UNIONS must reject far-right scapegoating and highlight the key role disabled workers play in the wins achieved by the labour movement, TUC president Steve Gillan said today.

Mr Gillan told union delegates gathered in Bournemouth for the first day of the TUC disabled workers’ conference that organisers must embrace an “intersectional” struggle against cuts and AI automation.

“We must stand firm against attempts to blame the disabled people for economic failure,” Mr Gillan said.

“Division and scapegoating are growing in politics. We reject the politics of hostility and suspicion. And we reject any attempt to pit workers against one another.”

The TUC president and general secretary of the Prison Officers’ Association explained that “when disabled workers win rights, everybody benefits.

“Better flexibility helps parents and carers. Bedroom health protection helps old workers. Better workplace design helps everyone.”

He added: “A fair society benefits us all. That is our union message. Collective solutions, collective strength, collective dignity.

“The labour movement has always understood that change happens when people organise collectively. Not when people struggle alone. That’s why disabled workers’ self-organisation matters. It strengthens unions, strengthens democracy.”

He added that inclusivity “must be embedded in everything that we do. Our movement must be intersectional. We must understand how disability discrimination intersects with racism, sexism, LGBT+ discrimination, age discrimination, and class inequality.

“We cannot build equality by leaving people behind.”

Mr Gillan addressed the threat faced by disabled workers regarding the rollout of AI in workplaces, claiming we “cannot allow new technology to create new barriers.

“We cannot allow algorithmic management to discriminate against disabled workers. We cannot allow productivity monitoring to punish people from working differently. And we cannot allow remote and flexible working gains to be rolled back.”