DEBATING DISABILITIES

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: july/august 2011 :: RMTnews 29 RMT delegate Janine Booth reports from the TUC Disability Conference which brings together hundreds of trade unionists Government cuts and employers’ attacks are hitting disabled people hard, as workers, service users and benefit claimants and the TUC’s Disability Conference discussed the trade union response. Many transport workers have disabilities, and many of us look after a family member or friend with a disability. Although our legal rights improved a little under the last government, we know from the frontline that employers often fail to give us the flexibility and support that we need. For them, it is profit first, people’s needs a distant second. As transport workers, we also know that disabled people need public transport that is physically accessible, and that has staff available to help disabled passengers when needed. I spoke at the conference in support of a resolution from TSSA condemning cuts in station staffing levels. Government cuts have also led to the scrapping of projects to improve accessibility, for example installing lifts on stations to ensure step-free access to platforms. Other attacks impacting on disabled people include cuts to: Remploy and other supported employment; NHS provision; and services funded by local councils. Cuts in jobs, benefits and services are driving many disabled people out of work and into poverty. The government has introduced the Work Capability Assessment for benefit claimants, declaring that it is ‘objective’ when it is anything but. One conference delegate told of her son, whose assessment identified that he had one arm and one leg that worked and could recognise the colour of a passing car, and so found him fit to work and stopped his disability benefits! Other speakers told of claimants left destitute by the withdrawal of benefits, even driven to suicide. The assessments are carried out by ATOS Origin, the private company that brought us Avantix machines! The ConDems, and their friends in the media, whip up hysteria about ‘benefit fraud’ in an attempt to justify benefit cuts, but such fraud runs at around £1 billion per year, a tiny figure compared with the £200 billion-plus ripped off by corporations and the rich not paying their taxes. Speakers also illustrated how the portrayal of disabled people as ‘scroungers’ has led to a shocking increase in violent hate crime against disabled people. This media campaign is designed to get working-class people to blame and scapegoat other working-class people for the economic crisis, rather than blaming the real villains: the bosses, the bankers, and their political backers. We should not fall for it. Most of the resolutions to the conference were passed unanimously, reflecting the unity among delegates and across unions. But two proposals proved controversial. One advocated working with disabled staff groups, which some delegates found helpful but others to be a means of undermining unions. The other proposed working with the ‘Time to Change’ initiative from various disability charities, which was seen to be too concerned with addressing employers. RMT will hold its own disability conference later this year. Maybe I will see you there? We will certainly have plenty to talk about. DEBATING DISABILITIES