From Disability Labour
Today, Disability Labour, an organisation affiliated to the Labour Party, which represents the interests of disabled Labour Party Members, has strongly criticised Birkenhead MP, Frank Field.
In an essay, published this week Mr Field, who Chair’s the influential Parliamentary Works and Pensions Committee, suggested that disabled people could be exempted from Minimum wage legislation, and that disabled workers were less productive, compared to those without a disability.
Disability Labour, said: “We condemn Frank Field’s comments in the strongest possible terms. For a Labour MP to suggest that disabled people can be less valued in the workplace; leaving them at the mercy of unscrupulous, exploitative employers is outrageous and unacceptable, For Frank Field to also perpetuate the trope that disabled workers are less productive and, by implication, less hardworking, is equally disgraceful and unacceptable.”
Disability Labour chair added: “Our Parliamentary representatives have a responsibility to represent ALL of their constituents, without fear or favour. By making such comments, Mr Field is proposing that disabled workers rights can be removed, in order to benefit some of the Country’s worst employers. This is clearly discriminatory, and unacceptable for any MP to suggest, let alone one who purports to stand under the Labour banner.”