Disability champions set to roll out across more unions

The Disability Champion@ork project, initiated by the Amicus technical and professional union, has exceeded its initial target of training disability champions and is set to be extended to all TUC unions.

The pioneering initiative, launched last year, aims to train and support workplace reps to ensure that disabled workers have genuine equality of opportunity. At the project's first conference last month it was described as "the most promising single project enabling disabled people to break out of the world of exclusion " by TUC disability policy officer Peter Purton.

Purton said that the TUC had identified a major problem in the "continuing disproportionate exclusion from employment of disabled people who are willing to work and want to work."

He added: "The project offers a beacon of light in this area - an opportunity to kick-start employers into thinking about this and doing something about it."

There are now around 100 disability champions - twice the project's initial target. Most champions are Amicus members, although there are recruits from the T&G and GMB general unions, the UNISON public services union and the PCS civil service union.

Project worker Dave Parr, said: "Although this already happens to a certain extent, rolling out the project across all the TUC unions is going to be a priority in the next phase."

More information is available at www.disabilitychampions.com