Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “The number of disabled people living in poverty has increased by almost 50% since 2010. We reject any suggestion that this is inevitable and assert that poverty and the failure to tackle inequality are political decisions. Yet again cuts to social security and the bolstering of punitive sanctions are being couched in a debate about rights and responsibilities and the need to help disabled people into work.
 
“The truth is that millions of disabled people are in paid work and where they are not, this is in large part a result of structural discrimination, a widespread resistance amongst employers to implement reasonable adjustments and a failure to embed the social model of disability into decision and policy making.
 
“Usdaw is calling for action to tackle discrimination and change the way disabled people are viewed, so that they are valued and included in society. Unions, together with disabled people's organisations, must continue to build a movement of protest against the Government’s lack of response to the cost of living crisis, highlighting the specific impact on disabled people and putting their voices centre stage.”
 
Notes for editors:
 
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest trade union with over 350,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades www.usdaw.org.uk
 
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion