[Ct-nfb] RESOLUTION 2011-17 Regarding the Workforce Investment Act Reauthorization

[Trudy Swenson]

It was very easy. I suggest circulating this to friends and family. The
issue is straightforward and, honestly, non-partisan. It's a no-brainer. No
politician would like to be known as voting in favor of this debacle. Join
voices and act now!

 

Trudy 

 

From: ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Deb Reed
Sent: Monday, July 11, 2011 5:43 PM
To: NFB of Connecticut Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] RESOLUTION 2011-17 Regarding the Workforce Investment
Act Reauthorization

 

Thank's to all our members who worked on this very important resolution in
Florida! I called early on to Senator Blumenthal's office and stated our
position and the assistant took my zip code and that was that. It only takes
a minute.

On Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 2:31 PM, <llee at nfbct.org> wrote:

 Here is a resolution that was passed at the NFB National Convention last
week.

 


RESOLUTION 2011-17
Regarding the Workforce Investment Act Reauthorization
Proponent:

WHEREAS, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions has distributed language for the reauthorization of the 
Workforce Investment Act including a proposed Section 511 of Title V 
(the Rehabilitation Act), which would provide for employment of 
people with significant disabilities at wages below the federally 
mandated minimum wage; and

WHEREAS, the proposed language of Section 511 would be a tacit 
endorsement of the subminimum wage provision found in Section 14(c) 
of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and its antiquated contention 
that people with disabilities cannot be competitively employed; and

WHEREAS, this language links the Rehabilitation Act, which was 
established to assist people with disabilities in obtaining 
competitive integrated employment, with Section 14(c) of the FLSA, 
which is based on the false premise that people with disabilities can 
not be competitively employed and therefore can be paid subminimum wages;
and

WHEREAS, the language in Section 511 that defines what steps a 
vocational rehabilitation counselor must take before steering a 
client into subminimum-wage employment is intended to prevent youth 
with disabilities from being tracked into subminimum-wage jobs, but 
is likely instead to track clients into subminimum-wage employment; and

WHEREAS, language in Section 511 asserts that employers holding a 
certificate that allows them to pay subminimum wages can also serve 
as training facilities for people with disabilities, a claim that 
ignores the fact that job training services provided by an employer 
holding a special wage certificate are likely to reinforce the low 
expectation that workers with disabilities cannot be competitively 
employed, since the incentive is for the employer to continue 
exploiting their labor rather than prepare workers for other employment; and

WHEREAS, the Section 511 documentation and review process, which is 
meant to provide safeguards against inappropriate use of 
subminimum-wage employment, does not take into consideration the fact 
that state Vocational Rehabilitation programs do not have the 
resources to ensure effective compliance with the various 
documentation and review requirements, including the six-month review 
period in the proposed language, creating an opportunity to expand 
the exploitation caused by Section 14(c) of the FLSA; and

WHEREAS, the good intentions motivating the development of Section 
511 are likely to result in enormous negative consequences, 
especially the validation of subminimum-wage employment as a viable 
outcome for people with disabilities; and

WHEREAS, the language does not provide an effective procedure for 
workers to challenge improper placement in such employment: Now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention

assembled this seventh day of July, 2011, in the city of Orlando, 
Florida, that this organization call on members of the Senate 
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions to remove Section 
511 of the proposed Rehabilitation Act; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon all members of Congress, 
not to address the unjust law of Section 14(c) with ineffective 
measures, but to take direct action to abolish the reprehensible 
practice of subminimum-wage employment forever. 


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