Brown told to rethink 'betrayal' of disabled

Gordon Brown is under growing pressure to rethink a decision to "sack" 2,270 people from specialist jobs for the disabled.

The Government has been accused of betrayal over plans to close 43 of 83 Remploy factories, which provide skilled work making products such as life jackets and furniture.

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Mr Brown will be attending the GMB union's annual meeting in Brighton, where he will be urged to halt the closures, which caused anger and confusion among staff when they were revealed last month through a five-minute DVD shown in Remploy canteens.

GMB National Secretary Phil Davies said: "We want a full investigation into how Remploy is run." Members would be balloted over strike action, he added.

The union says tens of millions of pounds could be saved by restructuring Remploy's management, which has been criticised for taking generous pay rises while the company was under financial pressure.

From 2003 to 2006, chief executive Bob Warner's annual pay went up by 42 per cent to £143,300.

Remploy, whose management is appointed by Ministers, attracted £119million in Government subsidy last year.

Campaigners against the closures have pointed out that factories in the constituencies of senior Cabinet Ministers - including Mr Brown and Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton - have escaped the axe.

The Government has backed the plans to replace the 43 factories with a chain of Jobcentre-style shops aimed at placing disabled people in mainstream roles.

Remploy claims it can place four people in outside jobs for £20,000 - the same cost as subsidising one factory worker.

A spokesman added: "Disabled people tell us this is what they want - to work in ordinary places, doing ordinary jobs."

It has promised to find jobs for all workers facing redundancy, or to guarantee their current pay for the rest of their working lives.

But Les Woodward, a senior GMB official at Remploy, said: "We have been betrayed by both Remploy and the Government.

"We surveyed everyone we could in the factories and overwhelmingly they preferred to be in a factory where they were not made to feel like an outsider."

Case study

Lorain Sheen, 55, has worked for Remploy in Poole, Dorset, for 15 years, making life jackets. The mother-of-two has lymphedema, causing fluid in her legs, and cannot sit or stand for sustained periods.

She said: "It is disgusting what they have done to us and the way they did it. They sent a counsellor who used long words and the guys with learning disabilities could not understand.

But they are fantastic workers. That is what Remploy has been all about - supporting people like that. They would not be able to cope in mainstream employment.

"I don't want to work pushing trolleys or stacking shelves. We are skilled at producing life jackets which save people's lives.

"We don't just sit and do basket weaving. We have been let down."