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Negotiating ‘Difference’: Representing Disabled Employees in the British Workplace

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  • Deborah Foster
  • Patricia Fosh

Abstract

Drawing on qualitative interviews with disabled employees, union officers and disability‐related organizations, this article examines employee attempts to negotiate workplace adjustments and associated issues of workplace representation. UK employment law utilizes an individual medical model of disability, which conflicts with traditional collective approaches favoured by trade unions, which has implications for disabled employees and union representation. We explore the different strategies available to unions and conclude that, despite the role played by disability‐related organizations in supporting employees, unions are the only workplace actors who are capable of reconfiguring the ‘personal as political’ and integrating disability concerns into wider organizational agendas.

Suggested Citation

  • Deborah Foster & Patricia Fosh, 2010. "Negotiating ‘Difference’: Representing Disabled Employees in the British Workplace," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(3), pages 560-582, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:48:y:2010:i:3:p:560-582
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8543.2009.00748.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Edmund Heery & Carola Frege, 2006. "New Actors in Industrial Relations," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 44(4), pages 601-604, December.
    2. Lisa Schur, 2003. "Employment and the Creation of an Active Citizenry," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 41(4), pages 751-771, December.
    3. Paul Osterman, 2006. "Community Organizing and Employee Representation," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 44(4), pages 629-649, December.
    4. Linda Dickens, 2007. "The Road is Long: Thirty Years of Equality Legislation in Britain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 45(3), pages 463-494, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gail Pacheco & Dom Page & Don Webber, 2012. "Mental and physical health: reconceptualising the relationship with employment propensity," Working Papers 20121206, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.
    2. Deborah Foster & Peter Scott, 2015. "Nobody's responsibility: the precarious position of disabled employees in the UK workplace," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(4), pages 328-343, July.
    3. Chandola, Tarani & Rouxel, Patrick, 2021. "The role of workplace accommodations in explaining the disability employment gap in the UK," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    4. Deborah Foster, 2015. "Devolution and disabled workers: the experiences of union equality representatives in Wales," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 153-168, March.
    5. Märt Masso & Deborah Foster & Liina Osila & Balázs Bábel & Jan Czarzasty & Ambrus Kiss & Małgorzata Koziarek & Dominik Owczarek, 2019. "The influence of collective employment relations on work accommodation: case studies in Estonia, Hungary and Poland," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 25(4), pages 451-464, November.
    6. Shalene Werth, 2015. "Managerial attitudes: Influences on workforce outcomes for working women with chronic illness," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 26(2), pages 296-313, June.
    7. Nadeem Khan & Nada Korac‐Kakabadse & Antonis Skouloudis & Andreas Dimopoulos, 2019. "Diversity in the workplace: An overview of disability employment disclosures among UK firms," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(1), pages 170-185, January.
    8. Rupert Harwood, 2016. "Can International Human Rights Law Help Restore Access to Justice for Disabled Workers?," Laws, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-23, April.
    9. Laura Dobusch, 2021. "The inclusivity of inclusion approaches: A relational perspective on inclusion and exclusion in organizations," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 379-396, January.
    10. Deborah Foster & Mart Masso & Liina Osila, 2021. "Work accommodations and sustainable working: The role of social partners and industrial relations in the employment of disabled and older people in Estonia, Hungary and Poland," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 27(2), pages 149-165, June.
    11. Conxita FOLGUERA‐I‐BELLMUNT & Xavier FERNÁNDEZ‐I‐MARÍN & Joan Manuel BATISTA‐FOGUET, 2018. "Measuring the impact of an organizational inclusion programme on absence among employees with disabilities: A quasi‐experimental design," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 157(4), pages 651-669, December.

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