near the production line, was shouted at and pushed by a white foreman dangerously close to the conveyor belt, it was alleged.
Insiders said local managers had refused to heed demands for the foreman to be suspended and a full inquiry to be held. Instead, he was kept away from the shop floor and returns today.
The Dagenham plant was known some 15 years ago to be a recruiting ground for the British National party and other racist bodies, though union sources say they have no evidence of such activities.
