[Ctabs] Legislative Alert!

[Justin Salisbury]

Fellow Federationists:

We all agree that subminimum wage employment for disabled workers is unfair, discriminatory, and immoral.  We all know that it is not work, not training, and not right.

Because of what we know and believe to our core, we need to be active, and we need to be active now.

The United States Senate HELP Committee (on which Senator Murphy serves) is considering S 1356, the Workforce Investment Act, which, in Section 511, includes a reauthorization of subminimum wages.  By "reauthorization," I mean that the bill would be reaffirming the idea that subminimum wages are legitimate.

Furthermore, this bill would move the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) into the Department of Labor, which will negatively change the incentive system for rehabilitation.  Currently, rehabilitation is run from an educational approach, where programs exist to give disabled people the training and skills they need to lead normal, productive lives.  If rehabilitation programs become run by the Department of Labor, the priority will be to simply place disabled people in employment situations, which can and will likely be sheltered employment situations, in order to get an employment statistic.

We need to contact Senator Chris Murphy because he serves on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee, which is the committee that controls this bill right now.

At the beginning of this week, we will need to call Senator Murphy's office, email him, and absolutely bombard him to make sure that he hears us and listens.  The Senate HELP Committee is going to be finishing its work on this bill before sending it out to the Senate floor later this week.

We need the committee to remove Section 511 (about subminimum wages) and the language moving RSA into the Department of Labor.

Here is contact information for Senator Murphy:
http://www.murphy.senate.gov/

Connecticut Office
One Constitution Plaza, 7th Floor
Hartford, CT 06103
Phone: (860) 549-8463
Fax: (860) 524-5091
Washington Office
SD-B40A Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4041
Fax: (202) 228-9604

If you have any questions, please send them my way.  If I learn anything further that I need to share, I will.

Yours,

Justin

Justin M. Salisbury
Graduate Student
Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics
The University of Wisconsin-Madison
president at alumni.ecu.edu<mailto: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


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