[Ncabs] Boycott Goodwill on Facebook!

Thu Jun 14 01:37:46 UTC 2012

I thought our national leaders tried to make an appointment but were not granted one.  Then, they visited in person to show that they wouldn't quit pursuing a meeting.

Justin M. Salisbury
Class of 2012
B.A. in Mathematics
East Carolina University
president at alumni.ecu.edu

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”    —MARGARET MEAD
________________________________________
From: ncabs-bounces at nfbnet.org [ncabs-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of Cynthia Bennett [clb5590 at gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2012 3:15 AM
To: North Carolina Association of Blind Students List
Subject: Re: [Ncabs] Boycott Goodwill on Facebook!

I know that I personally was not intending to target anyone
individually. I think it is wise to investigate things. One main
reason why workers are paid subminimum wages is that they supposedly
cannot produce the number of items a "normal" person can. One method
for figuring a disabled person's wage is to have a nondisabled person
produce items for an hour. This is called piece work. For example, a
nondisabled person could package parachutes, and let's say they can
package 60 in an hour. Then, the disabled person would be timed, and
whatever percent of 60 parachutes they could package would determine
the percentage of wage they would be paid. So let's say that a
nondisabled person got paid $7.25 an hour, and let's say that the
disabled person could only package 30 parachutes in that hour. The
disabled person would then make half of $7.25 an hour. There are many
problems with this. Often times, disabled people are not properly
trained. A nondisabled person is assigned to them, undoubtedly this
person is making minimum wage, and their soul job is just to help the
disabled person if they need it. This means, that from the get go, the
disabled person is not taught to be independent or to do their job
properly. There is certainly a list of required experiences and
qualifications required in any job description, but any new employee
that is employed separate from this certificate program is going to
receive training the educates them on the unique aspects of their job.
Also, many times, appropriate alternative techniques are not
investigated. As blind people, we make simple changes to environments
and the way we do things to be competitive employees. There are
undoubtedly similar techniques that could be employed, that are not,
with disabled people, to get their productivity "up to par." The other
huge problem with this method of determining wage is that an hour of
piece work is hardly accurate to how the nondisabled person would do
in general. it often does not take into account fatigue. Also, if
someone is not disabled, or even if they are, they wouldn't make extra
money for assembling extra parachutes per hour than the norm, so how
is it fair?

The heart of the issue is that an umblrella idea is applied to many
disabled people. They are disabled, so they are not worth minimum
wage. Many blindness training centers train blind people so they can
leave the training center and be employed somewhere else. However,
many sheltered workshops claim to be "training centers" offering the
sheltered work as an opportunity for the disabled person to learn how
to "work" so they can leave the facility and find other forms of
employment. But in one of the articles I read, it was reported that
95% of people working in sheltered workshops remain there for their
entire career. So it seems that the "training centers" do not seem to
be actually releasing their employees to find other and better forms
of employment like they claim.

I know there are other methods for determining wage than piece work,
and other issues surrounding this argument, but those are just a
couple of things I thought mentionable.

In regard to the professionalism of making an appointment, I think
that really isn't part of the issue. It may be rude, but it is quite
more disrespectful to rip your employees off. In any case, news media
and lawyers, and even average joe's like us demand information from
tons of people and companies without necessarily following protocol. I
don't think that that practice is unique to this issue at all.

Cindy

On 6/12/12, Currin, Kevin <kwcurrin at live.unc.edu> wrote:
> I did read the two articles on the NCABs list, or else I would not have
> commented.
>
> In one of the articles, the investigators claimed that the Good Will
> executive would not speak to them when they admitted that they didn't make
> an appointment. It is unprofessional to walk in someone's office unannounced
> and ask them to produce a statement about something like this. I will agree
> that it is wrong for individuals higher in the company to make salaries well
> above comfortable living standards when other workers aren't making minimum
> wage. However, since many disabled workers are making above minimum wage,
> there may be another criteria for why subminimum wages were paid to certain
> workers, and that would need to be investigated also. Just because I
> currently don't support the boycott doesn't mean that I will not support it
> once I find out more information. As a member of the NFB, I feel that I have
> a right to say that I don't currently support something that the NFB
> supports.
>
> Kevin
> ________________________________________
> From: ncabs-bounces at nfbnet.org [ncabs-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of
> Justin Salisbury [PRESIDENT at alumni.ecu.edu]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2012 5:29 PM
> To: North Carolina Association of Blind Students List
> Subject: Re: [Ncabs] Boycott Goodwill on Facebook!
>
> What prompts you to say that it's not complete?  Read the articles.
>
> Justin M. Salisbury
> Class of 2012
> B.A. in Mathematics
> East Carolina University
> president at alumni.ecu.edu
>
> “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
> the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”    —MARGARET MEAD
> ________________________________________
> From: ncabs-bounces at nfbnet.org [ncabs-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of
> Currin, Kevin [kwcurrin at live.unc.edu]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2012 12:18 PM
> To: North Carolina Association of Blind Students List
> Subject: Re: [Ncabs] Boycott Goodwill on Facebook!
>
> Hello Everyone,
>
> I do not support this boycott. The investigation is not complete and I'm not
> convinced that it is even a necessary investigation.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Kevin
> ________________________________________
> From: ncabs-bounces at nfbnet.org [ncabs-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of
> Justin Salisbury [PRESIDENT at alumni.ecu.edu]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2012 12:06 PM
> To: North Carolina Association of Blind Students List
> Subject: Re: [Ncabs] Boycott Goodwill on Facebook!
>
> Here are two very brief articles that explain it thoroughly and concisely:
>
> http://nfb.org/national-federation-blind-urges-boycott-goodwill-industries
>
> http://www.wusa9.com/news/article/208068/189/Goodwill-Pays-Disabled-Employees-Less-than-Minimum-Wage
>
> Justin M. Salisbury
> Class of 2012
> B.A. in Mathematics
> East Carolina University
> president at alumni.ecu.edu
>
> “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
> the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”    —MARGARET MEAD
> ________________________________________
> From: ncabs-bounces at nfbnet.org [ncabs-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of Sean
> Mealin [spmealin at ncsu.edu]
> Sent: Monday, June 11, 2012 8:38 PM
> To: North Carolina Association of Blind Students List
> Subject: Re: [Ncabs] Boycott Goodwill on Facebook!
>
> Hi,
>
> I may have missed the email because things have been chaotic on this
> end; can I get an extremely quick rundown on why we are doing this?
>
> Thanks
>
> Sean
>
>
> On 6/11/12, Justin Salisbury <PRESIDENT at alumni.ecu.edu> wrote:
>> Fellow Federationists:
>>
>> I have created a Facebook event for our boycott of Goodwill Industries
>> International, Inc.  It can be found at the following link:
>>
>> http://www.facebook.com/events/453015078044368/
>>
>> Please join the boycott and encourage everyone you know to do the same!
>>
>> Yours in Federationism,
>>
>> Justin Salisbury
>> President
>> North Carolina Association of Blind Students
>>
>> Justin M. Salisbury
>> Class of 2012
>> B.A. in Mathematics
>> East Carolina University
>> president at alumni.ecu.edu
>>
>> “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
>> change
>> the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”    —MARGARET MEAD
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Ncabs mailing list
>> Ncabs at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ncabs_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
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>>
>
>
> --
> Sean Mealin
> spmealin at ncsu.edu
> (336) 772-2507
> http://www4.ncsu.edu/~spmealin/
>
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--
Cynthia Bennett
B.A. Psychology, UNC Wilmington

clb5590 at gmail.com
828.989.5383

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