[il-talk] Fwd: [Nfbnet-master-list] Legislative Alert Subminimum wage

[Denise Avant]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Lewis, Anil" <ALewis at nfb.org> (by way of David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>)
> Date: June 23, 2011 7:06:32 PM CDT
> To: nfbnet-master-list at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [Nfbnet-master-list] Legislative Alert Subminimum wage
> 
> 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
>  
> 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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