Hundreds of Remploy factory workers protested in London, Sheffield, Cardiff and Edinburgh on the 20th of April against the government’s shameful attempt to throw thousands of disabled people onto the dole in their bid to destroy another pillar of the welfare state.

Disabled people often face discrimination in society, they are more likely to be unemployed and living in poverty. The need of employers to make as much profit as possible, by ruthlessly exploiting their workers, means that they will often avoid employing disabled people because of their physical or learning disabilities. Remploy was created in 1946 alongside the welfare state to try and address this injustice by providing an industry for disabled people to work in where they can learn skills, integrate in their community and produce useful goods that benefit society.

The government have decided to shut down Remploy by withdrawing the subsidy they gave towards it. This means the closure of 36 out of 54 factories by the 17th of august 2012, but probably sooner for many. This will mean 1752 workers in useful, skilled jobs will have to join millions in the dole queues – and with few bosses recruiting, they will face a serious disadvantage. The last Labour government made a similar move in 2008 shutting 28 factories. Out of those who lost jobs in the last attack only 5% are working now and out of those only 5% have found work of an equal standard. If these 36 are allowed to close it will only be a matter of time before the government ditches the remaining 18, meaning the end of Remploy.

The government’s justification is that the 36 factories are not profitable; this argument boils down to: workers in the third-world can be found cheaper and worked harder. But Remploy helps disabled people fight isolation in society and they produce goods that are used in the NHS and education, things everyone in society benefits from, it shouldn’t matter whether it makes a profit or not. Besides, there is plenty of money available; the rich in the UK have seen their wealth rise over 20% annually over the last few years while the rest of us suffer; the wealth of the rich flows from the cuts in spending and jobs suffered by the majority. The money saved by closing Remploy is a fraction of the cost to society of throwing thousands more out of work, impoverishing them and their families.

Fight to win

This fight is an all or nothing struggle, and the workers know it. The mood of the workers on the protest was one of defiance. 400 marched in Sheffield chanting and spreading their message to the sound of car horns from supporters, one placard read ‘disable the government not Remploy’. 300 packed into Sheffield town hall for a rally with GMB officials, Labour politicians and a Unite organiser from the Socialist Workers Party, unfortunately none of the speakers were disabled or Remploy workers. They all made fiery speeches about fighting back and the atmosphere was electric.

Though the rhetoric was radical the mention of real action was lacking; the labour politicians focused on punishing the government at the elections, but were forced to admit, by a well placed question, that Remploy would be long dead if it was not saved now and also that Labour wouldn’t reverse most of the cuts. The GMB bureaucrats including Paul Kenny the General Secretary focused on elections too and failed to mention strikes apart from to remind workers of the need to obey anti-union laws.

The only exception to the cautious rhetoric was the Unite organiser, Gareth, who called for militant civil disobedience and factory occupations to create a national storm, but he also didn’t mention strikes. However his speech was met with huge cheers and almost constant applause throughout. In an interview afterwards he said “Factory occupations are a necessary part of the fight-back against the Tories. During the Olympics and Jubilee the government will be scared of public disorder and so that is what we need to create”. The workers cheered every mention of a fight back, and at the end dozens stood up to say they would resist. They have proven their willingness to oppose the closures. Now they need to force their leaders to back up their militant words with real action that is capable of winning.

Remploy workers can learn from the electricians who recently beat a 35% pay cut. They did this by taking militant action and illegal strikes by organising themselves democratically at first in a conference and later in rank and file meetings. This allowed the workers themselves to decide on the action and to provide an alternative leadership to ensure that union leaders would not back down or sell out.

Remploy workers should do the same; the union leaders won’t be unemployed if the factories close and so when under pressure they can easily try and negotiate or back down from confrontation. The Remploy workers, with their backs to the wall, can’t back down – they need to organise themselves for an all out fight to win, they should call a conference of workers to decide on a strategy and then lobby the union as a whole to enact these decisions. If the unions refuse to then the conference should set up local workplace meetings to organise the action themselves.

What kind of action?

The government have made it clear that they want to shut the factories; the consultation period is a diversion to hold back the struggle why they pretend to listen to workers’ concerns. Remploy workers should go on strike as soon as possible and refuse to go back until the bosses back down. The government’s determination needs to be met by equally determined resistance.

The strike must also be across all of Remploy, even the factories that are not closing. If these workers won’t go on strike then pickets should be sent to the factories to explain to them that they will be next and win them to a national strike.

If a factory is set to close then the workers should occupy it and stop the bosses taking away the machinery to sell for scrap. They should then call for support from local communities, link up with others in struggle such as public sector workers and refuse to leave until the government guarantees the jobs and future of all the Remploy factories.

A determined fight back like this would strengthen the position of all Remploy workers and show millions that resistance is necessary and victory is possible.

You can download the leaflet we distributed at Remploy factories here.

Sign the petition against closures here