June 30th: DPAC supports striking public sector workers in Birmingham.[

June 30th DPAC supports striking public sector workers in Birmingham Posted: 30 Jun 2011 06:14 PM PDT Steven Sumpter‘s speech for DPAC at the Birmingham rally: Disabled People Against Cuts stands today in unity with public sector workers and their unions against discriminatory cuts to our education, care and support services. With such savage, rapid and all-encompassing cutbacks taking place, disabled people’s rights are being pushed back decades.  In education, disabled children will be pushed towards segregated special schools as funding for inclusive education is cut and more Academies set up with their tendency to discriminate against disabled pupils, with the effect that disabled people will not have educational opportunities and will remain marginalised and disempowered. And disabled people also face job losses through cuts to the public sector which employs hundreds of thousands of disabled people across the country.  Here in Birmingham, the Council plans to cut £33.2 million from its care and support budget. 5000 disabled and older people will lose vital services as charges for personal care go up, skilled support workers are made redundant and social work services are privatised. The latest proposal to raise the eligibility threshold still further has been temporarily stopped by a court case but the Council is planning to start its consultation process all over again and to continue to push through changes which will see a further 4000 disabled and older people lose services. Many will have their support provided by the lowest bidder as the Council plans to privatise all jobs in adult care.  Organisations which once defended the rights of disabled people in Birmingham have been reduced –there were once 3 main disabled people’s organisations ,  only one is left with reduced capacity and funding. Cuts to disabled people are felt across the local economy. Cut hours to paid support workers  means wider job cuts and losses to family income.  Birmingham City Council says that its new service offer “is based on the idea that the vast majority of people can use their own resources and skills to care for themselves.”  But independent living is not about disabled people doing things for ourselves, it is about receiving the support we need in order to have the same life chances as other people and to take part in life equally and with dignity. What they are getting at by this “use their own resources”, what they really mean, what they want disabled people to do, is to use our emotional resources to come to accept what they want us to believe is our lot in life, to accept that although there is money for wars and weapons, there is money to make the rich even richer, there is money for chief executive and directors salaries, there is no money for us, no money for as many incontinence pads as we need in a day, no money for personal assistance for us to shower or go out, no money for support to stop us going into crisis; we are meant to accept our lot in life that is to sit in our own piss and shit and dirt for hours and days on end, our lot to stay trapped indoors, isolated and alone, or our lot to lose our homes altogether. It is patronising, offensive and plain wrong to assume that if you take away our support services we will suddenly “make an effort” and find we could have been doing things for ourselves all along.  DPAC will be lobbying the full Council meeting on July 5th at 5pm and having a public meeting on July 20th at the UNITE office on Broad Street to which anyone concerned about cuts to care services is invited. More photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/disabledpeopleprotest/sets/72157626962085905/  Report and photos at the Birmingham Post http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2011/06/30/5-000-striking-public-sector-workers-gather-for-rally-in-birmingham-65233-28973270/

Support the 5th July demonstration in defence of the NHS

• J30: Birmingham and London
• Reverse the Bias Towards Segregation’ campaign : demo on June 29th Westminster
• Support the 5th July demonstration in defence of the NHS

J30: Birmingham and London Posted: 27 Jun 2011 12:36 PM PDT June 30th placard In Birmingham (with Birmingham Against the Cuts) Assemble at 12 noon in Victoria Square for a rally and march.. This will be a regional demonstration with anti-cuts groups from around the region, and striking workers will be coming to the city centre from picket lines to demonstrate. Confirmed Speakers: Kevin Courtney (Deputy General Secratary of the NUT), Hugh Lanning (Deputy General Secretary of PCS) Michael McNeil (UCU Head of HE) Local UNISON Branch speaker DPAC speaker +More speakers from Unions to be confirmed Whilst for the unions this can only be about the specific cut they are striking about, for everyone else this can be about the cuts in general. DPAC will be supporting to show solidarity with the workers going on strike and to show resistance to the ConDem administrations both locally and nationally We will join the rally at 12 noon at Victoria Square, and hope that people will be able to come on their lunch break or even better book annual leave for that day. If you can’t make it, then show support in whatever way you can. In London Unite the Fights June 30th VOLUNTEERS NEEDED – Right to Work is looking for activists who can volunteer between now & the 30th June to help with stalls, campaigning, placard & banner making. We will be running campaign stalls at major demos across the country, see the battle map for protests & contact us on 07961 337 640 or 07749 481 600 to volunteer or be put in touch with the Right to Work group in your area. Event JOINT RALLY AND MARCH IN CENTRAL LONDON 30 Jun 2011 11:00 Assemble in Lincoln’s Inn Fields (Holborn Tube) at 11 am and march down Whitehall to joint union rally in Central Hall, Westminster. Have a look at the  map of protest rallies in the rest of the country -

Reverse the Bias Towards Segregation’ campaign : demo on June 29th Westminster Posted: 27 Jun 2011 11:56 AM PDT Programme for Day of Action June 29th 2011 (Times are approximate) 11am         Gather at South End of Westminster Bridge outside St Thomas’s Hospital 11.45         Start the Noisy March for Inclusion round Westminster Square 12.45         Big Balloon Escape outside Westminster Abbey 1.00            Continue Noisy March to DCSF, Sanctuary Buildings, Gt.Smith Street, SW1P.  Hand in Campaign Demands and personal responses to the Green Paper. Sit down on steps/pavement.     Make more noise. (some may like a break at this point for food/drinks/toilets.  Abbey Café nearby) 2.00-3.30  Press/MPs/Lords briefing in room C, 1 Parliament Street (for 6 of us only) Handing in demands to 10 Downing Street. 3.15          Concert for Inclusion and further leafleting, outside Westminster Abbey 4.00           End of organised events More information at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_204861262889124&ap=1

Support the 5th July demonstration in defence of the NHS Posted: 27 Jun 2011 04:25 AM PDT Save the NHS march, May © 2011 Pete Riches This march was initiated by health workers in Unite the Union, who felt that the savage attacks on the NHS needed a stronger response than the media event planned for the NHS 63rd birthday. The ‘listening exercise’ on the Health and Social Care Bill was a PR job, and has resulted only in minor cosmetic changes. The clear intention is a corporate takeover of our NHS, and the end of a comprehensive and universal healthcare system. The combination of this legislation and £20 billion ‘efficiency savings’ is an utter disaster. The legislation is now being rushed through, with little time remaining to organise in defence of the NHS. This demonstration is an incredibly important one for health workers, to build our confidence and help us organise and fight against the coming onslaught. It’s an important demonstration, too, for all of us – to build practical unity between NHS workers and the wider community, and to send a clear message to Cameron and his chums that we will fight them every inch of the way. Our health workers in Unite would welcome anything you can do to publicise this march, and to encourage your supporters to attend. The demonstration assembles at 5.30 pm on 5th July at Savoy Street, Strand, London, and marches to Old Palace Yard (opposite Parliament).

London: Benefit Claimants in Solidarity With the PCS – June 30th

London: Benefit Claimants in Solidarity With the PCS – June 30th Posted: 26 Jun 2011 07:44 AM PDT Thursday, June 30 · 8:30am – 11:00am Euston Tower, then Triton Square, Euston Road, London, NW1 Benefit claimants, disabled people and supporters will be joining the PCS  picket line at HMRC, Euston Tower from 8.30am*. We  will be standing in solidarity with all striking workers on the day, and in particular public sector workers who know only too well what the result of this government’s savage welfare policies will be. Join  us at Euston Tower, where speeches will begin at 9am.  At 10am we will be paying a short visit to notorious poverty pimps Atos Origin, the IT  company responsible for carrying out the disastrous Work Capability  Assessments which have driven sick and disabled claimants to suicide. Many  of us then will make our way to the Trade Union march and Striker’s Assembly, both being held in central London.  For full details of all  events, pickets and actions taking place in London on the day please  visit: http://www.j30strike.org/location/london/ *the PCS picket line will begin at 7am so please come earlier if you can. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=157149237689219&;

DPAC condemns Davies’ Comments

DPAC condemns Davies’ Comments

Posted: 25 Jun 2011 12:47 PM PDT

DPAC condemns the outrageous comments made by Phillip Davies, Conservative MP 
for Shipley, Yorkshire.  Davies announced that disabled people should be paid less than minimum wage. He claimed disabled people are considered less productive than non-
disabled people. Davies was condemned by Disability organizations, MPs, and others 
for his thoughtless comments.


His comments come at a time of rising unemployment, a time when disabled people,
through the Work Capability Assessment, are being moved from Incapacity 
Benefit to being declared ‘fit for work’ by the maligned Atos group. Atos has already 
been subject to several investigations on its practices. Davies, who has made previous 
comments suggesting disabled people are ‘scroungers’, now claims that disabled 
people should be paid less than £5.93 per hour. From scroungers to slave labour!


For years, disabled people have argued that employers’ attitudes, that perceive disabled 
people as less productive, regardless of qualification level or previous experience, are 
issues that need tackling through education. 


The recent changes to Access to Work, and the increased levels in the contributions from employers for adjustments, have also had a knock-on effect on disabled people getting work. Disabled people are those most likely to be long-term unemployed, NOT due to impairment, but to ignorance of the very kind an elected MP feels no qualms about displaying. Even our enemy media outlet, the Daily Mail, condemns Davies.



Davies’ comments set disabled peoples’ opportunities back 20 years. It is the type of 
prejudice that we would expect from MPs, given the raft of misunderstandings around 
disability that we have endured since the coalition came to power. The irony is that 
disabled people, regardless of qualification, are often paid less than their non-disabled colleagues. This is not because of productivity, but because employers feel they can 
get away with it. In 2009, disabled people were paid a gross average of £11.08 
compared to £12.30 for non disabled employees (Labour Force Survey 2009). 
DPAC suspects the differences are wider. These are the issues MPs should be 
discussing, NOT reducing disabled workers wages further.


Davies fails to recognise that disabled people have the right to be paid a living wage, 
a fair wage, and a wage appropriate to skills and qualifications – and it seems all MPs 
fail to recognise the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities - a convention setting up disabled peoples’ rights as equal to those of non-disabled people. 
No one should be considered a second class citizen because they happen to be 
disabled, nor should they be paid less for the same work.


Tell Davies what you think of his idea by signing the petition at the link below
Take action link: http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AgjLO/zlRm/CxM4


————— Debbie Jolly