Unions and employers welcome better deal for disabled workers

Trade unions fighting for a better deal for disabled workers are celebrating the appointment of more than 500 Disability Champions who help disabled workers to negotiate with employers to fulfil their needs, and work to raise awareness of issues at work.

Unionlearn, the TUC’s education and skills organisation, announced today that there are now 506 Disability Champions.

They come from 24 unions, 43% are disabled, 39% are aged 50 or over, 40% are women, and 14% are from ethnic minorities. Some of the many companies and organisations that have welcomed the programme are BT, Royal Bank of Scotland, Waitrose, and Humberside Probation Service.

The idea for Disability Champions emerged from a joint project between manufacturing and professional union, Amicus, and TUC Education, which began in 2003.

Unionlearn has gained support for the project and established a thirty-hour course to train trade union members in disability issues. Some of the issues covered on the course include: conducting access audits of buildings, documents, and policies; influencing recruitment procedures; and negotiating reasonable adjustments.

The Disability Champions project is overseen by Dave Parr, one of the Trade Union Studies team at East Riding College, who has developed a website - www.disabilitychampions.com - to supplement the work.

Liz Rees, unionlearn Trade Union Education Manager said:

“It’s a mark of the trade unions’ commitment to equality in the workplace that the Disability Champions’ course, run by unionlearn with TUC Education, has attracted such a variety of people who are actively raising awareness of disability issues.

This is a fantastic milestone, although there is still a long way to go until there is equality of opportunity for all workers, but in the meanwhile thousands of individuals are reaping the benefits from the dedicated work of the Disability Champions.”


For more information, please visit www.unionlearn.org.uk