- Conference
- 2022 National Disabled Members' Conference
- Date
- 7 July 2022
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference, many of our disabled members feel anxious and concerned about returning to the workplace following the pandemic. They are worried that they are being left vulnerable to Covid 19 after the government removed legal restrictions and access to free testing earlier this year. Members who were previously considered clinically vulnerable, have not been afforded any extra protections in their workplace by the government.
This has placed many of our disabled members at risk of contracting Covid 19, when they are at greater risk of serious illness and long covid.
Conference believes that employers should be more understanding of the risks and concerns of their disabled workers and provide support for employees to be more aware of the impact of Covid on their disabled colleagues and encourage all staff to test regularly (offering testing kits where possible) and to stay away from work if they have symptoms or test positive.
We call upon the National Disabled Members Committee to work with relevant areas of the union to:
1. Conduct a survey of disabled members to ascertain their experiences of work in a post-covid world, the impact on their health and what support has been offered by their employers for example; – whether disabled members have been able to access hybrid working, whether specialist equipment has been easily obtainable for working from home, have managers carried out appropriate risk assessments for disabled workers.
2. To report back the survey findings via the regional delegates to National Disabled Members Committee
3. For National Disabled Members Committee to draft guidance documents for branches to use as bargaining and negotiating tools to help protect disabled workers in the workplace.