[Ct-nfb] Goodwill Boycott

Fri Jun 22 01:42:22 UTC 2012

Hello everyone, 

I wanted to weigh in from my own personal perspective on this matter. Having a son who paralyzed from the shoulders down,   I nonetheless hope and expect that he will in time be at a point where he will be offered a competitive job with competitive earnings and he can fully contribute to his employment situation. I am not in favor of subminimum wage jobs and feel that people with disabilities should have the same rights and opportunities to competitive wages as the non-disabled population. Many years ago, under the leadership of Dr. Fred Schroeder when he was the Commissioner of Rehab Services Administration, the option of closing people with disabilities in sheltered employment as an employment outcome was eliminated from the Rehabilitation Act.  Since that time, Voc Rehab Programs (including BESB) are not able to take a "closure" for a person who is in sheltered employment. In very rare instances, a person who was found eligible for supported employment services (requiring the presence of multiple significant disabilities) may be closed successfully in a competitive, integrated setting with earnings below minimum wage as long as there is an indication that the person is working toward achievement of earnings at or above minimum wage. 

There are some employment settings where workers are paid based on their productivity, typically in an assembly setting. The workers are expected to produce a mimimum number of items per hour and for those who exceed that level, their earnings are compensated accordingly . For those who are unable to acheive the minimum number of items, they are usually separated from the job. The special worker certificate option allows employers (typically community rehab providers) to retain workers who produce less than the required minimum production levels as long as the person has a disability. This is where the controversy arises. In typical employment settings, a person who is unable to achieve the minimum production standards is let go from the job. But under a special worker certificate, the community rehabilitation provider is permitted to keep the person employed but they can also lower the wages to meet the percentage of the productivity the person is working at. On one side of this argument , paying the person for what they produce, even if the wage is below minimum wage is believed to be a better option than having the person lose their job for not meeting the minimum standard of productivity. 

>From my personal perspective, low expectations yield low results. Those who told us my son would never breathe on his own again had low expectations. Had we placed our son at those facilities, he would still be on a respirator, living out his life in a long term care facility. We instead found a facility that believed our son could breathe on his own and within two weeks after transferring there , he was off of a respirator . I dont know what the answer is for every situation and that is what makes this such a complicated issue. I do know that BESB cannot take a closure for anyone placed in sheltered employment and to me, this is a good thing. 

Good night all and God Bless for all of your energy on this topic. As long as we keep challenging people to think about these difficult issues, we will keep them alive in everyone's mind and perhaps see a shift of thinking in the end.   

Brian 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Justin Salisbury" <PRESIDENT at alumni.ecu.edu> 
To: "NFB of Connecticut Mailing List" <ct-nfb at nfbnet.org> 
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2012 4:18:33 PM 
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] Goodwill Boycott 

I think this demonstrates to us how much the BESB staff could get from meeting successful blind people in fields other than blind services.  If we were to do a social between BESB and our affiliate, or something of the sort, we might be able to do something to raise their expectations of blind people.  I know that's one of the things that sets apart the Teacher of Blind Students program at Louisiana Tech: meeting successful blind people in all kinds of fields.  That's one of the primary purposes of the NFB Teacher of Tomorrow program, too. 

Justin M. Salisbury 
Class of 2012 
B.A. in Mathematics 
East Carolina University 
president at alumni.ecu.edu 

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”    —MARGARET MEAD 
________________________________________ 
From: ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org [ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of Blindhands at aol.com [Blindhands at aol.com] 
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2012 3:56 PM 
To: ct-nfb at nfbnet.org 
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] Goodwill Boycott 

You have my permission to quote me and my wage to the politicians.  Shame on BESB for allowing this. 

Joyce Kane 
www.KraftersKorner.org<http://www.krafterskorner.org/> 
Blindhands at AOL.com 

In a message dated 6/21/2012 3:51:55 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, PRESIDENT at alumni.ecu.edu writes: 
Trevor: You are an excellent philosopher. 

Rich: I agree with you and want to make sure you know that the number of people who really, truly, cannot be competitively employed is much, much lower than these predatory companies like Goodwill make it out to be.  The people who really need jobs as a form of entertainment or babysitting is very, very small. 

Joyce: I am so sorry to hear that you were ever employed at subminimum wages.  I'm glad you got the heck out of Dodge.  Personal testimonies like yours are very important in our fight for fair wages for all disabled workers.  Would you mind if I referenced your story and attach your name to it when I'm talking to politicians?  That's the lowest wage I've actually heard of in Connecticut.  $3.00 was the lowest Connecticut wage I'd heard of before reading your email. 

Justin 

Justin M. Salisbury 
Class of 2012 
B.A. in Mathematics 
East Carolina University 
president at alumni.ecu.edu 

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”    —MARGARET MEAD 
________________________________________ 
From: ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org [ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of Trevor Attenberg [tattenberg at gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2012 12:36 PM 
To: 'NFB of Connecticut Mailing List' 
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] Goodwill Boycott 

Shelter and entertainment for those without resources or providing families are one thing. Cheap labor is another thing. It seems an argument states work of any kind is a priceless privilege, and all people should work, even if the pay is close to zero and cannot possibly cover any personal expenses or lead to personal advancement. People should be happy that they are making cheap goods and supporting the wealth of the leaders of so-called charitable providers. Are not personal advancement and self-sufficiency a couple of the perks to being in the labor force? The argument in favor of sub-minimum wages for the disabled is the same that was used against minimum wages for everyone in the first place. Namely, wages should be based on productivity, and therefore those that are not producing enough are not good enough for living wages; whereas the highest producers deserve wealth and quality of life. 
It seems to me that if employers are not providing a means for workers to sustain quality of life and personal advancement, they are doing society a disservice, as they instead rely on perpetuated dependence and poverty to sustain their own wealth. Think of the money so-called not-for-profits like Goodwill rake in. These guys claim to be providing support to the needy; but at the same time, they rely on impoverished employees to sustain their business model. Rather a vicious cycle if you ask me. Often these organizations use government funding or charitable giving as well, therefore the public at large is supporting the wealth of those that institute sub-standard employment opportunities. At the same time, these employers are spending money to lobby opposition to the Fair Wages bill the Federation is supporting. 
Everyone has the ability to compete, but also everyone has the right to a decent life, especially if they’re not choosing to throw away that life. Sub-minimum wages means poverty, and/or perpetual reliance on government and families for monetary support. That doesn’t sound like a good deal for anyone, save those that are profiting at the top. We’re often taught that sweatshop labor is a condemnable practice employed by under-developed, relatively lawless parts of the planet. So, are we going to accept such conditions as righteous when it comes to the disabled? Remember also that the NFB is not the only organization fighting to remove sub-minimum wages. Many other disability organizations are doing the same—standing up for their own livelihoods. 
>From what I know, day care for seniors is a wee different, but I don’t know much about it, beyond that it supposedly provides support to seniors living at home without family or friends available to provide necessary aid. BESB does seem to engage in a lot of wasteful or half-hearted practices when it comes to getting clients gainfully employed or prepped for such employment. Why was a train from Stratford to New Haven considered unsafe? Blind people make that trip. We truly need to improve prospective and approach to enhancing the lives of the blind and other folks with disabilities here and around the country. Disabled people do want to contribute to society; but they want to do so in a meaningful way; and they don’t want to simultaneously contribute to poverty and dependency. 

From: ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Blindhands at aol.com 
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2012 11:06 AM 
To: ct-nfb at nfbnet.org 
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] Goodwill Boycott 

There might be a need for these places.  Such places are available for the elderly and it is called Daycare for Seniorsor similar names and it is very pricey for folks to partake in these places.  These so called Work Shops are many times serve the same purpose. 

What upsets me is the fact that BESB considers to encourage their blind clients to take jobs in these places.  BESB falsely paints these positions as permanent job places and pays the blind an above minimum wage pay while they are in training[thru some government work program].     They spent 3 months working out how I could travel from Stratford to New Haven independently.[after it was decided the train was not a safe option, then Bpt transit and My Ride was the choice].     I worked for 6 months part time receiving $11.50 per hour and after the training period I was hired or went onto Americash pay rates which worked out to be $1.20 per hour.  Since the bus transportation cost was $12 per day and  I worked 5 hours a day and spent another average of 4 to 5 hours on a bus or waiting for a bus, I decided after one week  I could not afford to work there. 

I could not believe BESB supported such job placement for a blind person. 

Joyce Kane 
www.KraftersKorner.org<http://www.krafterskorner.org/> 
Blindhands at AOL.com<mailto:Blindhands at AOL.com> 

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