MANY would agree that meaningful work can make a positive difference to the lives of some disabled people. 

Work can break down barriers of loneliness and isolation and a supportive working environment can increase feelings of self-worth and self-confidence for anyone in society. 

Unfortunately, the drive to push everyone, including disabled people, back into work has coincided with the closure of many of the sheltered work schemes that provided support to disabled people who choose to return to work. 

The Remploy factories provided secure and supportive work and a sense of community for thousands of socially isolated disabled people but they were shut down for good by 2013 because they were considered to be outdated.

When I was a community psychiatric nurse in Southwark some people recovering from mental ill health worked for the Camberwell Rehabilitation Association (CRA), which was a small manufacturing company. 

Not a single one of those employees ever worked again when the doors closed. 

More modern schemes sprang up with the intention of being a springboard to integrate disabled people into mainstream work. 

Even these remaining schemes also had their funding cut, leaving disabled people who wanted to work high and dry.  

By 2015 there was a 30 per cent rise in the numbers of disabled people who were out of work.

The reduction in supported work for disabled people has coincided with the rise of the gig economy and this gig economy, caused by outsourcing, is thriving within the NHS and public services too. 

Outsourcing of NHS ancillary services to companies like ISS, Mitie and others has led to an increase in the exploitation of disabled people who want to work. 

Disabled people are finding that these minimum wage jobs which are unstable and offer poor conditions and abuse are the only jobs left over for them. 

They find that if they are not in a trade union they are left high and dry and at the mercy of outsourcing managers who want to sweat and squeeze their labour for profit. 

The host employers who have outsourced these contracts always turn a blind eye when the mistreatment of outsourced workers is raised with them and simply refer matters back to the private company.

In GMB we are increasingly dealing with companies that blatantly disregard equalities legislation and this is played out in the brutal and callous manner in which our disabled members are treated. 

These multinational companies take on disabled workers, pay them peanuts and they take advantage of their vulnerabilities by not offering contracts, not helping workers to access their payslips and not paying them in full for hours worked. 

The workloads are unmanageable and workers find that they are unable to survive on the very low pay and they end up working in gruelling conditions in excess of 60 hours a week to make ends meet. 

It is a huge challenge for anyone to maintain optimum mental or physical health when faced with such brutal working conditions.

Serious health and safety breaches are commonplace and have become normalised and it is not uncommon to find that outsourced workers are not given proper equipment to work with, not given equipment to protect themselves and they are pushed into taking dangerous short cuts on the job. 

Ruthless managers prey on communication and confidence issues to bully disabled workers and turn the tables on them if they try to make a fuss about the way they are being treated. 

There is little regulation, training or effort to ensure that disabled people are treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve to have in the workplace. 

These are the type of workplace conditions that would be a living nightmare for any worker and if you have a disability on top there is a high risk that the workplace conditions offered by these companies would cause further physical and mental health injury.

The Equality Act exists to protect disabled people in the workplace and, when understood and used correctly, it is a powerful tool that union reps can use to use to fight back against these brutal employers and put pressure on them to give “reasonable adjustments” for workers diagnosed with chronic physical or mental conditions. 

However the law must be used in conjunction with effective union organising and making the political demands that will enable disabled workers to survive and thrive in the workplace. 

All disabled workers would find that they are welcomed into GMB and that they would be encouraged to self-organise within our union. 

When disabled workers are active in unions, they get equipped with the knowledge, skills and support that they need to protect themselves in the workplace. 

Ultimately it is through effective union organising and building the industrial and political strength to drive the private companies out of the NHS and public services that the exploitation of disabled workers will be ended.

​Helen O’Connor is GMB Southern regional organiser.