Disabilities: It's time to do MORE

December 3 2001 - The Canadian Labour Congress launched an internal initiative to work better for people with disabilities. The "It's time to do MORE" initiative is a challenge from the CLC to its affiliates. Canadian Unions are asked to find ways to mobilize, organize, represent, and educate working people with disabilities about their rights in the workplace.

"The best way to deal with the bare-bones fundamentals, issues like accessibility and accommodation which make work possible for people with disabilities, is to make sure that the workers whose rights we're defending are actively involved in building a better workplace," says Nancy Riche, Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congress.

"Work works better when we belong to a union," says Derek Fudge, CLC Vice- President for Disability Rights, "but unions need to make this fact more obvious to more people. They need to ensure that organizing strategies and other union activities include workers with disabilities. We need to see ourselves as part of the labour movement and we need to know how important it is to have a say in how our work is organized."

The Canadian Labour Congress launched a long-term campaign on this year's Labour Day to shift the focus of Canada's decision makers towards the quality of life and standard of living of working people and their families. The campaign focuses on a simple question for workers - "IS WORK WORKING FOR YOU?"

"For most people, work doesn't work as well as it did one or two decades ago," says Riche. "There's been a real erosion in the quality of life and standard of living of working people. Longer hours, lower real wages, the loss of benefits and the increasing costs of healthcare and education are widening the gap between the haves and the have-nots in our society and moving us further away from the kind of Canada we worked so hard to build not that long ago."

Riche argues that he MORE initiative fits into the broader campaign which aims to ensure that all workers - including disabled - benefit from an improved standard of living and quality of life in the decades to come.

Earlier this year, The Conference Board of Canada in partnership with the Government of Ontario's Ministry of Citizenship published a new resource guide, Tapping the Talents of People with Disabilities which finds that people with disabilities represent a largely untapped source of workers.

"Most employers have policies and practices in place that encourage the hiring and retention of a diverse workforce. But employers told us that they needed help finding candidates with disabilities for job openings," says Ruth Wright, author of the guide. "So we produced this employers' resource based on extensive research. We developed it as a concise, user-friendly resource with examples of good practice companies."

Minister of Citizenship Cam Jackson noted: "Diversity in the workplace offers us a significant economic advantage in Ontario. This partnership represents an essential aspect of this government's commitment to finding shared solutions to address the needs of people with disabilities. Legislation alone will not achieve our goals. We need other organizations and individuals, like the Conference Board, to work in partnership with us."

About 16% of Ontario's population - about 1.6 million people - have some form of disability. The Conference Board research showed that employers need help to accommodate employees with disabilities - particularly in restructuring jobs due to the nature of work, and with perceived cost-related factors. Employers also reported the need to dispel myths and stereotypes about employees with disabilities, both among co-workers and within society at large.

The guide provides practical steps for employers to improve the workplace representation of people with disabilities as well as recruitment strategies. It includes practical checklists, resources and contacts. Leading organizations such as IBM Canada, Motorola, Canadian Tire and Casino Niagara are cited as "good practice" examples.

Resulting from a two-year partnership between The Conference Board of Canada and The Ontario Ministry of Citizenship, the report is available in English and French, and alternative formats including Braille, diskette, audiocassette and large print.

The guide for employers was developed from information gained through a survey of Ontario-based employers, a multi-stakeholder roundtable, interviews with organizations that have retained persons with disabilities, and seminars held across the province.

See also: Unemployment rates for workers with disabilities remain unacceptably high