[Home-on-the-range] Blind Kansans to picket Sen. Roberts Wichita office

[Tom Page]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
Members of the National Federation of the Blind of Kansas will stage an informational picket on Tuesday July 26th at 10:00am at the offices of Senator Pat Roberts in Wichita (155 N. Market).  See below for more information about the issue.  At this time Senator Roberts office has not released a statement.
 
CONTACT:
In Wichita: 
Tom Page 
1st Vice President 
National Federation of the Blind of Kansas
316-734-4839
316-267-7868
topage at swbell.              net
 
national contact:
Chris Danielsen
Director of Public Relations
National Federation of the Blind
(410) 659-9314, extension 2330
(410) 262-1281 (Cell)
cdanielsen at nfb.org
 
Blind Americans to Protest Subminimum Wages
 
Members of National Federation of the Blind Plan
 Informational Pickets Across United States
 
Baltimore, Maryland (July 20, 2011): The National Federation of the Blind, the oldest and largest nationwide organization of blind people, announced today that its members will conduct informational protests across the United States to raise awareness about the practice of paying wages below the federal minimum wage to Americans with disabilities.  The protests will take place at the primary district office locations of United States Senators serving on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (the HELP Committee).  The HELP Committee is currently considering legislation­the Workforce Investment Act­which would reauthorize the payment of subminimum wages to disabled workers.
 
Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “Unequal pay for equal work on the basis of disability is unfair, discriminatory, and immoral.  The senators who serve on the HELP Committee must decide whether they stand for the outrageous exploitation of disabled workers, or for true equality for Americans with disabilities.”
 
On Wednesday, August 3, the HELP Committee is scheduled to vote on the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), which contains language reauthorizing the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.   The Rehabilitation Act is supposed to provide services to disabled Americans so that they can obtain competitive employment, but Title V, Section 511 of the proposed Rehabilitation Act language references Section 14(c) of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which allows certain entities holding special wage certificates to pay workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage.  
 
For more information on the National Federation of the Blind and fair wages for workers with disabilities, please visit www.nfb.org. 
 
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About the National Federation of the Blind
 
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.  In January 2004 the NFB opened the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and training center in the United States for the blind led by the blind.
 
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