The Disabled Workers’ Department celebrates its 20th anniversary

The Département des Travailleurs handicapés (DTH) of the OGBL celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. The department officially celebrated this event on May 25th at the CELO multifunctional center in Hesperange.

After a few words of welcome from the Mayor, Nora Back, President of the OGBL, stressed the importance of the Disabled Workers Division within the OGBL. Jean-Paul Olinger, General Secretary of the UEL, was also invited to speak on this occasion, as a partner in the joint charter to promote equal opportunities for people with disabilities in the labour market.

Joël Delvaux, the current president and emblematic figure of the DTH, reviewed the 20 years of activity of the department, from its beginnings in 1998 with the creation of a working group within the OGBL, which led to the creation of a real department for disabled workers five years later, to the signing of the first charter to promote the integration of people with disabilities in the labour market in 2004, the organization of trade union training courses on discrimination against people with disabilities in the workplace, the creation of evening courses accessible to people with disabilities in collaboration with the CSL’s Lifelong Learning Centre, various actions and collaborations at national and international level, the fight for accessible public transport and around Adapto.

The DTH president also announced the department’s objectives for the coming years, including the introduction of the personal assistant, the need to reform the JobCoaching service, the creation of a monitoring body to deal with institutional violence, and the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The DTH also organized a round table on disability with several politicians, including Charles Margue (déi gréng), Simone Asselborn-Bintz (LSAP), Marc Spautz (CSV), Anne Daems (DP), Nathalie Oberweis (déi Lénk) and Raymond Remakel (Piraten).