PRESS RELEASE from Black Triangle’s sister organisation DPAC Caerdydd announcing the formation of DPAC Cymru

 

Llongyfarchiadau i’n cymrodorion yng Nghymru am sefydlu DPAC Cymru! Mae Black Triangle yn edrych ymlaen at uno mewn undod a gyda gwrthsafiad gryf gydag ein brodyr a’n chwiorydd yng Nghymru ac i ddod i ben yn gyflym gormes y ConDems ar gyfer ein pobl!

Congratulations to our comrades in Wales on the establishment of DPAC Cymru! Black Triangle looks forward to uniting in solidarity and resistance with our brothers and our sisters in Wales and to bringing about a quick end to the tyranny of our people!

 

DATGANIAD I’R WASG – PRESS RELEASE

 

[English Follows]

Tachwedd 18, 2012

Ymateb DPAC Cymru i Ddatganiad ar y Cyd DPAC-PCS-Black Triangle ar Ymgyrchu yn erbyn Toriadau i Nawdd Cymdeithasol

Mae Pobl Anabl Yn Erbyn Toriadau Cymru (DPAC Cymru) yn croesawu’r Datganiad ar y Cyd hwn fel cam cyntaf hanfodol tuag at wrthwynebiad unedig i doriadau’r Llywodraeth i nawdd cymdeithasol. Fodd bynnag, teimlwn fod yna rhaid datrys rhai materion o hyd.

Mae’n destun gofid mawr i ni na fu unrhyw ymgynghori â phobl anabl yng Nghymru a’u grwpiau gwrth-doriadau (e.e. DPAC Caerdydd, DPAC Cymru) ac na chawsant gyfle o’r herwydd i gyfrannu i’r Datganiad ar y Cyd. 

1. Yn ôl ffigurau’r Adran Gwaith a Phensiynau (DWP) ei hun, mae 73 o bobl anabl yn marw bob wythnos ar ôl i’r DWP atal eu budd-daliadau. Nid yw’r Datganiad ar y Cyd yn cynnwys unrhyw gynlluniau gweithredu na strategaethau ar gyfer atal yr annynoldeb hwn.

2. Mae llawer o’r bobl mae’r “diwygiadau” i nawdd cymdeithasol yn effeithio arnyn nhw yn gyn aelodau o’r lluoedd arfog a ddaeth yn anabl o ganlyniad i’w gwasanaeth milwrol. Rydym yn pryderu bod cynifer o Baneli Tribiwnlysoedd Apêl yn cael bod staff ATOS a’r DWP yn torri polisïau a rheolau’r DWP ei hun drwy beidio ag ystyried llythyrau gan Asiantaeth y Lluoedd Arfog a Chyn-filwyr (SPVA) wrth benderfynu ynglŷn â dyfarnu budd-daliadau. Mae DPAC Caerdydd yn credu bod hyn yn mynd yn sylfaenol groes i’r Cyfamod Milwrol mae’r Llywodraeth mor hoff o’i frolio.

3. Mae DPAC Cymru yn credu y dylai’r PCS fel undeb a mudiadau gwrth-doriadau pobl anabl gydweithio i wrthod gweithredu’r “diwygiadau” i nawdd cymdeithasol.

4. Nid ydym yn argymell y dylai aelodau unigol o staff y DWP wrthod atal budd-daliadau pobl anabl heb gefnogaeth eu hundeb; credwn y dylai’r PCS fel undeb foicotio gweithredu’r “diwygiadau” i nawdd cymdeithasol, yn yr un modd ag y trefnodd undebau athrawon yn yr Alban foicot llwyddiannus o’r TASau. Mae’n amhosibl gweithredu polisi Llywodraeth heb weithwyr i’w weithredu.

5. Rydym yn cydnabod fod y DWP yn gyflogwr creulon sy’n talu cyflogau isel i’w staff ac yn eu trin yn wael, ac rydym yn deall pa mor boenus yw gorfod gwneud penderfyniadau all gyfrannu’n uniongyrchol at farwolaeth rhywun. Mae DPAC Cymru’n credu, gan na ellir gadael effeithiau gwneud y fath benderfyniadau “wrth ddrws y swyddfa”, y byddai penderfyniad torfol i wrthod gweithredu’r toriadau hyn yn codi ysbryd staff yr Adran ac yn gwella eu bywydau gwaith, personol a theuluol.

Felly nid ydym yn derbyn y byddai ymgyrch wedi’i arwain gan yr Undeb i foicotio atal budd-daliadau pobl anabl yn arwain yn anochel at eu diswyddo. 

Wedi dweud hynny, nid ydym yn credu ei bod yn rhesymol geisio lleihau’r effaith hollol real mae’r toriadau hyn yn eu cael ar fywydau cannoedd o filoedd o bobl anabl, syn cynnwys amddifadrwydd, digartrefedd a marwolaeth 73 o bobl anabl bob wythnos.

6. Er bod y Datganiad ar y Cyd yn cefnogi gweithredu uniongyrchol yn erbyn gwleidyddion sydd wedi cefnogi’r polisïau hyn ac yn erbyn y cwmnïau fydd yn elwa arnynt, mae DPAC Cymru’n poeni nad oes eglurdeb a yw’r PCS yn cefnogi hawl pobl anabl i weithredu’n uniongyrchol yn erbyn y DWP. Mae hyn yn peri pryder arbennig o ystyried bod yr heddlu wedi aflonyddu ar sawl ymgyrchydd anabl bregus, gan gynnwys ganol nos, oherwydd postiadau ar Facebook oedd yn feirniadol o’r PCS a’r DWP.

7. Hoffai DPAC Cymru weld Datganiad ar y Cyd diwygiedig sy’n cynnwys lleisiau pobl anabl yng Nghymru gan fod cyfrifoldeb dros iechyd a gofal cymdeithasol wedi ei ddatganoli i’r Cynulliad Cenedlaethol, ac sy’n ymrwymo’r PCS i gynllun gweithredu ac i ymgyrchu dros foicot. Byddem, wrth gwrs, yn fwy na bodlon cyfrannu i’r broses hon mewn unrhyw ffyrdd y gallwn.

Nodiadau

Mae Pobl Anabl Yn Erbyn Toriadau Cymru (DPAC Cymru) yn chwaer sefydliad hunanlywodraethol i DPAC a Black Triangle, sy’n ymroddedig i gydweithio â nhw, a chyda’r PCS mewn undod yn erbyn y Toriadau.

 

PRESS RELEASE 

 

18th November 2012

At a meeting of disabled anti-cuts activists from across South Wales on 18th November, Disabled People Against Cuts Cymru (DPAC Cymru) was formed.

DPAC Cymru is an autonomous sister organization to DPAC in England and Black Triangle in Scotland, committed to working together with them and with the trade union PCS in unity against the Cuts.

DPAC Caerdydd continues to exist as an organisation, and now becomes a branch of DPAC Cymru, which will work hard to establish other Welsh branches of DPAC in Wales. 

DPAC Cymru rejects the DPAC/PCS/BTC Joint Statement published earlier this week.

Representatives of DPAC Cymru and South Wales disabled ex-servicemen met today with PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka and PCS Wales officials to discuss our concerns with the Joint Statement and with PCS.

Mark Serwotka listened to what we had to say with compassion and understanding, and committed to working with us on our many areas of common interest and to address the profound concerns disabled people brought to him tonight.

The meeting was extraordinarily positive and constructive, and has resulted in meaningful, tangible outcomes.

We are more grateful to Mr Serwotka for taking the time to meet with us tonight, and to listen to us, than we can possibly express.

We look forward to working closely and positively with PCS from now onward.

We presented Mark Serwotka with the following Response to the  DPAC/PCS/BTC Joint Statement: 

Disabled People Against Cuts Cymru response to DPAC-PCS-Black Triangle Joint Statement on Campaigning Against Welfare Cuts 

Disabled People Against Cuts Cymru welcomes this Joint Statement as a crucial first step towards a united opposition to the Government’s social security cuts. However, we feel that there are still some issues which need to be resolved. 

We greatly regret that disabled people in Wales and their anti-cuts groups (e.g. DPAC Caerdydd, DPAC Cymru) were not consulted and thus had no opportunity to contribute to the Joint Statement. 

1. According to the DWP’s own figures, 73 disabled people a week die after having their benefits stopped by the DWP.  The Joint Statement contains no action plans or strategies for preventing this inhumanity. 

2. Many of the people affected by the welfare “reforms” are ex-service personnel who became disabled as a result of their military service.  We are concerned by how many Appeal Tribunal Panels are finding that DWP and Atos staff are breaching the DWP’s own policies and rules by not taking into account letters from the Serving Personnel and Veterans Agency (SPVA) when making decisions on awarding benefits. DPAC Cymru believes this is a fundamental breach of the government’s much vaunted Military Covenant.  

3. DPAC Cymru believes that PCS as a union and disabled people’s anti-cuts organisations should work together to boycott implementation of the Welfare reforms. 

4. We are not advocating that individual members of DWP staff refuse to stop disabled people’s benefits without the backing of their Union; we believe that PCS as a union should boycott the implementation of the Welfare reforms, in the same way that the teaching unions in Scotland organised a successful boycott of SATs.  Government policy cannot be implemented without workers to implement it. 

5. We acknowledge that that the DWP is a brutal employer whose staff are poorly-paid and badly treated, and we recognise how distressing it must be to have to make decisions which may contribute directly to a person’s death.  

DPAC Cymru believes that, as the effect of making such decisions cannot be ‘left at the office door,’ a mass refusal to implement these cuts would result in a significant improvement in DWP staff’s morale and well-being both in their work and in their personal and family lives. 

We therefore do not accept that a Union-led campaign to boycott the stopping of disabled people’s benefits would inevitably result in them losing their jobs. 

That being said, we do not believe it is reasonable to minimise the all too real effects that these cuts have on the lives of hundreds of thousands of disabled people, which include destitution, homelessness and the deaths of 73 disabled people each and every week. 

6. DPAC Cymru has serious concerns that while the Joint Statement supports peaceful direct action against politicians who have supported these policies and against those companies that stand to profit from them, there is no clarification as to whether PCS respects the right of disabled people to take peaceful direct action against the DWP.

This is particularly concerning given that several vulnerable disabled activists were harassed by police, including in the middle of the night, over Facebook posts critical of PCS and DWP. 

7. DPAC Cymru would like to see a revised Joint Statement that includes the voices of disabled people in Wales since responsibility for health and social care is devolved to the National Assembly, and that commits PCS to an action-plan to campaign for a boycott.  We would, of course, be more than happy to contribute to this process in any way we can. 

Notes

Disabled People Against Cuts Cymru (DPAC Cymru) is an autonomous sister organization to DPAC and Black Triangle, committed to working together with them and with PCS in unity against the Cuts.