[Fopbc] Fwd: Legislative Alert Subminimum wage

[Lenora Marten]

Dear Fellow Federationists:

 
I am writing to inform you that a principle tenet of our organization isbeing threatened.  We are actively developing legislation that willwork toward the repeal of Regulation 14(c) of the Fair Labor StandardsAct (FLSA).  Meanwhile, the proposed language in Title V of theWorkforce Investment Act (WIA) reauthorization, specifically Section 511of the Rehabilitation Act, threatens to send us backward in our strugglefor full participation and competitive employment at competitivewages.  
 
Most of us are aware that in 1938, when every other employee in Americawas being guaranteed the workforce protection of a federal minimum wagethrough the passage of the FLSA, Section 14(c) of this act denied theblind and other workers with disabilities this same protection byallowing for the payment of subminimum wages.  Since our founding in1940, the National Federation of the Blind has fought against theerroneous misconception that blind people cannot be productive employees,and we have made significant strides toward a correct understanding ofthe true capacity of the blind.  Contrarily, the proposed languagefound in Section 511 of the Rehabilitation Act is a tacit endorsement ofSection 14(c) of the FLSA and its antiquated contention that people withdisabilities cannot be competitively employed.  
 
If passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, languagein Section 511 of the Rehabilitation Act will create a link between theRehabilitation Act and Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act thathas never before existed.  This will create legislation with aconflict between the philosophy of capacity for competitive employmentset by the Rehabilitation Act, and the philosophy of incapacity towardsubminimum wages set by Section 14(c) of the FLSA, setting the stage formore workers with disabilities to be inappropriately steered towardsheltered employment and a life of low expectations rewarded withsubminimum wages.  
 
The following list contains the names of members of the Senate HELPcommittee.  If your Senator is a member of the committee, pleasecall his/her office to respectfully express your adamant objection tolinking subminimum wage to the Rehabilitation Act, and to insist thatSection 511 of the Rehabilitation Act be removed from the bill.  Ifyour Senator is not a member of the HELP committee, call the committeechair (Senator Tom Harkin) and the ranking member (Senator Michael Enzi)to register your objection.  
 
Please share this information with friends and family and encourage themto assist us with this effort.  Please call or e-mail me with anyquestions, and to keep me posted on your progress.  
 
Sincerely, 
 
Anil Lewis
Director of Strategic Communications
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
Telephone:  (410) 659-9314, extension 2374
E-mail:alewis at nfb.org
 
Senator
State
Telephone
Senator Lamar Alexander 
Tennessee 
(202) 224-4944
Senator Michael F. Bennet 
Colorado
(202) 224-5852
Senator Jeff Bingaman 
New Mexico
(202) 224-5521
Senator Richard Blumenthal 
Connecticut 
(202) 224-2823
Senator Richard Burr 
North Carolina
(202) 224-3154
Senator Robert Casey, Jr. 
Pennsylvania
(202) 224-6324
Senator Mike Enzi 
Wyoming
(202) 224-3424
Senator Al Franken 
Minnesota
(202) 224-5641
Senator Kay R. Hagan 
North Carolina
(202) 224-6342
Senator Tom Harkin 
Iowa
(202) 224-3254
Senator Orrin G. Hatch 
Utah 
(202) 224-5251
Senator Johnny Isakson 
Georgia
(202) 224-3643
Senator Mark Steven Kirk 
Illinois 
(202) 224-2854
Senator John McCain 
Arizona
(202) 224-2235
Senator Jeff Merkley 
Oregon
(202) 224-3753
Senator Barbara A. Mikulski 
Maryland
(202) 224-4654
Senator Lisa Murkowski 
Alaska
(202) 224-6665
Senator Patty Murray 
Washington
(202) 224-2621
Senator Rand Paul 
Kentucky
(202) 224-4343
Senator Pat Roberts 
Kansas
(202) 224-4774
Senator Bernard Sanders 
Vermont
(202) 224-5141
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse 
Rhode Island
(202) 224-2921
 
 

 
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