Introduction
Employment is a crucial factor for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in society. On the 11th and 12th of June 2009 EASPD's Standing Committee on Employment, together with the Greek host IEA and other European actors, organised an important conference in Thessaloniki Greece on the topic of ‘Bringing People to Work’, which focused on the employment of persons with disabilities.
The goal of the conference was to establish an employment strategy outlining all employment issues regarding access to mainstream employment for persons with disabilities, and the various barriers to achieving this.*
The starting points of the conference were the different international and European policy papers on employment. These are:
- Article 27 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the right to work and employment)**
- The Employment Directive (EC2000)
- The State Aid Regulation (EC 2008)
- The HLG paper on Supported Employment (EC 2009)
Concrete models of good practice were used to demonstrate the way forward, and the state of play with regard to the employment of persons with disabilities in Europe was discussed. Existing models were examined, as well as the role of vocational and educational training, and the challenges for the future.
Other topics were discussed as well:
- Mainstream employment and its barriers: how to support persons with disabilities to find and keep a job
- Vocational training to help meet the criteria and requirements
- Involvement of employers
- Role of the providers (how can service providers cooperate with employers, including trade unions?)
- The view of trade unions, employers and authorities in employing persons with disability in all types of employment
Languages
There was interpretation into English, French and Greek
Structure of the conference
Day 1 - Morning:
The first topic of the morning was a round table debate on stakeholder’s perspective regarding the implementation of article 27 of the UN convention.
Speakers represented various stakeholders:
Mr Yannis Vardakastanis (President of the European Disability Forum, chair of different Commissions and Committees in several European and international disability NGOs) focused on the need for different models for employment of persons with disabilities.
Mr Anastasios Lagopoulos (President of Greek Parents' Association) focused on the fact that persons with severe learning disabilities, autism and Down’s syndrome are discriminated against by law because secondary school education facilities are not sufficiently adapted for preparing students with these disabilities for the open labour market. He also spoke about the need to improve the relevant programmes of the National Organisation of Labour Force Employment.
Ms Zoï Zaropoulou (Inspector of the Ministry of Economy and Economics) spoke about the core points of current disability legislation and the need to improve legislation in the future so that it is possible for all persons with disabilities to gain employment.
Mr Jozef Niemiec (Confederal Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)) focused on the rights of persons with disabilities as employees.
Ms Barbara Murray (Senior Disability Specialist in the International Labour Office, Geneva) talked about the fact that Article 27 of the UN Convention is expected to make a big difference, but at the same time access to education, lifelong learning and discrimination remain urgent and important issues.
Mr Franz Wolfmayr (President of EASPD) said that in the field of employment there were also difficulties before the economic crisis, but persons with disabilities who want to work are able to, provided that they have the necessary support. A person with a disability who has the opportunity to work is granted the opportunity to live life independently.
Dr Asterios Deligiannis (Deputy Mayor of Thessaloniki) focused on the need for financial support for persons with disabilities and on problems of accessibility, and spoke about the 60 people with disabilities who work in the different services of the Municipality of Thessaloniki.
The Conclusion of the round table debate was that the steps necessary to implementing Article 27 are:
- Training in skills appropriate to today's labour market, accessibility, awareness raising, financial incentives for employers;
- Affirmative action programmes;
- Support for independent living;
- and legislation against all forms of discrimination.
During the morning plenary session that followed, the various models of employment which enable individuals with disabilities to gain employment and fair wages were discussed, as well as the role of occupational services and vocational training. Employment and training opportunities open to persons with disabilities were also examined.
C. Lynch T. Umsonst Pr. A. Michaeleas Dr. A. Trihopoulou M. Kamp
Day 1 – Afternoon:
During the afternoon plenary session the emphasis was on models of training and the importance of guiding and supporting the professionals responsible for training and equipping persons with disabilities with the knowledge and skills necessary for entry into the labour market. The areas focused on were relevant EU policies, quality and the Europass tool.
V. Borg P. Pashou Tina Bertzeletou
This session was followed by various workshops. Four in total were held, and in each two models of good practice were presented and discussed:
1) Mentoring: Roswitha Wagner Giannis Gavanidis
2) Informal Learning:Franz Wolfmayr Carmen Duarte
3) Transition Lifelong Learning: Fabrizio Fea Maria José Ribeiro
4) Social Skills: Ronald Haccou Takis Neophytou
Day 2 – Morning:
On the morning of the second day feedback on the previous day’s workshops was given:
Outcome of WS1 Outcome of WS2 Outcome of WS3 Outcome of WS4
The conclusions in brief were:
- Employment is very important for persons with disabilities in regards to social inclusion and combatting poverty.
- Individual support is very important in enabling these citizens to work effectively in the open labour market.
- Persons with disabilities should have access to lifelong learning in order to have the best possible
chances of pursuing a career.
- For persons with disabilities, social skills are crucial when it comes to keeping a job, rather than finding a job.
In the morning plenary session entitled ‘How to build an inclusive labour market’ that followed, the focus was on the social responsibility of employers and authorities with regard to the implementation of article 27 of the UN convention.
B. Roche E. McGauran A. Lekakis
In the plenary session entitled ‘local actions aiming towards inclusive employment’, the debate centred on the question ‘Will you employ a person with disability?’ The main speakers were employers, employees, representatives of the authorities and other actors from the industrial sector.
E. Lianou V. Trikaliotis & S. Tsiampazis F. Thomas Dr. K Parthenopoulous
Day 2 – Afternoon:
In the afternoon of the second day four workshops concentrated on the theme of how best to implement article 27 of the UN convention in order to employ more persons with disability in the open labour market. In these workshops models of good practice from Austria, Greece, Portugal, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Albania and Ireland were presented and discussed. EU State Aid regulation was also explored.
1) State Aid Regulations, Austria: M. Giraldi B. Roche W. Bamberg
2) Greece & Portugal: E. Lianou M.J.L. Ribeira
3) Belgium & Czech Republic: R. Wouters K. Sirotkova
4) Albania & Ireland: A. Bicaku C.Lynch
The general conclusions of the workshops of day 2 were as follows:
- State aid is crucial in order to encourage businesses to change their ways, but we must be aware of the benefit trap.
- In order to promote inclusion, not-for-profit organisations should have more financial support from national governments, and the different regulations should be put into more concrete practice.
- The abilities of all persons with disabilities need to be focused on. More emphasis needs to be placed on ‘on the job’ training.
- Although a legal framework is needed, organisations themselves need to develop innovative practices.
Outcomes WS1 Outcomes WS2 Outcomes WS3 Outcomes WS4
Conclusion
After the workshops, the outcomes and conclusions of the two day conference were drafted into the first draft of the Thessaloniki Declaration***. This declaration was presented at the end of the conference by Luk Zelderloo, Secretary General of EASPD. Its aim was to draw attention to several international legal frameworks, more specifically the E.C. Recommendations, the CoE Action Plan, the ILO Conventions and article 27 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to highlighting the fact that in spite of these, little progress has been made in the field of employment of persons with disabilities in the last ten to fifteen years. It stated that although the world economic crisis has created difficulties for all, it should by no means be the case that persons with disabilities suffer first, and called upon all governmental authorities to develop multi-perspectival strategic plans, taking into account the EASPD STAR recommendations (Stakeholder cooperation, Targeted actions, Availability and Research). These recommendations regroup the key lessons learned from numerous EQUAL, ESF and Lifelong Learning projects.
The declaration also called for the development of an appropriate legal framework allowing social services to safeguard their own specificity, particularly with regard to the employment of persons with disability. This is important because if additional financial burdens are not met, services themselves will have to be significantly reduced, and quality standards will fall. It expressed the hope that the conclusions and outcomes of the conference would contribute towards better service provision for persons with disabilities in Europe, as well as towards the procurement of more concrete legislation enabling service providers to offer the very best support they can.
"Employment for all .. only a reality if all actors in society do their part of the job."
* Declaration of Thessaloniki
** Art. 27 UN Convention
*** First draft by Johannes Ungar
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