[Home-on-the-range] FW: [Nfbnet-master-list] Legislative Alert Subminimum wage

[Stanzel, Susan - Kansas City, MO]

Hi Everyone,

This is really important. Please call on this

Susie

From: nfbnet-master-list-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbnet-master-list-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lewis, Anil
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2011 7:07 PM
To: nfbnet-master-list at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Nfbnet-master-list] Legislative Alert Subminimum wage
Importance: High

Dear Fellow Federationists:

I am writing to inform you that a principle tenet of our organization is being threatened.  We are actively developing legislation that will work toward the repeal of Regulation 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  Meanwhile, the proposed language in Title V of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) reauthorization, specifically Section 511 of the Rehabilitation Act, threatens to send us backward in our struggle for full participation and competitive employment at competitive wages.

Most of us are aware that in 1938, when every other employee in America was being guaranteed the workforce protection of a federal minimum wage through the passage of the FLSA, Section 14(c) of this act denied the blind and other workers with disabilities this same protection by allowing for the payment of subminimum wages.  Since our founding in 1940, the National Federation of the Blind has fought against the erroneous misconception that blind people cannot be productive employees, and we have made significant strides toward a correct understanding of the true capacity of the blind.  Contrarily, the proposed language found in Section 511 of the Rehabilitation Act is a tacit endorsement of Section 14(c) of the FLSA and its antiquated contention that people with disabilities cannot be competitively employed.

If passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, language in Section 511 of the Rehabilitation Act will create a link between the Rehabilitation Act and Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act that has never before existed.  This will create legislation with a conflict between the philosophy of capacity for competitive employment set by the Rehabilitation Act, and the philosophy of incapacity toward subminimum wages set by Section 14(c) of the FLSA, setting the stage for more workers with disabilities to be inappropriately steered toward sheltered employment and a life of low expectations rewarded with subminimum wages.

The following list contains the names of members of the Senate HELP committee.  If your Senator is a member of the committee, please call his/her office to respectfully express your adamant objection to linking subminimum wage to the Rehabilitation Act, and to insist that Section 511 of the Rehabilitation Act be removed from the bill.  If your Senator is not a member of the HELP committee, call the committee chair (Senator Tom Harkin) and the ranking member (Senator Michael Enzi) to register your objection.

Please share this information with friends and family and encourage them to assist us with this effort.  Please call or e-mail me with any questions, 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<mailto: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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