LEEDS REMPLOY PROTEST

Acknowledgemnts Leeds Greens

'Remploy was set up in 1946 as part of the welfare state, to allow disabled people to work with dignity and support'. Today 100 people protested outside Leeds art gallery against the proposed selling of 36 UK Remploy factories before Christmas. It is possible that all remaining 54 Remploy sites will be sold by the 2014. Within Leeds Remploy employs 60 people near Morley. They build wheelchairs, pack jam, tag products and do small electrical work. There is a main recruitment branch in Leeds city centre. Other nearby Remploy factories include Burley in Wharfedale and Pontefract. An important contract is with the NHS; so this can be seen as part of the notorious privatisation of our health service.

Allegedly during the 1980s the closure of certain Remploy sites caused a bigger outcry. Are we 'fighting fires' on too many fronts?

The Green Party ultimately believes in a citizens income
( http://younggreens.greenparty.org.uk/AboutUs/Policy/CitizensIncome ) and can prove that cuts aimed at the vulnerable are wrong. This is not a utopia and all our measures are fully accounted. Nationally we believe in increasing taxes for the very rich, land taxes, a Tobin/Robin Hood Tax, an end to costly PFI schemes, scrap Trident nuclear, cancelling unnecessary road building and putting an end to aggressive wars.

We accept that in the future there may have to be more radical changes to our entire system but we will do what we can where we can. The citizens income is an important part of our future.


For more information see: http://www.dpac.uk.net/2012/07/busting-the-myths-behind-the-remploy-closures/