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25 May 2005 - TUC to Highlight Employers
Attitude in Employing Disabled Workers
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The Trades Union Congress (TUC) are holding their annual 2-day
disability conference in London, commencing today (Wednesday), where Deputy
General Secretary, Frances O'Grady will speak on the problems disabled people
have when trying to enter the workforce.
Mr. O'Grady will call upon employers to change their attitudes
by making more of an effort into recruiting disabled people into their
workforces.
Some of Mr. O'Grady's comments to the conference will be as
follows:
"The law is now in place at last giving disabled people
proper protection from poor treatment at work. But sadly employer attitudes
still lag way behind the pace of legal change. Some employers are
forward-thinking enough to be employing disabled workers, but many others allow
their prejudices to affect their recruitment decisions.
"Until employer attitudes change, no law is going to prevent
a prejudiced employer deciding not to employ a disabled person. And even when a
disabled person has been successful at interview, the odds still stack up
against them."
Although we now have the introduction of the Disability
Discrimination Act (DDA), disabled workers are still paid a lesser wage than
able-bodied workers and only 46% of disabled workers are in employment compared
to 75% able-bodied.
There are over 1 million disabled people within the UK who are
keen to work. The UK's ageing population, in the year 2010 will have
40% over the age of 45, which is the age where living with long-term illness or
disability is at it's peak. Therefore, by looking to the future and
employing the skills of the disabled worker now, companies will be well prepared
for the future.
Further information for employers, regarding employment of
disabled workers, can be accessed from the Disability Rights Commission webpage
as follows:
The Disability Rights Commission - Employment
Article by Alexandra Johnston
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