Statement of Service2,500 disabled workers loose their jobs- most will not work again
During this week those of the 28 Remploy factories sanctioned for closure by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions last autumn not already closed will close their doors for the last time. In total 2,500 disabled workers will be put out of work across the Remploy network of factories.
The factories sanctioned by Ministers to close are Aintree, Barnsley close/merge, Birkenhead CCU close/merge, Bradford close/merge, Brixton, Brynamman close/merge, Halilfax, Hartlepool, Hillington, Hull, Jarrow close/merge, Leatherhead, Lydney, Mansfield, Medway, Newcastle Staffs close/merge, Pinxton, Plymouth, Redruth close/merge, Southampton B Chandler’s Ford close/merge, Southend, St Helens, Stockport close/merge, Stockton, Treforest, Woolwich close/merge, York, Ystradgynlais close/merge. Unions have been told that the factories at Wisbech and Poole are also to close without the sanction of Ministers.
This co-incides with reports in the press that Remploy managers are spending £8m on 441 company cars – some of them defined as luxury vehicles like a 2.7 litres Mercedes sports car for boss Bob Warner.
Phil Davies GMB National Officer and Secretary of the Remploy consortium of trades unions said “ This is a week of shame for our Labour Government and it’s utter failure to address and resolve the 14 year old problems surrounding supported employment for disabled workers.
The problems have their root in the Tory decision in 1994 that the age old practice of public procurement being used to supply a steady stream of work to supported employment for disabled workers was not allowed under EU procurement laws. GMB and other unions fought a decade long successful campaign to reverse this EU law. Public procurement is now allowed for this purpose but Ministers and councillors and officials in national and local Government have yet to get back to the position that applied up to 1994.
In spite of an 18 months campaign to get a steady stream of work for the factories the Government backed the plan of a failed management team to run down the network and to put 2,500 disabled workers on the dole. Remploy workers will not forget either the role of
leaders of disabled charities Leonard Cheshire, Radar, Mencap, Mind, RNID and Scope and their zealotry in calling for the factories to be closed in the name of using the money to find mainstream employment for disabled workers. This zealot line was rejected by the 2007 Labour Party Conference who voted to support choice and the use of public procurement to underpin it.
We can not forgive the utter failure of the Labour Government to cut through all the procurement problems and to dismiss the failed management and start again. The waste regarding the cars is just the tip of the iceberg.
The Remploy Trades Unions will continue to campaign to reopen these factories as public procurement starts to generates a steady stream of work. We will move to the courts and tribunals to seek justice for those unfairly selected for redundancy and for unfair dismissal. The political fall out from this week of shame has just started.”
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March 27, 2008
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