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

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