UK
Union activists attack government’s ‘dehumanising’ rhetoric
Disabled union activists have attacked the government’s demonisation of disabled people and its “disgraceful discriminatory language”, at a conference that began less than a day after prime minister Rishi Sunak finally announced the date of the general election.
A series of five emergency motions approved by delegates at the TUC Disabled Workers’ Conference in Liverpool condemned the Conservative government’s repeated attacks on disabled people’s rights, particularly through its social security reforms.
There were also calls for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) to be enshrined into UK law.
One of the motions said Sunak and his government’s actions effectively “declare war on disabled people”.
Austin Harney, a delegate from the PCS union, which represents many Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) staff, attacked DWP for issuing “disgraceful benefit sanctions on disabled claimants”.
He called for unions to pressure a Labour government “to get rid of these sanctions once and for all”, and he accused the government of committing “what you could call corporate manslaughter or political murder” because of the impact of its DWP policies on disabled people.
He said: “It’s also terrible how this war on disabled people is not being taken very, very seriously and it’s time for all of us trade unions to stand together to do something about this.”
Kevin Daws, from the University and College Union, said he was “angry that the government are demonising disabled people and treating them as undeserving citizens”.
Criticising Sunak’s claim that there was a “sick note culture”, he said: “The level of statutory sick pay is so low that people go to work when they are sick because they have no choice, as we witnessed during the Covid pandemic.”
And Falyn Waterman, from USDAW, told fellow delegates: “Rishi talks about a sick note culture, tells us that we as a country can’t afford to have this many people sick, when he and his government are responsible for making us sicker and making us poorer and poorer.”
Moving the “war on disabled people” motion, Unite’s Sadia Mirza (pictured) told the conference: “We all know that real change comes from the top and will only come once the [UNCRPD] is enshrined into UK law.
“Disabled people are not outcasts. We are an important minority and deserve our basic rights.”
She said the government’s failure to send a minister to Geneva in March to defend its disability rights record in front of the UN’s committee on the rights of disabled people “showed the lack of priority towards the rights of disabled people”.
Lee Starr-Elliott, a delegate from the Communication Workers Union, moved an emergency motion that condemned the government’s “systematic violations of disabled people’s rights”, as demonstrated by the UN committee.
He was one of the union activists who joined the delegation of disabled people who were in Geneva in March to hear a civil servant defend the government’s record.
He told fellow delegates that it was “no surprise” to see the government and mainstream media ignore the UN’s subsequent report or even challenge it, but he added: “What was even more concerning was the lack of trade union support for disabled activists who have fought to highlight the abuses and hold government to account.”
He said: “The election is a golden opportunity for the TUC and its affiliates to lead Labour forward and ensure the UN’s recommendations are carried out and going forward we have a joined up collective approach to making Deaf and disabled people feel a valued part of society… now is not the time to be silent.”
Natasha Hirst, the first disabled activist to be president of the National Union of Journalists, said the government’s rhetoric on disabled people had been “designed to dehumanise us and to shift public opinion towards the narrative that tells us that our lives are worth less, that we are a drain and a burden and that we are evading playing our part in society”.
Hirst was another of the union activists who joined the Geneva delegation in March.
She was critical of the mainstream media for its lack of coverage of the UN report and the government’s benefit reforms, and she moved an emergency motion that attacked the “inaccurate negative and unethical coverage of disability issues” by the media.
She told the conference: “Policy changes to social security have made it impossible for most people to understand and access the support that they are entitled to unless they have an expert advocate by their side.
“The inequalities and injustices that we experience as disabled people are a direct result of political choices and these are choices that are made by people who have never experienced oppression, who have never experienced the sharp end of our social security system, an incredibly demoralizing experience to go through.”
She added: “The government is not being held to account or shamed for its failures, and it empowers them to continue with their agenda.”
All five of the emergency motions were overwhelmingly passed by the conference.
Picture by Natasha Hirst Photography
Disabled union activists warn Labour: If you break your promises, we will come for you
Disabled trade unionists have warned that they will hold Labour to account on the promises it makes to improve the rights of disabled workers, if the party wins power at July’s general election.
They have also called for activists to exert pressure on Labour during the election campaign to persuade it to expand its existing pledges on disability employment.
And they called on the party to include in its general election manifesto all the measures in the Disability Employment Charter, which aims to address the widespread disadvantage disabled people face in their working lives.
The charter was founded by organisations including Disability Rights UK, the public services union UNISON and the Disability@Work group of academics, who have played a significant role in raising evidenced concerns about the Conservative government’s policies on disability employment.
Lola Oyewusi, a UNISON delegate, told the TUC Disabled Workers’ Conference in Liverpool: “To win for disabled workers is very paramount to the success of a Labour government.
“If Labour does not deliver for disabled workers, we will definitely hold them to account.”
And she warned Vicky Foxcroft, Labour’s shadow minister for disabled people, who had spoken at the conference the previous day, that – if she becomes minister for disabled people – “we will surely make sure she delivers”.
Anong the policies described by Foxcroft in her speech – many of which are in the charter – was a pledge to force larger employers to report on their disability pay gaps; reform of the Access to Work scheme; action to make it easier for disabled workers to secure reasonable adjustments; and reform of the government’s much-criticised Disability Confident scheme.
Lee Starr-Elliott, a delegate from the Communication Workers Union, told the conference: “It is now imperative that we rid ourselves of the Tories.
“However, it’s just as important that the Labour party is held to account and do not repeat or continue the mistakes that the current government are making.”
He added: “Attacks on Deaf and disabled people and workers must be stopped, and we need a Labour party that embraces and works with disabled people and groups to make the change for the better.
“Access to Work, disability benefits and many other programmes must be fixed, and the rights of disabled people and workers must be strengthened, especially in employment, where we are seeing the biggest number of attacks from both the employer and the DWP.
“Labour must also be held to account and commit to being a leading figure in disability issues, both nationally and internally.”
Philip Blundell, a Unite delegate, called on the Labour party to stand with the union movement.
But he added: “Don’t do it and you’re part of the enemy and we will come for you.”
He told delegates: “Go back to your workplaces, ask people to vote Labour, then we’ll hold them to account.
“And if they don’t bring in, within the first 100 days, what they said they were going to do, we will hold them to account. We will march.”
Alison Gaughan, from the University and College Union, told fellow delegates: “I want to see the back of the Tories as much as anybody.
“However, I’m sceptical about how much will change when Labour come to power.
“I welcome the promises that we’ve heard from Labour. I hope they will come to pass, but I’m not holding my breath.”
She added: “We know that we live in a system where if the needs of disabled people come up against the interests of capital, capital will win.
“We shouldn’t forget that the Labour party has committed to the same economic rules as the Tories adhere to.
“Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has repeatedly emphasised her commitment to so-called fiscal responsibility, and she cosies up to business leaders.
“The TUC must hold Labour to all their promises on disability, and more.
“We want full equality for disabled people and a full commitment to the Disability Employment Charter and the UNCRPD*.”
Ian Thomas, from the PCS union, pointed out that only two of the unions represented at the conference had signed up to the charter themselves, despite 187 organisations backing it.
He said: “If we all… go back to our own unions and say, ‘Why haven’t you signed it yet?’ that action alone would really boost the visible sign that we as trade unions are signed up to the Disability Employment Charter, that we want to see a workplace where disability employment rights are recognised by the employers that we are negotiating with.”
Dougie Johnstone, a delegate from the bakers’ union BFAWU, told the conference that although he was looking forward to “getting rid” of the Conservatives, he also had “some concerns” about the Labour party.
He pleaded with Labour to ignore the “nice headlines you’ll get in the Tory rags” and “be the party that says, ‘I will stand up for everyone.’”
The motion was passed with only a handful of abstentions.
*UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Anger and frustration after unions refuse to back disabled people’s manifesto
Disabled union delegates have been accused of failing to support the disability movement after refusing to back a motion at their annual conference that called on political parties, and the TUC, to support a manifesto drawn up by disabled people’s organisations.
Opposition to the Disabled People’s Manifesto appears to have started with the refusal of the influential National Education Union (NEU) and the NASUWT teachers’ union to support its demands on inclusive education.
The manifesto, put together by DPO Forum England and supported by 40 disabled people’s organisations (DPOs), calls for a “right for every Disabled and Deaf student to get appropriate support to attend and remain in a fully inclusive mainstream education setting”.
It also lays out a “radical reform programme” across the areas of representation and voice, rights, independence, and inclusion, which is aimed at tackling “disablist policy making and systemic oppression and injustice”.
Despite DPOs expecting a motion supporting the manifesto to be approved, it was opposed by NEU, NASUWT and even the TUC disabled workers’ committee, the body elected annually by disabled delegates to the conference, and which advises the TUC on disability policy.
The committee told the conference in a statement that it supported the “vast majority” of the manifesto, but that the document “does not call out the resourcing and funding crisis facing schools when it comes to the delivery of SEND*”.
It also said it was concerned that the manifesto’s wording was “still subject to change” and that it did not want to commit the TUC and its affiliated unions to “a manifesto that could be altered”.
There was frustration and anger from disabled activists this week at the actions of union delegates at the conference in Liverpool.
Simone Aspis, a lifelong campaigner for inclusive education, and a former policy and campaigns coordinator for The Alliance for Inclusive Education, but speaking on behalf of her consultancy Changing Perspectives, said she was “angry” and “very disappointed” by the unions’ actions and their failure to support the manifesto.
She said: “Ever since I have been involved with the disabled people’s movement, I have never really felt that unions have really supported disabled people in terms of advocating for their rights.”
But Aspis, who attended a segregated special school herself, said she would not have expected the unions that represent school teaching staff to vote any other way “because they are worried about their workers losing their jobs in segregated provision” and have a “vested interest” which should be examined.
She added: “It will take some very brave union to actually say, ‘This is where we want to go and some workers will lose their jobs, but we really want an inclusive society.’”
Bob Ellard, a member of the national steering group of Disabled People Against Cuts, said: “Solidarity of the left with disabled people only seems to apply when organisations want something from us, but not when we ask them to do something for us.
“Again and again over years, disabled people have been let down by people who style themselves fighters for social justice.
“Are we surprised by this? No, we’re used to it.”
And Professor Peter Beresford, co-chair of Shaping Our Lives, said: “There isn’t a public service which hasn’t been damaged and subverted by the privatising and small state politics of at least the last 15 years.
“We know that well-thought-through and well-resourced inclusive education is in the best interest of all school students, properly implemented.
“We know that successive Conservative administrations have shown no commitment to the diversity of children’s educational needs and have done little to support truly inclusive education, more often the opposite.
“But knowing this does not mean that we lose sight of the principles of inclusive education or our long-term commitment to them.
“There is now real hope for ideological change in the UK; now is the time to recommit ourselves to disabled people-led inclusive education, not to weaken our support for it.”
Jonathan Bellshaw, a member of the disabled workers’ committee and a Communication Workers Union delegate, had spoken against the manifesto at the conference.
He told the conference that “we have to be very careful when we say let’s use mainstream for SEND”, and he told delegates that when he had been a school governor there was a disabled pupil “who was not suitable for mainstream school”.
Among his other concerns was that the manifesto’s two-week timeframe for dealing with requests for reasonable adjustments was not realistic because, he said, Brexit meant it now takes more than two weeks to obtain specialist chairs from Europe.
Kat Downs, from NASUWT, questioned the demand for accessible housing in the manifesto, because she said it wasn’t clear who would decide whether housing was accessible, and she did not trust “the government and the planning laws”.
She said that, as an autistic teacher, she supported “the right for anybody to choose where they want to be educated”.
She said: “Class sizes right now, in some schools, are way in excess of 30, 34, 35.
“If I was an autistic person sat in one of those classrooms right now, I would not be maintaining mainstream education.”
Kevin Daws, from the University and College Union, had led support for the motion, and told delegates that the document “reaffirms our commitment to the social model of disability” and is “a manifesto for change, a manifesto which provides a new deal for Deaf and disabled people”.
He said: “The manifesto is a call to arms, it’s saying that we as disabled people are proud.
“We’ve had enough of the warm words. We demand a change. And the manifesto is a tool with which to engage with us.”
Austin Harney, a delegate from the PCS union, seconded the motion, and told the conference that it was important to “build alliances” with disabled people’s organisations by supporting the manifesto.
In response to concerns raised by NEU and NASUWT, Daws told delegates: “We should remember that having segregated schools for people with special educational needs is actually based on a medical model of disability and is designed to isolate those people, exclude them from mainstream education.”
And he pointed to government evidence that found that greater inclusion in mainstream settings “can improve the academic achievement for children and young people with special educational needs”.
He said the manifesto “actually includes a demand to commit an extra three billion pounds per year for education support to fund SEND; in other words, properly-funded special educational needs within mainstream schools”.
And he reminded Bellshaw that the demand for a response to reasonable adjustment requests within two weeks was current TUC policy, and had been approved by the disabled workers’ conference in 2022.
The manifesto has been put together by the country’s leading disabled people’s organisations, and disabled activists had hoped that backing from the TUC Disabled Workers’ Conference would help pressure the Labour party ahead of July’s general election.
But opposition from NEU – whose delegates wore “disability pride” tee-shirts to the conference – NASUWT and other unions, meant a motion supporting the manifesto was defeated by 67 votes to 52, with 20 abstentions.
A spokesperson for DPO Forum England said: “We are disappointed the motion in support of our manifesto did not go through.
“However, we are grateful and proud that 52 representatives voted for it.
“We will build on this support, recognising a huge need for DPOs and the unions to work together to create spaces for solidarity among disabled people.
“We know there are fundamental disagreements and we urge the unions to work with us to create opportunities where campaigners for inclusion can be at the table, explain their vision and be heard.”
*Special educational needs and disabilities
Picture: Delegates voting against the motion
