[Cabs-talk] Fwd: [Chapter-presidents] Goodwill Asserts: The Federation Refutes

[Darian Smith]

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From: Darian Smith <dsmithnfb at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:45:36 -0800
Subject: Fwd: [Chapter-presidents] Goodwill Asserts: The Federation Refutes
To: List for NABS State Presidents <nabs-presidents at nfbnet.org>

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From: "Lewis, Anil" <ALewis at nfb.org>
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2012 20:29:03 +0000
Subject: [Chapter-presidents] Goodwill Asserts: The Federation Refutes
To: "Affiliate Presidents
(state-affiliate-leadership-list at nfbnet.org)"
<state-affiliate-leadership-list at nfbnet.org>, "NFB Chapter Presidents
discussion list (chapter-presidents at nfbnet.org)"
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>From the National Association of Blind Students - Fall Slate 2012
http://www.nfb.org/braille-monitor


Goodwill Asserts: The Federation Refutes
By Anil Lewis
>From the Editor: Anil Louis is the Director of Strategic
Communications at the National Federation of the Blind headquarters in
Baltimore. Here he shares with us why he is so passionate about
getting equal pay for workers with disabilities.
The members of the National Federation of the Blind have been fighting
for years to repeal Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act
(FLSA), which is a legal provision that permits employers to pay
workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage. Some
workers with disabilities are receiving subminimum wages as low as 3
cents per hour. With the introduction of the Fair Wages for Workers
with Disabilities Act, HR 3086, we are ever closer to achieving our
goal. The key to our success will be in our efforts to educate the
public about this exploitive provision. We have chosen to highlight
Goodwill International's use of the subminimum wage practice because
they are a household name that most people associate with workers with
disabilities, but most are unaware that they pay some of their workers
with disabilities as little as 22 cents per hour. The following
description from Goodwill International asserts their position on the
merit of Section 14(c) of the FLSA.
________________________________
As anyone who has ever known the satisfaction of achieving a
professional goal knows, there is an intrinsic value to working that
cannot be denied. We innately crave purpose, a sense of
accomplishment, self-respect fostered by accomplishment, and
acknowledgement for our contributions to life around us. Yet today,
for nearly 80 percent of Americans with disabilities, opportunities to
feel valued and fulfilled through meaningful employment do not exist.
The number of people with disabilities not accessing the workforce
would be greater if not for a provision of the Fair Labor Standards
Act, which allows employers to utilize a Special Minimum Wage
Certificate to hire those with the most severe disabilities. This
provision has led to the creation of jobs for hundreds of thousands of
people with multiple physical and mental disabilities who report to
work each day, flourish in friendships with their supervisors and
co-workers, delight in mastering new tasks and learning new skills,
and take pride in their "jobs well done." Seven thousand of these
Americans work at Goodwills across the country.
________________________________
So many people read this statement and they are convinced that
Goodwill is the answer to the plight of people with disabilities. We
maintain that if Goodwill's use of the Section 14(c) provision is the
answer, someone is not asking the right questions. Why doesn't
Goodwill disclose that they pay many of their workers with
disabilities less than the federal minimum wage? When did we as
Americans get to a point where it is considered compassionate to set
such low expectations for our citizens? How many of us would consider
it compassionate for Goodwill, or any employer, to use this same
language to justify paying nondisabled workers' wages below the
federal minimum wage? How many times must our ignorance allow us to
deny rights and privileges to a population of people based on a
characteristic? If employment at subminimum wages under Section 14(c)
of the Fair Labor Standards Act is the answer to the unemployment
problem of people with disabilities, then why is it not being touted
as the employment solution for the many nondisabled American citizens
unemployed today? Moreover, if it is truly a solution, why after over
seventy years of access to this unreasonable provision, is there still
such a disparity between the employment of the nondisabled as compared
to the disabled? Goodwill's assertions do not support the use of this
unfair, discriminatory, immoral provision.
Goodwill asserts that the Section 14(c) provision is a tool used to
assist workers with disabilities obtain employment, and Subminimum
wage work affords individuals with significant disabilities an
opportunity to gain work experience that they otherwise may not have.
However, the data shows that subminimum wage employment teaches skills
that must be unlearned in order for a person to obtain competitive
employment. Therefore, rather than preparing a person for competitive
integrated employment, subminimum wage employment perpetuates on-going
subminimum wage employment.
Goodwill asserts that Section 14(c) permits their affiliates to obtain
Special Wage Certificates authorizing the payment of special minimum
wages to workers who have disabilities for the work being performed.
The work performed in these situations revolve around the work the
employer needs performed in order to operate their business, not the
work that meets the employee's unique skills, interests and abilities.
If the employer needs envelopes stuffed, the work is envelope
stuffing. If the employer needs widgets assembled, the work is widget
assembly. They promote this work as job training. If true training is
to be provided, trainees should be performing work that takes
advantage of their unique skills and abilities assisting them to
acquire productive job skills and to secure competitive integrated
employment.
Goodwill asserts that they are in full compliance with federal and
state rules. However, compliance with a discriminatory act is not
compliance, it is complacency. Many people were complacent in their
compliance with the laws of slavery, their compliance with the denial
of a woman's right to vote, and other discriminatory provisions
founded in ignorance that have denied equal rights to individuals
based on a characteristic. We, like the abolitionists and
suffragettes, truly represent the population of disenfranchised
citizens with disabilities and we will not stop until we gain true
equality with the rights and responsibilities it entails.
Goodwill asserts that every person working under a Special Wage
Certificate chooses to do so. There is no real choice when the options
are to work at subminimum wages or to not work at all. Others assert
that workers with disabilities choose to work at subminimum wages in
order to maintain their public benefits. This is a sad commentary on
their belief in our capacity and desire to be fully participating
citizens. Provide the proper training and supports and people with
disabilities will demonstrate the capacity for competitive employment
and choose to work at the federal minimum wage or higher. Eliminate
access barriers and Create real opportunities for competitive
employment and people with disabilities will choose to be beneficial
participating members of society rather than beneficiaries.
Goodwill asserts that the severity of their disability precludes these
workers from pursuing other employment options. This statement has
been proven to be false time and time again. There are many examples
of individuals with significant disabilities that the workshops felt
they could not employ that have gone on to secure competitive
employment. However, hundreds of thousands of other individuals have
received similar unemployable designations from entities lacking the
expertise to provide proper training and support. As long as it is
legal and profitable, these otherwise employable individuals with
disabilities will continue to serve as the cash cows for employers
that do not believe in their capacity, condemning them to a life-time
of subminimum wage employment.
Goodwill asserts that people with disabilities lack the capacity for
competitive employment. They are joined by other service providers
that have learned to profit on this perspective. We assert that any
entity that makes this assertion lacks the expertise to provide
quality training and employment services to people with disabilities.
We are joined by other organizations of people with disabilities that
wish to shift to an enlighten paradigm where all people with
disabilities are recognized as competitive productive employees.
Goodwill asserts that hundreds of thousands of individuals will lose
access to paid work experience. It is true that there are over 300,000
people documented as being paid under the Section 14(c) Special Wage
Certificate. However, it is either ridiculous or enlightening to state
that the elimination of the certificate will result in hundreds of
thousands of individuals losing access to paid work experience. People
with disabilities who are being paid pennies per hour do not have
jobs. They cannot lose what they do not have. Effort should be focused
on finding them real jobs that pay real wages, or focused on training
them for such jobs.
Goodwill states that the workers with disabilities are not regular
employees of Goodwill. This is a philosophical statement that is a
true reflection of their opinion of their employees with disabilities.
They attempt to justify it by stating the workers with disabilities
are not held to a particular productivity standard, when in fact, the
workers with disabilities are the only employees that are truly held
to a productivity standard. Section 14(c) requires time studies,
productivity assessments, and related documentation to justify the
payment of commensurate wages. It is a flawed process that places an
undue burden on workers with disabilities. It would be interesting to
see how the nondisabled Goodwill employees would fair under the same
standards and what compensation they would receive based on their
productivity. For example, what if Goodwill executives and management
were paid a commensurate wage based on the number of employees they
assist in obtaining competitive intergraded employment. If we take
into consideration the "re-work" of all the individuals they are
unable to assist. The managers and executives would receive subminimum
wages.
Overall, Goodwill asserts that people with disabilities would be
unemployable if not for the Section 14(c) provision. This is simply
false. Many people with all types of disabilities, when provided the
proper training and supports, obtain and maintain competitive
integrated employment every day. If Goodwill feels these individuals
are unable to be productive employees, despite the "quality"
employment services Goodwill provides, they should not be in the
business of providing employment services for this population. Let
those organizations who believe in the capacity of people with
disabilities speak for those with disabilities. Let those service
providers that have the talent and expertise to provide quality
employment opportunities for people with disabilities be responsible
for providing quality employment services.
We refute Goodwill's assertions, and make our own assertion that the
financial benefit to the employer outweighs Goodwill's commitment to
workers with disabilities. Goodwill receives public and philanthropic
dollars because the public believes they do "good work" for people
with disabilities. However, these substantial proceeds are being used
to support a business model where executives are compensated at higher
than industry rates on the backs of workers with disabilities being
paid pennies per hour. In any other context, people raising their
standard of life while taking advantage of others would be considered
exploitation. Why, in the case of workers with disabilities, is this
considered an "opportunity to feel valued and fulfilled through
meaningful employment?" If the revenue is generated on behalf of
people with disabilities, then people with disabilities should
benefit. Not through glorified daycare veiled in compassion, but
through the provision of real training and support services that lead
to competitive integrated employment. Let Goodwill refute that.


Mr. Anil Lewis, M.P.A.
Director of Strategic Communications

"Eliminating Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities"
http://www.nfb.org/fairwages

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, Maryland   21230

(410) 659-9314 ext. 2374 (Voice)
(410) 685-5653 (FAX)
Email: alewis at nfb.org<mailto:alewis at nfb.org>
Web: www.nfb.org<http://www.nfb.org>



-- 
Darian Smith


Text the word BLIND to 85944 to donate $10 to the NFB Imagination Fund
via your phone bill.

The time is now to eliminate Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities

http://www.nfb.org/fairwages


“We know not of our future, but we know of our past. A past that is
made up of our ancestor’s Dreams, their stories and hopes.
These sights once seen, sounds heard and emotions felt are now our
knowledge. The knowledge that guides us to this very moment…”



-- 
Darian Smith


Text the word BLIND to 85944 to donate $10 to the NFB Imagination Fund
via your phone bill.

The time is now to eliminate Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities

http://www.nfb.org/fairwages


“We know not of our future, but we know of our past. A past that is
made up of our ancestor’s Dreams, their stories and hopes.
These sights once seen, sounds heard and emotions felt are now our
knowledge. The knowledge that guides us to this very moment…”