Yesterday, Saturday 26th September 2015, saw the
coming together of around 700 disabled people to protest at the cuts in Access
to Work. Deaf workers are particularly hit by the cap on Access to Work; and
yesterday they came out in their hundreds to show solidarity with other disabled
workers and BSL interpreters also affected by the cuts.
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| Yesterday's march to Downing Street to deliver a petition calling for the government to put a halt to the capping of Access to Work |
In my capacity as Unite Executive and TUC General Council
Councillor for disabled workers I would like to thank all those involved in
making yesterday a success. So thanks to the National Union of British Sign
Language Interpreters (NUBSLI), Inclusion London, DPAC, and all others who participated.
I was privileged to be invited to speak at the event. Here is my speech to the rally opposite Downing Street:
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| Sean McGovern speaking to the rally at Downing Street |
“Hello Comrades, I’m Seán McGovern of Unite the Union
and the TUC General Council and I bring a message of solidarity from both these
bodies.
Comrades, you can always tell when a Tory is lying…his
lips are moving.
You can also tell when they’re being disingenuous for
that’s when they call taking away our disability benefits and services Welfare
Reform.
But the deceit does not stop there.
No.
This Tory government perpetuates its great lie by
telling us that the root of our poverty lies in our idleness.
Get a job they say and you will be lifted from the
abyss of poverty.
Get a job they say and we will make work pay.
Well Cameron, Duncan-Smith and Osborne lots of us who
can work have got jobs.
Indeed Remploy workers had very good jobs until you in
your wisdom scrapped them; throwing thousands of hard working disabled people
out of work and on to benefits.
Oh, and by the way, Duncan-Smith, whatever happened to
the scores of millions you saved when closing down Remploy factories and doing
away with Residential Training Courses for disabled people?
You put a measly £15 million into Access to Work over
3-years.
And you have the gall to tell the world you’re serious
about getting disabled people into work.
Access to Work is a winner.
For every pound spent on Access to Work the Exchequer
recoups £1.48.
This is the goose that lays the golden egg.
But what does this government do?
It puts up barriers to the scheme such as introducing
ATOS as the assessing agent.
It overcomplicates the process so that those claiming
it spend inordinate amounts of time on bureaucracy.
Not satisfied with making life difficult for us
they’ve now placed a cap on Access to Work.
This cap particularly hits deaf people using Access to
Work and will restrict their use of qualified interpreters so necessary for
them to carry out their jobs.
This government looks after hedge fund managers and
merchant bankers who create capital profit, usually for their own ends.
Yet when a highly skilled group of workers such as
British Sign Language interpreters demand a decent wage this government fails
to recognise the social capital they generate.
Comrades, we call on this government to stop the changes
to Access to work for disabled people, their support staff and British Sign
Language Interpreters.
Solidarity
Comrades!"
