Making Disabled Workers Visible. Mobilization of French Labor Unions and Legal Framings

Workers with disabilities are invisible and discriminated against. This article examines how labor unions’ representatives, in France, mobilize the law and the labor court to make this population visible among employers and members of unions. First, it shows how labor unions started to make the cause of disabled workers visible in their mobilization. Then, it examines their mobilization of the law and the court and how it varies according to the arenas and goals. Through this analysis, the article presents the various framings of disability within labor unions, which combine mobilization to protect their members’ rights and claims for equal opportunity. More broadly, this study suggests new ways of analyzing labor unions’ mobilization by examining the role of the law in making a population visible.