Disabled workers thrown under the bus by the TUC The TUC Disabled Workers Conference this year was quite muted. No big arguments or bust ups, but there were a number of interesting and important debates. However, there was a feeling of being let down by the TUC. More than one delegate felt that the TUC had thrown disabled workers, and disabled people under the proverbial bus. Steve Gillan, TUC President DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts) along with other deaf and disabled pe

Conference, Chair, Comrades, Lee Elliott, I stand before you today because we are witnessing a coordinated, systemic attack on disabled workers - an attack that is being dressed up as "reform" but feels like a declaration of war on our class. Last year, at the TUC Congress, unions stood united together. Motions 38 and 39 were passed unanimously. The entire trade union movement pledged coordinated and sustained action against disability cuts. The CWU was at the heart of that f

Conference, Ash Wise, moving this motion on behalf of the PCS (Public And Commercial Services) Union. I speak to you from the heart with lived experience as someone living with ME and also neurodiversity – which causes me physical, sensory and cognitive impairments. Right now, across our workplaces, disabled workers are being failed by a system that does not recognise reality. We are told to stay in work. We are told to manage our conditions. We are told to be resilient. But

The Government has made a lot of noise about wanting to support people, especially disabled people, back into work. At the same time they have made it harder both for disabled people to get into work or for those in work to stay in work through: tightening the application of the criteria used for PIP forcibly moving claimants from ESA to Universal Credit, resulting in substantial cuts in benefits removing tax emptions from the Motability scheme making Access to Work even more

Good Morning Conference. Kevin Daws moving Motion 3 – Fit for Purpose – on behalf of the UCU Conference, whilst all disability campaigners should be congratulated on the campaign last year to repel the Labour Government’s cuts to disability and related benefits. We cannot afford to be complacent. The fact that there is not a Welfare Bill in last week’s King’s Speech does not come as a surprise to me, and I’m sure that it does not come as a surprise to you either. Just ask you

Most years we have a debate about Reasonable Adjustments at the TUC Disabled Workers Conference and this year was no exception but the UCU had submitted an amendment, which was accepted, saying that Reasonable Adjustments should in the future be called ‘Necessary Adjustments’ because they are not optional. Mark Anthony Bastiani of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) moved Motion 10 Reasonable Adjustments in the Workplace as amended. This is what he said in his speech moving

Composite Motion 1: Access to Work – Always Audiences, Never Artists A Trade Union tradition is to composite similar motions into one motion. Compositing effectively means that two or more motions and amendments are merged into one motion. The composite motion was quite a long motion which is produced at the end of this article, however, it opens with the following two paragraphs: ‘Conference condemns the deterioration of Access to Work (AtW) through excessive delays, arbitra

I am sure that you are not surprised that we had a debate at the TUC Disabled Workers Conference about how we 'fight back' against the far right. I managed to secure copies of three of the speeches which I am sharing with you below. When you have read these speeches please do leave your thoughts and ideas on how to 'fight back' against the far right in the comment box below this article. If you are already actively involved please share your experiences. The first speech I am

One of the motions debated at the TUC Disabled Workers Conference was about the need for accessible toilets and safe spaces in schools. The motion was tabled by the NASUWT trade union and it is reproduced below: Conference notes with concern the lack of a suitable provision of disability-inclusive toilets across educational settings. Conference further notes that there is a failure to fully fund school and college buildings in order for them to update and provide suitable pr

Each year at the TUC Disabled Workers Conference we have a number of contributions based on the theme of 'Moments of Resistance' where a disabled union rep share their expereince. Below, Dawn Lovatt of the GMB Union share her thoughts and experiences 1. Opening Shattering barriers is why we’re here today, bringing together the whole movement. Because for disabled workers, barriers aren’t abstract. They’re everyday. They’re the adjustment that never comes. The support that tak

This year’s TUC Disabled Workers Conference opened with a report from the Chair of the TUC Disabled Workers Committee and a speech from Steve Gillan the General Secretary of the Prisoner Officers Association and the current TUC President. This was followed by the first debate of the Conference on a motion entitled ‘Protect the PIP Daily Living Component’ The motion was moved by Ann Sianab Weekes on behalf of the GMB Union. She is the GMB National Equality Strand Lead for Disa

Last Month I attended the TUC Disabled Workers Conference in Bournemouth where there was a lot of disquiet about the Government’s treatment of disabled workers and disabled people generally. Over the next week or so I intend to publish a number of articles based on the speeches of delegates from a variety of trade unions. I am starting with a motion entitled ‘Really Supporting Disabled People into Work’ This motion was moved by Dean Collins who is the newly elected Executive

CALL OUT FOR VOLUNTEERS for portrait collaboration

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week and we are pleased to be able to publish the following blog from Lady Lola Oyewusi which she also published on LinkedIn, please read and share and social media Mental Health Awareness Week is a vital campaign that provides a focused opportunity to talk about mental health, reduce the stigma associated with seeking help, and advocate for societal changes that promote psychological wellbeing. Since poor mental health is estimated to cos

Today I got the train to Perth in Scotland, what is one of Scotland's 7 City's the others are Stirling, Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness

David and Gavin meeting in Perth and they went for the lunch and David met the dogs Buddy and Mango

Hello my name is David, I am 35 year's old of writing this blog post This is a photo of myself and Mango the dog above what is a Bernese Mountain Dog I have got Learning Disabilities, Autism, Hand eye coordination issues, As part of All4Inclusion I do the Discos every couple of weeks online on the zoom platform, I love the Discos they are a brilliant night For my day job I work for 2 Company's I will list them below with a brief details of what I do Innovate Trust - I am a In

For the 2026 All 4 Inclusion Awards four new awards have been added.

A good event can be ruined by a lack of accessibility.

There is already a debate going on about SEND Education. A lot of the debate is, mistakenly, focussing on the cost of SEND Education rather than whether it currently meets the needs of those children and young people that it is meant to support. We have seen newspaper headlines claiming that local authorities will have to declare themselves bankrupt because of the ever increasing cost of SEND. This is clearly nonsense and if local authorities feel the needs to declare themsel