[Md-sligo] Plress release for Goodwill demonstration

[Debbie Brown]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Local: 
Debbie Brown, President
Sligo Creek Chapter
National Federation of the Blind of Maryland
301-881-1892
301-538-4426 (cell)
63characters at comcast.net
National:
Chris Danielsen
Director of Public Relations
National Federation of the Blind
(410) 659-9314, extension 2330
(410) 262-1281 (Cell)
cdanielsen at nfb.org
Americans with Disabilities to Protest Goodwill's Subminimum Wages
Protesters to Urge Boycott, Demand Fair Wages
On Saturday, August 25, members of the National Federation of the Blind will be conducting an informational demonstration at the Goodwill Store in Gaithersburg, 619 S.  Frederick Avenue, Route 355, from 11 a.m.  to 1 p.m.  The purpose of the demonstration is to inform the public of the legal practice of paying subminimum wages to workers with disabilities.

"It happened to me; it can happen to any of us," said Tom Bickford, a blind 
senior from Montgomery County with a Master's Degree who has worked several 
professional jobs throughout his life.  In this instance, however, he is 
referring to his stint in a potato chip factory in 1961 to tide him over a 
period of unemployment, an experience all too common in the lives of blind 
people and those with other disabilities.  Unlike his sighted coworkers, he 
was paid below the minimum wage, a practice legal under Section 14(c) of the 
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

The National Federation of the Blind is holding demonstrations at Goodwill 
stores nationwide because they receive special wage certificates from the 
U.S.  Department of Labor that allow them to pay less than the minimum wage to 
workers with disabilities.  Although not all Goodwill facilities pay workers 
less than the minimum wage, they are all allowed to do so, and the public does 
not know about this practice.

Baltimore, Maryland (August 20, 2012):
The National Federation of the Blind
 (NFB), one of the oldest and largest organizations of Americans with disabilities,
announced today that it, along with other organizations of people with disabilities,
will conduct over eighty coordinated nationwide protests in front of thrift stores
operated by Goodwill Industries International, Inc., the nonprofit manufacturer and
retailer.  The informational protests will raise awareness of Goodwill's practice
of paying
subminimum wages
 to many of its workers with disabilities.  Freedom of information requests filed
by the NFB confirmed that Goodwill Industries employees with disabilities have been
paid as low as $0.22 an hour.  The NFB and
nearly fifty other organizations
 of people with disabilities support legislation,
the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act
 (H.R. 3086), which would phase out and then repeal the nearly seventy-five-year-old
provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act that permits
special certificate holders
 to pay subminimum wages to workers with disabilities.  The protests will take place
on Saturday, August 25, generally from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time at Goodwill thrift
store locations throughout the United States.
Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the
National Federation of the Blind
, said: "Goodwill Industries is one of the most well-known charitable organizations
in the United States, but most members of the general public are unaware that Goodwill
exploits people with disabilities.  We are conducting informational protests to make
the public aware of this practice that, although sadly still legal, is unfair, discriminatory,
and immoral.  Given its lucrative retail operations and the fact that it can lavish
half-a-million dollars on the salary of its president and chief executive officer,
Goodwill is certainly in a position to stop exploiting its workers with disabilities.
We are calling upon all Americans to refuse to do business with Goodwill Industries,
to refuse to make donations to the subminimum-wage exploiter, and to refuse to shop
in its retail stores until it exercises true leadership and sound moral judgment
by fairly compensating all of its workers with disabilities."
For more information about the protests, contact Anil Lewis, director of Strategic
Communications at the National Federation of the Blind, by phone at (410) 659-9314,
extension 2374, or by e-mail at
alewis at nfb.org
.   For more background regarding this critically important issue, please visit
www.nfb.org/fair-wages
.
###
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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Nfbnet-members-list at nfbnet.org
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