News

A pay offer from Remploy, the organisation that employs thousands of disabled workers across the UK, has been rejected by unions, writes Alex Dobson.

Trade union the GMB said that members at Remploy factories across the United Kingdom have voted six to one to reject the company’s pay offer of an extra £5.50 per week. It said unions were seeking an offer of £20 per week payable to all employees from the chief executive to the shop floor. Currently it says that workers earn an average of £5.50 an hour or £10,000 per year.

The company employs 5,700 shop floor workers, with a range of physical disabilities and learning difficulties in about 80 manufacturing plants across the UK.

GMB national officer Phil Davies said: “Our members deserve a decent pay rise. Just because they are disabled doesn’t mean that they are cheap labour. They deserve respect and this offer is a disgrace."

“If the company won’t negotiate, we will have no option but to seek an industrial action mandate from our members,” he said.

A spokesperson for Remploy said the proposal contained many benefits, and had originally been recommended by the union negotiating committee.