Disabled protesters target Tesco

Labour Party Conference 2006
Tuesday, 26th September 2006

John Scheerhout

 


 

 

 

POLICE were called as disabled rights protesters blocked entrances at Tesco Metro on Manchester's Market Street for nearly two hours.

They were campaigning against a government scheme being piloted by the supermarket and other organisations to get disabled people into work placements, which they branded "slavery".

A Tesco spokesman insisted there was no compunction in the "Pathways to Work" pilot and said the scheme was to help incapacity benefits claimants who wanted it to get work experience. No-one was arrested.

Earlier, disabled people protested outside Manchester town hall against moves to close some of the 83 Remploy factories around the country - including in Bolton, Stockport, Manchester and Radcliffe - which employ 5,000 workers, the vast majority of them disabled.

Remploy receives £118m government funding a year. Its board has said it is looking at closing a number of factories and get disabled people working in the private sector.

Disability rights groups also marched towards the Labour conference to protest against the Welfare Reform Bill, which aims to get disabled benefits claimants into work.