Unions and Injustice: Exploring Disabled Employees' Struggles

Disabled Employees Don 't Need Union Help! We Have It Hard Enough With Employers!

The Merriam Webster Dictionary (2015) defines disgust as “annoyance and anger that you feel toward something because it is not good, fair, or appropriate.” Lastly it defines apprehension as “the act or power of perceiving or comprehending.” Unfortunately these words are used to quantify how employers treat disabled employees. With such contempt towards this large base of employees the question that’s inevitable is “can unions help fix the wrongs that are being committed”. During the course of this paper we will explore the issues that employees and employers are facing in the current work environment. Lastly, we will dive into the question of unions being

11).” The majority of disabilities are extremely easy and inexpensive to implement and or accommodate. For example, an employee who is hindered by a cognitive disability may not be able to work in loud environments. By simply providing a office with a closed door and or allowing an employee to work varying hours so they are not around the noise are reasonable an inexpensive accommodations that any company can handle. Lastly, when there are questions and or concerns regarding appropriate accommodations it’s vital that the employee, employee’s managers, and human resources have an interactive conversation to properly determine appropriate accommodations. By following these processes and providing accommodations employers are producing improved morale, and increased productivity (Sotoa & Kleiner, 2013, p.

387). Unions also tend to create a “culture of discontent among its workers who become good at detecting problems in the workplace because of their ability to collectively bargain with employers for better working conditions (Artz, 2010, p. 388).” Unions have grown incredibly powerful and have done well for their members in regards to employee safety, benefits, and pay. However, they have done absolutely nothing to support the recruitment, hiring, and protection of disabled individuals. Disabled employees have it hard enough finding employers that are willing to employee them let alone deal with them joining a union. Federal and State laws have made amazing progress affording disabled individuals protection against employment discrimination. The most recent of these successes took place in 2008 with the passing of the American Disabilities Act Amendments Act (Berman-Gorvine, 2015, p. 3).