Retail trade union Usdaw has a delegation of members, reps and officials attending the Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC) Disabled Workers’ Conference in Glasgow on 23 and 24 November.
Usdaw is calling for delegates to adopt a social model understanding of disability and to support action to end bullying and harassment of disabled people.
Paddy Lillis – Usdaw general secretary says: “We are deeply concerned that large numbers of disabled workers are exposed to bullying and harassment at work. Young workers, women, LGBT+ and Black disabled workers are disproportionately impacted because of their unique combination of protected characteristics.
“While bullying and harassment takes many forms and affects workers differently, it can have a profoundly damaging impact on mental and physical health, on an individual’s personal and working life and on workplace cultures. Stereotypes about disabled people fuel discrimination and less favourable treatment.
“They prevent disabled people getting into work, remaining in work and getting on in work. They also have broader implications and can limit how disabled workers behave in the workplace as they seek to avoid situations and people that might put them at further risk.
“Harassment and bullying at work are part of a larger pattern of discrimination experienced by disabled people. Disabled workers, disability organisations and trade unions need to be consulted about the design and implementation of effective and preventative workplace interventions.”
Usdaw is asking the STUC to lobby the Scottish and Westminster governments to:
- Take positive action to change the way disabled people are viewed, valued and included in society.
- Consult on extending the new preventative duty to sexual harassment to other forms of harassment including disability harassment.
- Reinstate standalone protection from third-party harassment and enact Clause 14 of the Equality Act 2010 providing protection against discrimination that occurs for reasons related to a combination of protected characteristics.
Paddy Lillis continued: “The social model of disability is fundamental to eliminating discrimination and achieving equality and inclusion for disabled people. However, the medical model continues to dominate the law and the way in which employers understand and respond to disabled workers.
“This maintains and condones continued exclusion and inequality in the workplace. In Scotland, although the disability employment gap has reduced, disabled people still have a significantly lower employment rate than non-disabled people.
“Employers’ continued focus on ‘adjusting’ the worker – rarely the workplace – and removing barriers reinforces the widespread stereotype of disabled people as creating a ‘burden on business’.
“This shifts the onus onto the disabled worker to repeatedly demonstrate what they can’t do, rather than on employers to make workplaces accessible. Disabled workers are increasingly seeing adjustments removed, including adjustments to absence levels and performance targets, leading to disciplinary action and dismissal.
“Where this happens, the failure of employers to adopt a social model understanding ‘individualises’ disabled workers’ responses to discrimination and pushes them into seeking justice via internal grievance and legal procedures where the odds are stacked against them.”
Usdaw is asking the STUC, in consultation with the Disabled Workers’ Committee, to encourage unions to:
- Make collective bargaining on disability equality a priority, including ensuring reps and officials are trained on the social model.
- Regularly review employer policies, practices and publications, ensuring where possible that they are free of medical model approaches to disability.
- Hold employers to account for failures in their duty to make reasonable adjustments.
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