Over 100 shop stewards of the union GMB are due to meet in Blackpool within the hour to represent the remaining 3,200 Remploy factory workers over pay and benefits policies.
The delegates include representatives from CCTV monitoring and the Remploy Employment Service which places disabled workers in work with mainstream employers.
Only 54 Remploy factories now remain in the UK after a series of closures last year.
The 50 motions on the conference agenda today include disabled workers pay, employment conditions and questions about the state of the two pension funds.
Phil Davies, GMB National Secretary said “These GMB Shop Stewards and the disabled workers that they represent have been through the mill in the last couple of years, fighting to retain their factories and their jobs.
“They will concentrate at the conference on their future prospects in the recession when the axe will fall on many jobs and in the full knowledge that disabled worker come last with ever employer including the government.”
In related news, details of a partnership between Asda and Remploy emerged last week which could see many disabled workers taking up roles in the supermarket. The Walmart-owned firm said it is to create 7,000 new positions this year.
Beth Carruthers, Remploy’s director of employment services, said: “We are extremely proud of our partnership with Asda, which reflects the many skills and abilities that people with disabilities bring to Asda roles.
“Asda recognises that Remploy helps them recruit the right person for the job, regardless of a disability or health condition.”
