Disabled Workers' Conference 2022 Fringe
These online events are open to all
You must register for these events
Monday 21 March
Accessibility as standard not as required: building accessible workplaces for all
Time: 6.00pm-7:00pm
Non-disabled employees earn on average £1.90 an hour (16.5 per cent) more than disabled employees –or £3,458 more a year. That's nearly a year of the average expenditure on housing, fuel and power.
If we are to tackle the disability pay gap, we must tackle the barriers that disabled people face at work and ensure that workplaces are accessible for all. As part of the 2022 Disabled Workers Conference, join us for this panel discussion on how we ensure employers provide accessibility as standard not just when requested.
Chair: Joe Smith GMB
Speakers
- Tracey Lazard, CEO Inclusion London
- Janine Booth, Disabled Workers Committee Member from RMT and RMT Disabled Members Advisory Committee Secretary
- Angela Montgomery, Unite activist and Prison Officers Association, Assistant General Secretary
Tuesday 22 March
Disabled People for Free Trade Unions
Time: 11.30am-12.30pm
As unions fight back against discrimination and disabling workplace barriers, we are chained by appalling, anti-democratic anti-union laws - strict balloting rules, bans on solidarity strikes, restrictions on political spending, and more. There are more anti-union laws to come: the Tories plan to force transport unions to run a minimum service during our own strikes, and the Police Bill attacks our right to protest and to picket.
How do these laws affect us? How can we campaign against them? How can we win their repeal?
Chair: Sarah Woolley, general secretary, Bakers' Union
Speakers
- Janine Booth, secretary, RMT Disabled Members Advisory Committee
- John McDonnell MP
United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities
Time: 6.00pm-7.00pm
In 2007 the Labour Government signed the UK up to the “United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”. In 2017 the United Nations found that the Tory Government, had not implemented the Convention. They were also found guilty of “Grave and Systematic Abuses of the Rights of Disabled People”. Today the Shadow Report is launched in Parliament on the UK Government’s progress to implementation of the Report.
Unite calls on the UK to fully implement the Convention.
Chair: Dave Allan, TUC Disabled Workers Committee/Unite Chair
Speakers
- Ellen Clifford, ROFA
- Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary
- Clare Baker, Unite International
- Diana Holland, Unite AGS, Equalities
- Dave Allan, TUC Disabled Workers Committee/Unite Chair
- Harish Patel, Unite National Officer, Equalities
Thursday 24 March 2022
Invisible impairments: tackling workplace barriers
Time: 6.00pm-7:00pm
14.1 million people are disabled in the UK under the Equality Act and 70 per cent have invisible impairments. They can be physical, mental or neurological and can significantly impact day-to-day life, including experiences of work. As part of the 2022 Disabled Workers' Conference, join us for this panel discussion on the experiences of those with invisible impairments at work and how we can remove barriers for the millions of workers with invisible impairments.
Chair: Amy Bishop, TUC Disabled Workers Committee, Prospect
Speakers
- Ellen Clifford, disabled activist, Disabled People Against Cuts, United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled People Shadow report and author of The War on Disabled People: Capitalism, Welfare and the Making of a Human Catastrophe.
- Austin Harney, TUC Disabled Workers Committee, PCS
- Polina Sparks, Long Covid Support Employment Group
REGISTER for your place