[Iabs-talk] FW: [Chapter-presidents] What about Workers with Disabilities BeingPaid Three Cents an Hour?

[David Meyer]

  _____  

From: Chapter-presidents [mailto:chapter-presidents-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Lewis, Anil
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2013 3:25 PM
To: Affiliate Presidents (state-affiliate-leadership-list at nfbnet.org); NFB
Chapter Presidentsdiscussion list (chapter-presidents at nfbnet.org)
Subject: [Chapter-presidents] What about Workers with Disabilities BeingPaid
Three Cents an Hour?



 

 

What about Workers with Disabilities Being Paid Three Cents an Hour?

https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/what-about-workers-disabilities-being-paid-th
ree-cents-hour

 

The New York Times recently published an editorial calling for an increase
in the federal minimum wage.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/opinion/meanwhile-at-the-bottom-of-the-wa
ge-scale.html)  The article noted that the current minimum wage of $7.25 per
hour has not increased since 2009, and that the federal minimum wage for
waiters and waitresses and other tipped workers has been $2.13 since 1991.
The article did not note that federal law has allowed workers with
disabilities employed by certain entities to be paid less than the federal
minimum wage since 1938, and that this discriminatory policy has not been
reconsidered since that time, even as more progressive disability laws like
the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act have
come into force. There are, even today, workers with disabilities earning as
little as three cents an hour who would jump at the chance to be paid $2.13
per hour plus tips, not to mention $7.25 an hour. But the dead-end sheltered
workshop system does not allow them such opportunities.

The Times article notes that objections are often advanced against raising
the federal minimum wage, including that doing so will hurt the economy by
causing workers to lose jobs or stifling the creation of new ones. But the
article notes that large entities with highly compensated executives that
tend to pay workers low wages can well afford a minimum-wage increase, and
that increasing the minimum wage also increases the purchasing power of
consumers, thereby helping the economy.  The same is true for disabled
workers; many of the sheltered workshops that employ them are
multi-million-dollar enterprises with executives pulling down six-figure
salaries or higher that can well afford to pay their workers at least the
federal minimum wage. Indeed, workshops that have switched to a business
model where workers are paid at least the federal minimum wage continue to
thrive. Furthermore, paying these workers at least the federal minimum wage
would not only increase their purchasing power but also release them from
dependence on public assistance. Given the current economy and fiscal
climate, surely this is a desirable outcome.

While the Times article, intentionally or otherwise, ignores the plight of
subminimum-wage workers with disabilities, the fact that wages are a matter
of current public concern means that there is no better time to eliminate
the discriminatory and exploitative practice of paying workers with
disabilities less than the federal minimum wage. The National Federation of
the Blind and those who partner with us will continue to advance the cause
of true wage equality for all workers, including those with disabilities.

 

 

Mr. Anil Lewis, M.P.A.

Director of Advocacy and Policy

 

"Eliminating Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities" 

http://www.nfb.org/fairwages

 

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place

Baltimore, Maryland   21230

 

(410) 659-9314 ext. 2374 (Voice)

(410) 685-5653 (FAX)

Email: alewis at nfb.org

Web: www.nfb.org

twitter: @anillife 

 

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