Anne-Marie Ricketts, our branch welfare officer, reports from the 2021 National Disabled Members’ Conference held from the 30th October to the 1st November in Liverpool.
I have just returned from the Disabled Members’ Conference in Liverpool. It was wonderful to meet so many UNISON members, officers and reps. To hear them speak was an inspiration. It also occurred to me listening to others, that Sussex Partnership treat their staff far better then some of the organisations that were spoken about.
Andrea Eagan, was the first guest speaker to pay tribute to all the groups who had continued to function throughout the Coronavirus pandemic. She spoke about the challenges of returning to work, highlighting that some disabled members of staff may still need to continue to work from home, however, they should not be forced to work from home.
The myth that COVID-19 doesn’t discriminate was unmasked. For example it was noted the black people are four times more likely to die of COVID-19 than white people and almost 60% of deaths were of disabled people.
Black and disabled people were hit the hardest and continue to be disproportionately impacted. Long COVID has impacted upon existing conditions and triggered new conditions for many. Many black workers were too low paid to qualify for statutory sick pay and continued to have to come to work when they needed to self isolate.
The home working revolution that many of us have enjoyed have bypassed those black workers who are more likely to work in low paid frontline zero hours jobs with no access for redeployment to jobs that could be done from home.
A motion called on the national disabled members’ committee in liaison with the national black members’ committee to work with the service groups to support negotiation with employers, to include frontline workers in home working policies with redeployment an option for those who want it. They also called for a campaign to increase the level and extent of sick pay so that low paid black and disabled workers don’t disproportionately lose out. Finally the committees were asked to work with the NEC and labour link to develop a broad based campaigning on learning the lessons of the impacts of COVID-19 on black and disabled workers. This motion was passed unanimously by conference
Another motion was to support deaf workers with Access to Work and PiP. Deaf workers rely on Access to Work to pay for British sign language interpreters, so that they can do their jobs and live independent lives. However during the pandemic the Access to Work system wasn’t as flexible or responsive as it needed to be in the changed circumstances, with longstanding issues becoming more obvious.
It was agreed to lobby the Department of Work and pensions for the options of a fully electronic access to work application and claims process, to campaign against the cap on Access to Work and to work with UNISON Scotland, to closely watch the roll out of a disability scheme to see if there are lessons to be learned for the rest of the UK.
“I believe that this branch works very hard to support our disabled members and to always get the best outcome for them”
Throughout the conference it was really evident the amount of different disabilities in the workplace that we don’t really realise are there. For example, people with autism and severe or specific learning impairments tend to go unnoticed and often unsupported. However, I believe in our trust we do support our disabled members of staff and I believe that this branch works very hard to support our disabled members and to always get the best outcome for them.
There is so much more I could write about with the discussions I had and the motions that were proposed, but I will finish on how I personally gained from attending the conference.
I have a hearing problem and wear hearing aids. Sometimes I’m not very good at admitting that I might need support myself. However the conference gave me the confidence to actually speak out for the things that I need to make my life better. As a consequence the knowledge I gained will make the lives of our disabled members better, so that I can support them in anyway possible to lead independent lives and continue to do the jobs that they love.