On September 22-23, 2022, a seminar organised by KK NSZZ "Solidarność" (Komisja Krajowa NSZZ "Solidarność") was held in Warsaw / Poland, devoted to “Equal opportunities on the labour market for employees with disabilities – a fact or a myth?”. The meeting was attended by 56 representatives of workers’ organisations and was organised with the support of EZA and funded by the European Union.
The meeting was started by Jerzy Jaworski - Deputy Chairman of the National Commission of NSZZ "S", who emphasized the importance of the topic and the possibility of a personal meeting despite the ongoing war in Ukraine, introducing the present help that "Solidarność" provides to war refugees, also through a Section of Disabled People of NSZZ "S". Then the moderators of the meeting, Elżbieta Wielg - an expert of the KK NSZZ "Solidarność" and Krzysztof Rowiński - the Plenipotentiary of the KK NSZZ "Solidarność" for people with disabilities welcomed the participants, presented the topic and the planned program of the meeting.
The first presentation was given by dr hab. Katarzyna Roszewska from the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, presenting various models of shaping the rights of people with disabilities from the European perspective, their types, as well as specific legal acts of primary law, i.e. the EU Treaty, the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU or the Charter of Fundamental Rights and secondary law Directive of the European Parliament and Councils No. 2000/78 / EC or 2006/54 / EC establishing general conditions of equal treatment in employment and occupation implying the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability in relation to employment and vocational training. The issues of access by people with disabilities are also regulated in the legal regulations in the area of public procurement and public aid for entrepreneurs, which is an example of the quota model of the rights of Persons with Disabilities (hereinafter referred to as PwD). Summarizing, the speaker pointed to terminological problems, relations between law and employment policy, and conflicts of legal regulations in various legal systems.
The next presentation was given by Paweł Wdówik - Polish Government Plenipotentiary for Disabled People on institutional and legal solutions for people with disabilities. as a result of the ratification of the "Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities". He emphasized the comprehensive and broad nature of the Convention, which opened access to financing to a greater extent in the field of employment of people with disabilities. Unfortunately, the salaries of these people are usually at the level of the minimum wage and only increased on the occasion of its statutory increase. Companies can apply for funding depending on the amount of employment PwD, and currently there are approx. 300 000 without co-financing and 236 000 with co-financing. The possibility of co-financing changes the approach of entrepreneurs to employing people with disabilities. The government plans to subsidize the minimum wage, starting with people with greater disabilities and reducing proportionally depending on the degree of disability. Finally, he thanked the fruitful and concrete cooperation between the government and NSZZ "Solidarność", pointing to the important social role of this trade union.
Irina Semjonova from LBAS presented the situation of PwD in Latvia, where there are approx. 201 000 people with various degrees of disability and this is 10% of the total population. There are multi-annual strategies to integrate PwD into the labor market as much as possible. The allowance is small, around EUR 200, and only 30% of them have found any employment. The challenge is: to find motivation for entrepreneurs to employ disabled people, and this is also due to the fact that so far the legislation has prohibited the dismissal of PwDs, which was changed last year, and the education of people with disabilities as well as the fact that the most occupations are low-paid positions. Supported employment: co-financing of salaries for the first 12 months up to EUR 750 per month, and then for a mentor, proxy - EUR 100/ h and provided up to 6 months depending on the degree of disability. There are also subsidies to adjust the workplace to 1,000 EUR and for training, but most of these activities are funded by the EU and there are concerns about what will happen when the money runs out. Open days in companies are organized once a year to invite and show good practices in adapting workplaces for PwD. She also presented the perspectives of employees and employers who would like to give these people access to remote work, flexible working hours, mentor's help, as 35% of them believe that the work environment is not properly adapted to the PwD. She also emphasized the very important aspect of diversity management in companies, which significantly improves the atmosphere in the company. The activities of trade unions in this area include: consultation with employers, support in labour protection, legislative initiative, on-line seminars on diversity management and negotiating collective agreements.
At the end of the first day after the debate, a presentation on the same topic from the Austrian perspective was given by Roland Gangl - Chairman of BMHS, GÖD, who presented the legal basis regulating the employment of disabled people, i.e. people with over 50% of disability. For 25 employees, at least 1 must be disabled, and if not, the employer must pay the appropriate amount to the appropriate body. Approx. 55% of PwD are economically active, approx. 23 000 works in the so-called sheltered employment enterprises. Austria has about 100 000 jobs, of which 34 000 are vacant. For this reason, in 2016, approximately 90 million EUR. A lot of emphasis is placed on the adaptation of buildings for PwD, but it is not only about building a driveway, but about the actual accessibility to the building. In Austria, there is an institution of the PwD Ombudsman in every company that employs at least five such people. He cares about the economic, social, cultural and health interests of these people. The amount of the nursing allowance depends on the grading up to one of the 7 degrees of reliance on care and ranges from EUR 165 to EUR 1776 for: supplying food and medicines, cleaning the apartment, washing laundry, heating living rooms or helping with official matters or visits to the doctor.
Situation of PwD in Slovakia labour market was presented by Lubica Ćerná - chairwoman of NKOS. Based on the available data, Slovakia performs well in almost all main indicators compared to the EU average: employment and unemployment rates, participation in higher education and the at-risk-of-poverty rate through the use of social transfers. An important source of self-realization and a source of livelihood for a person is having a job and employment. Social contacts and relationships are established in the work environment. This aspect of work is more important for people with disabilities than for other participants in the labour market. The speaker indicated recommendations broken down by stakeholder organizations:
1. For employers - positive motivation to employ people with disabilities instead of the sanctions mechanism, intensification of educational and advisory activities regarding tools for professional integration of people with disabilities, facilitating job search for people from groups with disabilities in sheltered workshops, increasing employers' involvement in creating policies in this regard.
2. For trade unions - increasing the systematic involvement of trade unions in creating policies and defining their role precisely, supporting disabled people before they are employed, including integration at work and return to work in collective agreements, increasing trade union participation in this area by special programs.
3. For policymakers - unifying the definition of disability based on one but broader concept of disability and its cultural determinants, not only from a medical point of view, intensification of cooperation with non-governmental organizations, providers of supported employment services, trade unions and employers' associations in creating policies and in order to use their practical experiences, to include in the policy the integration of people with health problems returning to work after a long-term illness without a granted disability status, to introduce additional measures to promote personalized counseling, professional coaching, supported employment for people with disabilities.
4. For state institutions - improving cooperation and introducing digital services between state institutions and agencies in order to reduce the administrative burden on people with disabilities in their integration into the labour market.
5. For non-governmental organizations and non-public employment agencies - creating strategic relations and systematic cooperation of non-governmental organizations with state and local government stakeholders, not only for the needs of the project, increasing financial support and extending the activities of non-governmental organizations supporting employment to regions, as well as stabilizing the network through permanent financing, promoting the de-institutionalization of large facilities and increasing the availability of outpatient services and public social services.
After presenting good practices from Slovakia, she concluded that everyone deserves the opportunity to get a job and make the best use of their talents, but there is still a long way to go for people with disabilities to achieve equality in the labour market. Dealing with people with disabilities is a key part of trade unions' efforts to fight inequality and injustice and to protect the most vulnerable.
Tomasz Maruszewski - Deputy President of the PFRON Management Board (State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons) (Poland) - presented the nature of the activities of this body, the areas and types of support offered. In Poland, the last quantitative data comes from 2011 and there are approx. 4.7 million PwD, i.e. approx. 12.2% of the total population, currently the number of these people has decreased to approx. 3.8 million. The Fund is a special purpose fund and is subordinate to the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy. The Fund 's resources come from entrepreneurs who employ more than 25 people and do not employ min. 6% of the PwD, which happens to approx. 55% of all entrepreneurs in Poland. These funds are transferred to companies for employment PwD and depending on the degree of disability on a scale of 1-3 in the amount to: PLN 1,950 - considerable, PLN 1,200 - moderate, PLN 450 - light, plus the possibility of an allowance increasing these amounts. There are approximately 900 sheltered employment enterprises in Poland. Subsequently, funds are allocated to programs of the supervisory board aimed at employing PwD, also for non-governmental organizations through competitions. Financing is also transferred to local government units, and the Fund also obtains financing from EU funds. The fund's expenditure in 2021 was over PLN 6 billion, but in 2023 over PLN 8.4 billion is planned. Since 2015, this represents an increase in spending by almost 80%. In response to the questions, the speaker talked about rehabilitation relief, thanks to which rehabilitation costs can be reimbursed.
Subsequently, the participants of the seminar took part in two experiments, the aim of which was to personally experience limitations, e.g. resulting from a stroke or an accident, and to show the related difficulties in performing work. The experiments were conducted by: Dr. Monika Zima- Perjaszewska and Adam Zawisny - the content coordinator of the Polish Association for People with Intellectual Disability, which has been operating for 59 years to ensure equal opportunities for PwD. They presented stereotypes and myths about PwD and the difficulties faced by people with disabilities, emphasizing the right to be independent and the need to ensure the implementation of this right. Often, such people are viewed negatively and their right to a normal life is taken away from them. The presentations were multimedia and practical, with the use of wheelchairs, rehabilitation equipment and walking sticks for the visually impaired, so that healthy seminar participants could see in practice what difficulties the PwD faces on a daily basis and how the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities works in practice. Seminar participants could see for themselves how universal design of products, buildings, etc. is very helpful, also in relation to communication in the form of easy texts, the creation of which was trained by the participants of the seminar. Experiences with the use of special glasses simulating various visual impairments made healthy participants aware in a unique way how difficult it is for a visually impaired person to read and sign documents. In the unanimous opinion of the participants, these practical examples were worth more than countless theoretical meetings, which was reflected in the seminar evaluation surveys. It also made people aware of the necessity of individual profiling of people and the necessity to provide PwD with tools that will develop and, in the long term, enable the inclusion of these people in the labour market.
After the lunch break, two discussion panels took place. The first was to answer the following questions: What motivates and what demotivates people with disabilities to take up employment? What support do employers expect and what are those who are interested? What solutions in the organization of work for people with disabilities work best and which fail? Four people participated in this panel: Joanna Hulisz - Director of the Labor Market Department of PFRON, Katarzyna Hildt - Ciupińska - expert of the Central Institute for Labour Protection (CIOP), Zofia Żuk - Member of the Main Council of Business Center Club, Irina Semjonova - LBAS expert from Latvia. The panellists emphasized that the help of accompanying persons, the willingness to socialize with other employees, employment in positions consistent with the qualifications is motivating, and the lack of adaptation of workplaces to the needs of such persons and low salaries is demotivating. According to the employers, in Polish conditions, sheltered employment establishments perform very well, where the PwD has greater protection and better working conditions. Employees with a fixed-term pension are afraid of losing it when they start working, in particular with high earnings, which leads to the transition to the shadow economy or not taking up employment. Employers expect stability of legal regulations and valorization of subsidies to wages for PwD. They also emphasized the importance of appropriate education, training in the organization on appropriate behavior towards them, so that they feel part of the team, which strengthens the mental aspect of these people.
In the second discussion panel, participants answered the following questions: How to debunk myths about employees with disabilities? How has the pandemic affected the employment of people with disabilities? To what extent was the introduction of solutions in the field of employment of people with disabilities a subject of social or autonomous dialogue? Four people participated in it: Jadwiga Smulko - President of the National Section of Disabled People of NSZZ "Solidarność", Przemysław Żydok - President of the Activation Foundation, Lubica Ćerná - Chairman of NKOS from Slovakia and Roland Gangl, Chairman of BMHS, GÖD from Austria. They emphasized the problem of very low wages, most often it is the minimum wage, which is an example of a stereotype that needs to be combated. When it comes to adapting buildings, personal experience of using wheelchair equipment on the designed driveways in public buildings is very valuable. The Covid-19 pandemic particularly affected people with disabilities due to its closure and impact on mental health, where it was sometimes impossible to buy medicines or food. There is a shortage of employees, which is influenced by demographics, there is a shortage of people to work and this is an opportunity for PwD. Over 1 million in Poland are outside the labour market, and the low unemployment and the lack of hands to work naturally open up the chance of employing workers among the disabled and this is an opportunity for both sides of the autonomous social dialogue. This requires talks, appropriate financing in the field of subsidizing salaries and adaptation of workplaces, and therefore intensive social dialogue also with the participation of the Government. Rising energy costs and inflation are becoming a problem, which would require re-indexation of subsidies to these wages.
After the break, a debate began, the subject of which was to define the most important conclusions to guide the activities of social partners in this area from the perspective of the administration, employers and employee representatives. The participants exchanged information and good practices, taking into account the conditions of a given country, which significantly drew attention to the possibility of implementing given solutions in another country. The ideas presented by the participants include: information service for PwD, promotion of trade union activities and employee rights, education - learning sign language and proper communication with PwD, organizing workshops, creating conditions for learning children with disabilities and adapting workplaces.