Disability and disillusion on TUC agenda

By Sunil Peck

Disabled people will lose out from welfare reforms that pander to tabloid rhetoric and do not support the needs of vulnerable groups, the TUC has warned.

Addressing the annual disability conference in London, TUC Deputy General Secretary Frances O’Grady (pictured) said: "Too many people – including some with disabilities – will still suffer the consequences of reforms that pander more to tabloid rhetoric about spongers and layabouts than they do to the real needs of some of the most vulnerable groups in our society."

Mark Fysh, Chair of the TUC Disability Committee, described the mood among delegates as cautious. He said that as well as concerns over welfare reform, there were concerns arising from the future of the Remploy factories and the effects of recession on the lives of disabled people.

But he added that current disillusionment with the political system could put disabled people in a position of power.

Mr Fysh said: "There are enough disabled people in the country to make a political difference. If MPs want to be in parliament, they are going to have to prove their worth to the country."

Frances O'Grady said that it was vital to retain disabled people in employment because it would be more difficult for them to find alternative jobs.

Ms O'Grady said: "As in previous recessions it will be disabled workers who will be disproportionately affected: by funding pressures on key services, with the public finances now deep in the red; by discrimination during redundancy selection, based perhaps on absence records; and by an even greater reluctance on the part of employers to meet their obligations towards disabled staff."

She urged unionists to hold politicians and employers to account to prevent rising unemployment rates among disabled people which she said would result in higher numbers of benefit claims and long-term hardship.

She said: "Places like South Wales and the North East of England are still picking up the pieces of the Thatcher recessions of the early ‘80s and ‘90s – with a higher number of incapacity benefit claimants than anywhere else – and we simply cannot afford a repeat performance this time."

Frances O'Grady also pledged that the TUC would help unions build a new network of equality reps and continue to work with unions to secure justice for Remploy workers.