[Missouri-l] [leadership] FW: A F L C I O Resolution 18 regarding People With Disabilities and the IAMPWD campaign

[peter altschul]

---- Original Message ------
From: "Mitch Pomerantz" <mitch.pomerantz at earthlink.net
Subject: [leadership] FW: A F L C I O Resolution 18 regarding 
People With Disabilities and the IAMPWD campaign
Date sent: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:09:09 -0700

Colleagues:

For your information.


Mitch

  _____

From: Lynn Manning [mailto:lynnmann at sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 10:49 AM
To: mitch.pomerantz at earthlink.net
Subject: A F L C I O Resolution 18 regarding People With 
Disabilities and
the IAMPWD campaign
Sensitivity: Personal



Hello, Mitch.

I believe this is of interest to ACB and its affiliates.  I'm 
pasting the
text of the resolution below.  I'll followup with forwarding the 
press
release from IAMPWD.

Lynn Manning

Co-founder

Watts Village Theater Company

www.wattsvillagetheater.org

"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most 
shocking,
and the most inhumane."

                              Rev.  Dr.  Martin Luther King Jr.  
- 1965

RESOLUTION 18

Unions Should Give People with Disabilities

a Voice and a Face


Submitted by Department for Professional Employees, aFl-CiO

amended by the Civil, Women and Human Rights Committee

Tens of millions of AmericAns live

with disabilities.  More than 27 million of them

are working age, and more than 2.7 million are

veterans who receive compensation for serviceconnected 
disabilities.

Disabilities may be physical, psychological or

cognitive.  their consequences are severe-lower

educational attainment than people without

disabilities, dramatically less likelihood of

being in the workforce, a higher likelihood of

unemployment, lower incomes and higher

rates of poverty.  according to the u.S.  Bureau

of labor Statistics, while 65 percent of people

without disabilities in the civilian labor force

were employed, for people with disabilities the

percentage dropped to 19.4.

People with disabilities face major obstacles to

finding employment.  according to a 2001 study

by the urban institute, these obstacles frequently

include a lack of appropriate jobs, a lack of

transportation, a lack of appropriate information

about jobs, inadequate training, fear of losing

health insurance or Medicaid or discouragement

from family and friends.

accommodations can lessen or eliminate these

obstacles.  they range from accessible parking

and public transit to elevators to flexibility

in structuring work assignments and hours.

However, many people with disabilities are

afraid to ask for accommodations on the job

for fear that employers will not hire them.  they

confront flawed and negative stereotypes about

inconvenience, costs and risks of liability.

Despite the many obstacles that people with

disabilities confront, in June 2009 almost

5.3 million americans with disabilities were

employed.  Our unions and the aFl-CiO should

step up our efforts to provide these workers

visibility and a voice-a voice and a face.  Disability

rights are civil rights, and organized labor has long

sought and fought for social justice.

On Oct.  6, 2008, Screen actors Guild (SaG),

american Federation of television and Radio

artists (aFtRa) and actors' Equity association

(Equity) launched a national campaign: i aM

PWD, inclusion in the arts and Media of People

with Disabilities.  a project of their tri-union

Performers With Disabilities (PWD) Committee,

the campaign seeks to promote, in the

entertainment industry, accuracy in portraying,

inclusion of and access for people with

disabilities.  the campaign resonated immediately

with other workers and unions.  at the June 2009

General Board meeting of the Department for

Professional Employees, aFl-CiO (DPE), SaG,

aFtRa and Equity recommended broadening

the initiative.  the DPE General Board voted to

urge the 26th Constitutional Convention of the

aFl-CiO to endorse the i aM PWD campaign and

to create a constituency group for workers with

disabilities.  that vote provided the seed for this

resolution.

the americans with Disabilities act of 1990

(aDa) prohibits private employers, state and

local governments, employment agencies and

labor unions from discriminating against qualified

individuals with disabilities in job application

30 .  PROPOSED RESOlutiOnS anD COnStitutiOnal aMEnDMEntS BOOK tWO 
aFl-CiO
COnVEntiOn .  2009


procedures, hiring, firing, advancement,

compensation, job training and other terms,

conditions and privileges of employment.  Even

with such protections, workers fear disclosing

disabilities, and employers often find ways

around hiring and accommodating workers with

disabilities.  Many union contracts refer to the

aDa, but years of bargaining for fair wages and

working conditions have secured only minimal

progress in employing workers with disabilities.

in the performing and media arts, a disturbing

trend of casting able-bodied performers for roles

with a disability is coupled with discriminatory

and exclusionary practices that make the

attainment of jobs inaccessible for many

performers with disabilities.  For broadcast

journalists, securing an opportunity to gather and

report the news-especially an ability to cover

more than the "disability beat"-is even more

challenging.  all of this makes it clear that broader

action needs to be taken.

that broader action will include:

.  the aFl-CiO and its affiliated unions endorse

and will support the i aM PWD campaign

and invite SaG, aFtRa and Equity to share its

lessons.  the aFl-CiO and its affiliated unions

will make themselves a model by including

people with disabilities in all discussions

addressing diversity and by encouraging

the labor movement at all levels to do the

same.  they will urge the government at the

federal and state levels to collect accurate

data reflecting the makeup of the workforce

by including the numbers of people with

disabilities in their employ.


.  unions affiliated with the aFl-CiO are urged to

ensure access to all union meetings by making

the necessary and reasonable accommodations

for people with disabilities to attend and

participate.

.  unions affiliated with the aFl-CiO are urged

to bargain to ensure that people with disabilities

can request reasonable accommodations

without the fear of losing their job for

"inconveniencing" the employer; to free people

with disabilities from real and virtual discrimination;

and to allow people with disabilities to compete

equally for job opportunities without facing bias

or exclusionary practices.

.  the Executive Council will consider within 12

months a proposal, submitted by advocates, for

the establishment of a constituency group for

people with disabilities, and include a special

focus on veterans with disabilities.

Constituency groups provide a bridge for

unions to diverse communities.  they create and

strengthen partnerships to enhance the standard

of living for all workers and their families.  For

millions of workers, this new constituency group

will provide not just a bridge and a partnership,

but a promise of constructive change.

aFl-CiO COnVEntiOn .  2009 PROPOSED RESOlutiOnS anD 
COnStitutiOnal aMEnDMEntS
BOOK tWO .  31

To track Lynn Manning's career, visit, www.lynnmanning.com



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