[Blindtlk] FW: Americans with Disabilities to Protest Goodwill's Subminimum Wages

[Chris Nusbaum]

From: Freeh, Jessica [mailto:JFreeh at nfb.org] 
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2012 2:01 PM
To: Undisclosed recipients:
Subject: Americans with Disabilities to Protest Goodwill's Subminimum Wages

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

CONTACT:

Chris Danielsen

Director of Public Relations

National Federation of the Blind

(410) 659-9314, extension 2330

(410) 262-1281 (Cell)

 <mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org> cdanielsen at nfb.org 

 

Americans with Disabilities to Protest Goodwill's Subminimum Wages

 

Protesters to Urge Boycott, Demand Fair Wages

 

Baltimore, Maryland (August 20, 2012):  <http://www.nfb.org> The National
Federation of the Blind (NFB), one of the oldest and largest organizations
of Americans with disabilities, announced today that it, along with other
organizations of people with disabilities,  will conduct over eighty
coordinated nationwide protests in front of thrift stores operated by
Goodwill Industries International, Inc., the nonprofit manufacturer and
retailer.  The informational protests will raise awareness of Goodwill's
practice of paying  <https://www.nfb.org/fair-wages> subminimum wages to
many of its workers with disabilities.  Freedom of information requests
filed by the NFB confirmed that Goodwill Industries employees with
disabilities have been paid as low as $0.22 an hour.  The NFB and
<https://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/documents/word/hr%203086%20support%20list%20
8-16-12.doc> nearly fifty other organizations of people with disabilities
support legislation,
<http://nfb.org/Images/nfb/SI/Fair%20Wages%20for%20Workers%202012.pdf> the
Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act (H.R. 3086), which would phase
out and then repeal the nearly seventy-five-year-old provision of the Fair
Labor Standards Act that permits
<http://www.dol.gov/whd/specialemployment/CRPlist.htm> special certificate
holders to pay subminimum wages to workers with disabilities.  The protests
will take place on Saturday, August 25, generally from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
local time at Goodwill thrift store locations throughout the United States.


Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the  <http://www.twitter.com/nfb_voice>
National Federation of the Blind, said: "Goodwill Industries is one of the
most well-known charitable organizations in the United States, but most
members of the general public are unaware that Goodwill exploits people with
disabilities.  We are conducting informational protests to make the public
aware of this practice that, although sadly still legal, is unfair,
discriminatory, and immoral.  Given its lucrative retail operations and the
fact that it can lavish half-a-million dollars on the salary of its
president and chief executive officer, Goodwill is certainly in a position
to stop exploiting its workers with disabilities.  We are calling upon all
Americans to refuse to do business with Goodwill Industries, to refuse to
make donations to the subminimum-wage exploiter, and to refuse to shop in
its retail stores until it exercises true leadership and sound moral
judgment by fairly compensating all of its workers with disabilities."

 

For more information about the protests, contact Anil Lewis, director of
Strategic Communications at the National Federation of the Blind, by phone
at (410) 659-9314, extension 2374, or by e-mail at  <mailto:alewis at nfb.org>
alewis at nfb.org.   For more background regarding this critically important
issue, please visit  <http://www.nfb.org/fair-wages> www.nfb.org/fair-wages.


 

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About the National Federation of the Blind

With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the Blind is the
largest and most influential membership organization of blind people in the
United States.  The NFB improves blind people's lives through advocacy,
education, research, technology, and programs encouraging independence and
self-confidence.  It is the leading force in the blindness field today and
the voice of the nation's blind.  In January 2004 the NFB opened the
National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and
training center in the United States for the blind led by the blind.