Majority of ex-remploy workers still jobless

The majority of disabled workers who were employed in Remploy factories have still not found another job a year on from the last of the 51 factory closures, according to a recent survey by the GMB general union.

The factories provided employment for disabled people with substantial barriers to work but were phased out. The GMB attacked the disabled charities and the government who brought about the closures, saying that a huge percentage of those made redundant now sit at home depressed and isolated from any forms of social interaction or inclusion.

A previous survey carried out by the GMB earlier this year found that only one in four ex-Remploy employees was in employment.

Of those in work, almost half are working fewer hours, 68% receive less pay, and 72% receive inferior holidays and pension schemes.

And 55% of Remploy workers were still out of work, while almost one in five (18%) had retired. This is despite pledges by the government that they would be helped into alternative work. Jerry Nelson, GMB national officer, said that for many workers, the factories were a sheltered environment and their only connection with life outside of their own homes.

He said that over 2,700 disabled workers “had their lives destroyed by this government’s callous and thoughtless attack”. Nelson pointed out that in the current economic climate, with able-bodied workers struggling to find work, there are few prospects for workers with severe learning or physical disabilities.

www.gmb.org.uk/newsroom/remploy-a-year-since-factories-closed