<html><body><span style="font-family:Verdana; color:#000000; font-size:12pt;"><div>Dear Federationists,</div>
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<div>Below is the press release for Saturday's informational protest. This has been distributed to our email media list for the state.</div>
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<H1 style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3 face=Tahoma>Americans with Disabilities to Protest Goodwill’s Subminimum Wages</FONT></H1>
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<div style="font-size:12pt;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT face=Tahoma><SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), on of the oldest and largest organizations of Americans with disabilities, announced yesterday 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 protests will take place on Saturday, August 25, generally from 11 AM to 1 PM at Goodwill thrift stores throughout the United States. These informational protests will raise awareness of Goodwill’s practice of paying 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 nearly 50 other organizations of people with disabilities support legislations, the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act (H/R/ 3086), which would phase out and then repeal the nearly 75-year-old provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act that permits special certificate holders to pay subminimum wages to workers with disabilities. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
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<div style="font-size:12pt;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT face=Tahoma><SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>The Connecticut affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB of CT) will hold informational protests at three Goodwill Thrift Store locations: 2709 Main Street, Glastonbury; 80 Town Line Rd, Wethersfield; and 321 Boston Post Road, Milford. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
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<H2 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><EM><FONT size=3 face=Tahoma>About the National Federation of the Blind</FONT></EM></H2>
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<div><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>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. The NFB of CT was formed in 1971, and over the past 41 years, we have worked to improve the lives of blind people in Connecticut and the nation.</SPAN></div></span></body></html>