TUDA News
January
2008
Inside this issue ÉTUDA AGM,
DWP Consultation threaten to remove access to work from
the whole public sector
NAPO subscribes to TUDA Charter
South East Region of UNITE donates £700 to TUDA
DAN Re starts – and needs money!
Liverpool Peace & Ecology Festival
Communication Workers Union (CWU)
TUDA Merchandise
Disability Committee
Remploy
Unite Protest Labour Party
NHS Together Protest
How to join TUDA
Conference and Annual General Meeting of Trade Union Disability Alliance
CALLING NOTICE FOR REGISTRATION
Saturday April 26th, 2008 From 10.30 A.M.
All disabled people welcome. See TUDA website for further
information and registration form. Or contact TUDA: PO BOX London WC1N 3XX.
At; NCVO, RegentÕs Wharf, 8 All Saints Street, London, N1 9RL.
Defend Access to Work: Respond to DWP Consultation NOW!
A little publicized consultation
document by the Department of Work and Pension asks whether Access to Work
should be withdrawn from the whole public sector! Scandalously the Consultation
is only available on the internet: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/resourcecentre/consultation_papers.asp TUDA will protest this approach
which excludes so many disabled people who cannot access the internet. Get
access to a computer and respond if you possibly can by 10 March 2008. The
Consultation is titled: Improving Disability Equality Services. It also
suggests that the amount that employers must contribute to the cost of Access
to Work adjustments from the present £300. It also asks a wide range of
questions about vital services to enable disabled people to work:
ÒIf you have used the Jobcentre Plus
DEA service to help you find or retain suitable employment, what aspects of the
service do you like and are there
aspects that you think could be
improved?
If you have recent experience of our Access to Work
provision, what aspects did you like the most and do you have any suggestions
for improving the service?
What can we do to ensure Access to
Work is used more effectively to meet
the needs of individuals?
It is our opportunity to tell them what we think, what
needs to be done – and then keep pushing until the changes get made.
Background
The
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions wrote to his Cabinet colleagues on 2
May 2006 to tell them that from October 2006 Jobcentre Plus would not fund
Access to Work support required by people working in a government department.
There was no prior consultation with disabled people or unions on the likely
impact of such a change.
Departments,
from October 2006, pay for new and ongoing disability adjustments out of their
running costs.
This
is in line with Recommendation of the ÔImproving the Life Chances of Disabled
PeopleÕ Report (produced by No 10 Strategy Unit 2005). The recommendation also
stated: ÒDWP to evaluate the likely impactÉÓ and added that Òthe practical
implications of such a change need to be carefully assessed – there must
be no negative impact (even if only short-term) on the employment prospects of
disabled peopleÓ. If the DWP has carried out such an evaluation it has not been
made public.
The Life Chances report also suggests that ATW might Ôin due courseÕ be withdrawn from the whole public sector. This would be an unmitigated disaster for the employment prospects of disabled people.
TUDA News Round Up NAPO subscribes to TUDA Charter: At NAPO AGM, David
Quarmby and Desiree Leete Co-Chairs of National Disabled Staff Network
presented a motion for NAPO to become a signatory to the TUDA charter. It
passed and NAPO became the fourth trade union to subscribe to the TUDA Charter
–which sets out a basic framework for delivering equality to disabled
trade union members. BECTU were the first union to adopt the Charter, followed
by CWU and UCU.
Come on disabled activists in other trade unions
lets see who can become 5th 6th and 7th to
adopt the charter. Copies can be found on TUDA website.
South East Region of UNITE donates £700 to TUDA
A huge thanks
to them for this money to help TUDA carry out its vital work. We are totally
dependent on subscriptions and donations.
DAN Restarts – and needs money!
The Direct Action Network was a groundbreaking network of
disabled people from all over the country taking direct action to promote
equality. It has been in a lull for the last few years but is now starting up
again – and God knows we need it! And it needs cash to get itself going
again. TUDA donated £50, which was really appreciated. Come on – get your
branch or region to donate. More information from Haringey
Direct Action Network Nick Saunders 1a Bonnington Square, London SW8
1TE
Communication Workers Union (CWU) Disability and Special Needs Conference
We received an invitation for TUDA to have a stall at this conference back in August. It took less than a blink of an eyelid to send back a response saying yes, we would be delighted to be at the conference. Besides very positive debate on a number of motions there were several guest speakers at the conference, and there was a ballot to choose two motions to go forward to the CWU annual policy conference. It was clear that their disabled members at BT, the Post Office and other employers face many of the same difficulties faced by disabled workers face across the country, regardless of who the employer is, and what the law says about how disabled employees should not be discriminated against. There were over 100 delegates and visitors at the conference, I think everything about the event supported the fact that the CWU are absolutely serious about ensuring that the issues faced by their disabled members are at the forefront of their campaigning efforts. CWU appears to understand that it is campaigning on the issues and having trained and skilled workplace reps in the workplace that is essential to provide some kind of protection for their members. There was a lot of interest in the stall. The idea of raffling two bottles of Fair Trade wine was a resounding success.
Liverpool Peace & Ecology Festival 2007.
This event, organised by Liverpool
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), was held on Saturday 22nd
September 2007. It was held at St. Johns Gardens in the shadow of LiverpoolÕs
St GeorgeÕs Hall, a splendid neo-classical
architectural treasure in the heart of Liverpool City centre. TUDA was there
along with many campaign groups covering a broad spectrum of social and
political issues. TUDA was the only disability group represented. It was the
first time that TUDA had held a stall at such an event, and was therefore
something new in terms of our campaigning activity. Would it work what kind of
response would we encounter?
OK, IÕm biased because
it was SherrellÕs and my idea to have the stall, and we were up early in the
morning and theyÕre all day, but I have to say it as a success. We met with
many, many people, some disabled, some not, some were trade union members, many
others were not, but from virtually everybody that we met the response was
positive.
Two aspects of the
response were striking. Firstly, there was a group of teenagers out in town on
a beautiful sunny afternoon, hanging around in the park, who was so eager to
find out about what trade unions could offer them when they shortly enter the
world of work. No they werenÕt threatening, they werenÕt drunk on cheap booze,
and they werenÕt only interested in pop music, clothes and make-up, they were
genuinely eager to know who we were and what we had to say. Some also bought
items of our merchandise, Secondly the number of people we encountered who were
disabled but had no idea what their rights were was striking. Several told us
that they had been told by a doctor that because they were disabled, they were
unable work. They were simply unaware that it was their choice. If they felt
able to work and were able to find work than yes of-course they can work.
Besides this very
positive response we also sold merchandise. IÕm sure that this kind of
activity, besides regularly having a presence at trade union and disability
events, will help us enormously to maintain a high profile. It has to be deemed
a success.
Just a thought from the TUDA newsletter editor. Please let Richard Cook know! findcook@hotmail.com RichardÕs post address is 141 Vale Road Northfleet, Kent DA11 8BX. In an attempt to try to save TUDA money and speed up the provision of information, if you have e-mail (and we understand not everyone does), would any TUDA members like to have all future newsletters via e-mail? Thanks to those who signed up after reading recent newsletters. NB: Views expressed in this Newsletter are not necessarily those of all the trade unions represented on our Executive but reflect the opinion and policies of most of them. Our website www.tuda.org.uk also has lots of news and information. Please tell us of any issues you feel we should cover. We encourage people to submit both information and articles for inclusion so get writing if you can. TUDA Secretary Alan Martin, Membership Secretary Sherrell Martin. Co-Chairs Ju Gosling & Caroline Gooding can be contacted via our box number, BM TUDA, London WC1N 3XX. Email: mail@tuda.org.uk
By popular request TUDA Merchandise 'From the Membership Secretary'
The
prices for postage and packaging are available on request.
The
address is just before the end of this article.
Tee Shirt £6.00
Calculator
£2:50
Triangle Highlighter
£1.00
Lapel Pins
£1.00
Yo-Yo £0.75
Blue Pens £0.50
Yellow Pens £0:20
Badges £0.10
Mugs £3.00
By Sherrell Martin Membership Secretary
For a
number of years TUDA has had a stall at the TUC disability conference in
London. This has always been of value to us in TUDA; we meet up with old
friends and make new ones. For the past few years we have sold merchandise on
the stall. Unfortunately to the fact TUDA is completely dependent on membership
payments and affiliations for its income we are unable to give things away such
as pens.
2007 has
proved to be a good year at conference for us. We gained 10 new members and
sold a reasonable amount of stock, it was definitely our best year to date. The
TUC as ever did not charge us for the stall and this helped greatly so many
thanks to them.
As you
enjoy your newsletter please ask yourself the following questions.
* Is my
membership up to date?
* Have my
access requirements changed?
* Would I
like the newsletter via email?
* Can I get
more involved in TUDA?
* How about
attending TUDA conference and AGM next year, 19/04/08, date to be confirmed.
If you want
the answer to any of the above do not hesitate contacting me at BM TUDA,
London, WC1N 3XX or email me on mail@tuda .org.uk. I look forward to hearing
from you.
DISABLED TRADE UIONISTS: RIGHT TO KNOW
One of
the most contentious motions at last yearÕs Disability Conference as BECTUÕs
motion, requiring the TUC Disability Committee to publish minutes of its
meetings. The motion was remitted on the basis that the Committee would report
on its work but not publish formal minutes. Nothing has happened as yet. BECTU
is likely to re-submit its motion at this conference if this agreement is not
acted on.
In the
mean time Richard Cook, TUDA member and TUC Disability Committee member reports
for TUDA members:
Disability Committee Meeting held on
Thursday 20 September 2007 at Congress House, Great Russell Street, London WC1B
3LS
Acronyms,
shortened terms used Disability Law Review (DLR) Peter =
Election of
Chair: As Mark Fysh was absent Anita Halpen was moved for the morning session.
TUC
Disability Conference 2007 report
We
discussed speakers for 2008 TUC Disability Conference: may need to reduce the
time even further. We would welcome less outside speakers so we can take a more
pedestrian pace, which suits our disability conference. We are still too
relaxed at the start and move much quicker at the end. It was felt we could
pace conference much better. We must listen and understand the individual needs
better and make sure they are met.
Peter
(Peter Purton, TUC Disability Equality Officer) said: it will be better next
year with more space as the Unite delegation will be one and not two lots of
delegates.
Monitoring:
Peter said he was pleased with a good return of evaluation forms.
Informal
session: I said: Bert Massie was good and was understood by me, but some said
they could not understand him.
I said: All
Guest Speakers worked well last year in 2007. I thought the Chairs address was
extremely good.
Richard Exell introduced heath standards in teaching and nursing
The last
thing the DRC did to publish this report of the formal investigation. The most
important recommendation made was the removal of health requirements of
registration in those professions. There is some evidence of direct
discrimination against disabled people.
Our
committee agreed that this must stop.
We
discussed the motions from the Disability Conference. On Welfare reform the TUC
has emphasised our opposition to coercion and to privatisation. First of all in
our submission, secondly in our response which was extremely detailed and
probably the most important policy development in this area for some time. The
next opportunity to make this point is in the submission in response to the
green paper. The green paper has a slight difference in emphasis from the Froid
report. Peter Hain will be taking a draft submission to the executive
committee. My intention is to cover matters that are related to the first three
motions passed by the disability conference in response to the green paper.
There was a lot of media interest in what he said a month or so ago where he
seemed to be indicating that privatisation would not be as significant as John
Hutton had said. We have just heard the announcement that pathways to work and
the hiving off and that is definitely going ahead. We will continue our
opposition to that.
We also
need to consider the incomes of disabled people who are often in poverty, and
push Government to ensure that people actually receive the benefits they are
entitled to as this could make a huge difference.
We are
holding fire on employment and support allowance because at present we donÕt
know what the rates are going to be. I think itÕs outrageous that parliament
passed an act without knowing what the rates would be, the TUC are a little
more rational, so we will wait until we do.
Equality
duty: We surveyed this year just before conference in May Negotiators are aware
of this but will have to see what happens to the duty before we proceed
further, that is a major part of our work. I said: I have not had time to read
this yet, but I will.
Anita
said: the worry is much of the historic material which was on the Disability
Rights Commission site will actually be lost. Richard said: he understands the
DRC website will stay in place post CEHR but unfortunately it will not be
updated?
Motion 8
concerned the mental health bill: Peter said: This bill has now become an act.
It covers a wide range of the mental health agenda, some of which are of
interest, some more than others do. He proposed that we make this a major
project over the coming year with a view to writing an up to date and expert
guide on mental heath issues. Clearly something we have talked about for a long
time. Peter said that he did not have the expertise to write this. After much
discussion this was agreed approach Mind.
Motion 13
sickness absence: This of course is another very important subject. It has been
raised many times before. The focus was, to tighten up the issue of
recommendations, but also to put pressure on government. The recommendations
are firstly to unions and secondly to government to separate out sickness and
disability leave.
Motion 19
concerned a publication of guidance on the social model: Having a common
approach for unions. We will knock up a draft to show the committee, for your
approval.
Report of meeting with General Secretary
and chairs of all the discriminated committees. I said: This is a cracking new
idea.
Sara
said: On Union equality reps, we have had good news given the TUC it is now
able to employ a full time project officer for a year, giving tutor and reps
training and a couple of large unions have done this too.
A delegate
asked if the disability conference timing could be changed.
Sara veal
said: I am afraid the answer is simply no because the equality conferences have
to slot in to each other to fit into the congress timetable, so I am really
sorry. We had this question a couple of years ago and it canÕt be done.
The chosen
motion to go forward to the TUC Conference was on the Single Equality Act;
Moved by Richard Cook at Brighton: Richard said he was a bit fed up at first because
all my arguments had been used already for a similar TUC motion. So that meant
Brighton delegates had to listen to me saying the same thing again from the
disability conference, so that upset me? Despite all that it was in fact well
received.
Also, I
would have been much better speaking in the morning, my access issue, but no
one asked me so they did not even know.
Discrimination Law Review
I asked how confident are we they will not dilute public
sector duties, because there has been a lot of talk around that. I wonder if
the TUC have a better insight into what we could expect. TUC answer: No was the
short answer.
Remploy campaign update
We were told the Remploy campaign had been absolutely
brilliant.
Disability training for union officials. The chair said: He
had attended the last course and it was very positive. The TUC was pleased to
note that, and Unionlearn are going to run similar courses on the same lines.
Date of next meeting: 17 January 2008
Subject: Threatened cuts to Remploy
The Remploy
Consortium of Trades Unions unveiled their plan, sent to the Secretary of State
for Work and Pensions, to secure a future for all 83 Remploy factories and stop
the sacking of 2,500 disabled workers. This follows the plan that was submitted
by the Remploy management that saw 28 factories shutting and 2,000 disabled
workers being sacked.
The trade
unions consider that the Remploy management plan fails to go far enough in
slashing waste and rationalising the business. This failure has the consequence
of requiring far too high a growth in public procurement business. Elements in
the Remploy Consortium of Trades Unions plan to remain inside the annual
subsidy of £111 million are as follows:
* Cap spending on Employment Service at £31 million and not
£34 million as planned by Remploy management
* Reduce running and overhead costs by £17 million per
annum.
This is achieved by having a single head office instead of
three at present. Cutting number of payroll systems from 17 to one, pulling out
of loss making activities, reducing the number of middle managers, reworking
pension fund liabilities, ending waste and duplication in the £10 million
annual spend on marketing, rationalising the IT department and reducing
procurement costs and improving working practices.
*Secure an additional £50 million of profitable public procurement orders out of an available grand total of £132 billion per annum.
Paul Kenny, GMB General Secretary said, ÒWhen we started
this exercise with management they did not see scope for cost saving. They now
admit that they can achieve an average of £10 million a year. We say to the
Secretary of State that there is scope to go to £20 million a year. When we
started the management did not see that public procurement could save the
factories. They now agree that it can. The Trade unions plan envisages the
Board running the business in a hands on way and getting rid of layers of
expensive and unnecessary management. The business must be
Restructured and we want a new development plan so that
Remploy can get into the public procurement business in a serious way as was
agreed at the Labour Party Conference 2007. There is massive scope to trim
costs by rationalisation, better methods of procurement and improved working
practices. There is also a need for a root and branch and very realistic
reworking of the pension fund liabilities to bring them in line with the
objectives of the business. We see Remploy in Employment Service, in
manufacturing and services. Recycling presents a huge business opportunity. Above
all we see a new management developing an innovative model for RemployÕs
future.
We want the Secretary of State to
give us a new management that we do not have to drag kicking and screaming to
develop a vibrant Remploy for the 21st Century. We always said that if this is
about costs we could square the circle. We plan to do this with the Secretary
of State
Contact: Phil Davies, GMB National
Secretary
TUDA COMMENT Many TUDA members, and many in the disability movement, are
divided about REMPLOY seeing it as providing segregated employment. But the key
is that disabled people should have the right to choose and NO COMPLULSORY
REDUNDANCIES.
Unite protest at the Labour Party written by Richard Cook
Thousands of Unite and other members came out in force for
the beginning of the Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth. It was fantastic
with the new union united, marching together to send a powerful message to the
Government that our members want a well resourced and managed NHS, affordable
housing, secure jobs and pensions.
The venue for the start was held in Hasketh Park on grass. I
could not hear at first, I did eventually get to the front so I could hear. I
also met people from other unions. They shared the Unite aims. That was a truly
great thing to see.
Gordon Brown will need the support of the Unite two million
members, so let's hope he is listening.
Derek Simpson spoke: He listed all the reasons why we were marching,
waving the Unite flags, blowing whistles and blowing horns. He said this is a
message that we go out and protest and we will definitely win.
John
Crudas
This must all be on the agenda. We have a review going on
and within the last year especially around the health service. Overall for the
Labour party deputy leader Unite came from nowhere and we did that by
organising people. We must see that what we want in the manifesto. Working
class ex Labour voters must be encouraged to come back to the Labour Party and
they must see our agenda is paramount we can then win the next general
election.
Tracy Young a rep who works
with disabled children
This year we celebrate 60 years of the NHS. With postcode
prescribing, closure of services in favour of PFI. Going into the private
sector will wreck the NHS. 23 million pounds is going into the private sector
that is taxpayers money, which should be used to improve services. With
reorganisation after reorganisation increasing the bureaucracy. When I joined
the NHS you had a job for life. We have seen that change so much. We must not
see the heath of our nation deteriorating. In my own profession we are seeing
erosion of our work. We know what we all want, a publicly funded high quality
NHS. With any funding going to the NHS not into the fat cat coffers. So join
us.
Tony Woodly
This our very first march and rally for our brand new union Unite, and what a great union we are going to be. For all our dissatisfaction with Labour letÕs not underestimate the difference between disappointment and down right disaster. That is what we would have if we saw our friends the Tories under Cameron get back in. We might be struggling in the polls and struggling at the moment to get labours message across. One thing you can not underestimate. Billions and Billions are spent buying an election. But they canÕt buy peoples rights or peoples effort especially if we get the right policies. We must tackle exploitation and casualisation of the whole of our country. Labour has got to wake up and understand this. The polls tell you that if the Tories had the health service it would be better and that is unbelievable that any working class person could think that, but they do. Help to get .the message across and halt privatisation within our heath service.
NHS Together rally 3 November 07,
The march was rather fantastic with thousands of people all
walking or in my case wheeling along the embankment by the Thames to Trafalgar
Square. We had a group of professional people beating drums and they were
rather fantastic too. They must have been tired as they worked really hard for
all us protesters? I did manage to see a few people I knew but because the
crowds were so vast this was a bit difficult.
We
listened to hours of videos and speeches. The protest
celebrated 60 years of the NHS. All trade unionists all heath workers, all
patients gathered here, proud to protest and speak about our communities. The
TUC brought together chief executives to ambulance workers from the whole of
the NHS.
The rally was well attended and it was a really good
experience. But what I think is disappointing is this. So many people use the
NHS all the time and it is true, people do value it. So why were there not even
more people protesting. Perhaps it is that they did not know the protest was
happening, so perhaps better more clear information is needed.
FORTHCOMING EVENT SERTUC Transport Industries Network
Saturday 16th February 2008 11am-3pm
Congress House, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS
Securing high
quality transport choices for disabled workers:
What should the trade union agenda be?
Further information from: SERTUC,
Congress House, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS 0207 467 1220
dlewis@tuc.org.uk
www.tuc.org.uk/sertuc
I wish
to receive more Information about TUDA: -
Please send
post to: Alan Martin at BM TUDA, London WC1N 3XX ---
Name_____________________________________________________________
Position in Trade Union (if
applicable)____________________________________
E mail: ____________________________________________________________
Post Address (if applicable)
____________________________________________
_________________________________________ Post
Code_______________
Preferred format : Email - Audio -----
Normal Print 12 point
--------
Large Print size -----
BSL
Video----------------------- Braille -----
Membership
Fees:
{Individual Disabled Person --------------------- £7.00------
{Supporting Subscriber -------------------------- £10.00
-----
{Union Branch ------------------------------------- £25.00 -----
{Union Region -------------------------------------
£50.00 ----
{National Unions with 100,000 members or
less £100.00 ---
{Unions with 100,001 to 500,000 members
---
£150.00 ---
{Unions with over 500,000 members
------------ £200.00 ---