[il-talk] Fwd: [Nfbnet-master-list] Legislative Alert Subminimumwage
Cathy Randall
chr47 at mchsi.com
Fri Jun 24 15:33:49 UTC 2011
Denise,
Thanks for forwarding this legislative alert. I just called and left
voice mail for Senator Kirk and hope you will all do the same.
Cathy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Denise Avant" <dravant at ameritech.net>
To: "NFB of Illinois Mailing List" <il-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2011 8:30 PM
Subject: [il-talk] Fwd: [Nfbnet-master-list] Legislative Alert
Subminimumwage
>
>
> 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
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Nfbnet-master-list mailing list
>> Nfbnet-master-list at nfbnet.org
>
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