Atos In Retreat

By Nick Wright

On Wednesday 19th of February there was a nation-wide demonstration against the infamous DWP contractor, Atos. Over one hundred and forty Atos offices across the country were picketed by disabled protesters and their supporters.

The company, first brought in by the previous Labour government, have been at the sharp end of the austerity programme since 2005. In a contract worth £110 million per year, Atos have been carrying out ruthless disability benefit examinations which have resulted in tens of thousands of disabled people being thrown into poverty.

Recently, a freedom of information request submitted to the DWP revealed that 10,600 disabled people had died within six weeks of being declared fit for work by Atos in 2011 alone. The response of Atos and the DWP to this revelation was to stop counting the number of people “fit for work” who die.

The anger, frustration and discontent in the disabled community is palpable. Nobody in the community has been left unaffected. The demonstrations on Wednesday were the inevitable outcome of this. People across the country came out to the streets and made themselves heard.

In our town, Leicester, around a hundred people gathered outside the Atos assessment centre. We had around 12 speakers give speeches, we had music, and we had poetry. The atmosphere was upbeat and defiant. This was in stark contrast to the dour G4S security staff brought in for the day.

I was honoured to be one of the speakers and a local organiser for our demo. The event was initiated and run by disabled people from our area like myself, and we were given logistical support by our local Socialist Party branch. We have organised a follow up meeting for the demo and we think that the confidence boost given to all who took action on the day will provide us momentum going forwards.

Atos are in retreat. For them the demonstration and the ongoing campaign have been a PR disaster. The day after the demo the Financial Times reported that Atos are now seeking to exit their contract with the government. Their representative cited “intimidation” as their main reason for wanting to withdraw. This is ironic for all of us who they have been attacked by Atos over the years. Taking on and then winning victories like this over a multinational giant with a £7.1 billion yearly revenue is a clear illustration of what ordinary working class people can achieve when we fight together.