We suspend the protest in the Sejm, but we will not end the struggle for the good of the weakest in our country. Our demand to increase the social pension has not been implemented; people with disabilities are at the bottom of the food chain, KO MP Iwona Hartwich said Friday.
People with disabilities and their carers have been staying in the Sejm since March 6. They demand an increase of the social pension to the level of the lowest national salary, which is PLN 3,490 gross. The social pension is indexed annually and has been increased to PLN 1,588.44 gross from 1 March 2023. The demonstrators presented a civil bill on social pensions, implementing their postulate.
On Thursday, KO MP Iwona Hartwich announced on Facebook that the protesters would leave the Sejm building for health reasons. At Friday’s press conference, she thanked everyone who supported the protest. She also recalled the situation of people with disabilities.
For 19 days, all of Poland watched us. People with disabilities are at the bottom of the food chain. We met PiS with complete insensitivity, callousness, lack of compassion and disrespect
Hartwich said.
After the incident that happened two days ago, when due to lack of air, because we were not allowed to open the window, two mothers fainted, we decided that today we suspend the protest in the Sejm, but we end the fight for the good of the weakest in our country. Our demand to increase the social pension has not been implemented
– emphasized the MP from the KO.
She announced that the bill for the increase of social pensions has been submitted for the first reading in the Sejm. “Already today we invite all disabled people and their families, supporters from all over Poland, to the support center on the day of the procedure. We will inform you of the date,” Hartwich announced.
Also speaking at the conference was son of MP Jakub Hartwich.
I am ashamed that my country, my country, does not support people like us, the weak and disabled. I hope that will change in the future. We’ve raised public awareness, which I hope won’t turn its back on us
– he said.
Meeting with Deputy Minister Wdówik
Since the start of the protest, people with disabilities and their carers have met, among others, with Deputy Minister, Government Plenipotentiary for the Disabled Paweł Wdówik. However, during the talks, both sides failed to reach an agreement.
In mid-March, the Directorate of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy announced the introduction of a new support benefit for people with disabilities. The first, highest level of social assistance benefit, equal to twice the social pension, will be launched from 2024, the second level – equal to the social pension from 2025, and the third level, equal to 50 percent. social pension from 2026. The ministry also announced, among other things, that informal carers can earn extra from the healthcare allowance.
The proposal is the result of talks between the ministry’s management and another group of protesters, part of the OzN (People with Disabilities) movement.
The previous protest of carers of disabled people and their charges in the Sejm lasted in the spring of 2018. At that time, they came up with two demands: to equate the social pension with the minimum pension for disability and to introduce a “living” supplement, also known as “rehabilitation” for people with disabilities who are unable to work independently after the age of 18 at a cost of PLN 500 per month. The demonstrators argued that one of their demands had been carried out at that time – an increase in the social pension. After the protest, their participants, including Iwona Hartwich, were barred from entering the Sejm. However, in 2019, Hartwich ran for the Sejm from the Civic Coalition’s lists and was elected.
READ ALSO: It was predictable! Hartwich criticizes the agreement on people with disabilities. And what does one of the mothers who spoke to the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy say?
mly/PAP
Source: wPolityce