[Ncabs] Fair Wages Petition

[Alan A. Chase]

Petition to Support Fair Wages
for Workers with Disabilities

www.nfb.org/fair-wages-petition

We, the undersigned, are Americans with disabilities who are adversely
affected by subminimum wage payments to workers with disabilities;
representatives of organizations made up of, and working on behalf of,
Americans with disabilities; friends and family members of individuals who
have disabilities; and other concerned citizens who believe in fairness and
equality. We all speak in support of the repeal of Section 14(c) of the
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which authorizes Special Wage Certificates
that permit employers to pay workers with disabilities subminimum wages,
some as low as 3 cents per hour.

We reject the low expectations for, the false view of the true capacity of,
and the misguided compassion used to justify this discrimination against
workers with disabilities. This provision has existed for over seventy
years, and rather than creating real employment opportunities for workers
with disabilities, it has relegated hundreds of thousands of people with
disabilities to segregated, subminimum wage work environments, perpetuated
the misconception that workers with disabilities do not have the capacity
for productive employment, and masked the need for further development and
implementation of innovative employment strategies for the competitive
integrated employment of people with disabilities.

We all believe that the future prospects for workers with disabilities are
limited only by the spirit, ambition, and imagination of Americans with
disabilities, and by the willingness of society to expand and implement
enlightened policies that will help them succeed. We adamantly assert that
as long as workers with disabilities are denied the same workforce
protections as every other American citizen, and the solution to the
employment dilemma of workers with disabilities is thought to be their
continued segregation in subminimum-wage work environments, our society will
never truly implement the innovative employment strategies that empower
workers with disabilities to fully participate in the workforce.

For these reasons, we, the undersigned, urge the repeal of Section 14(c) of
the Fair Labor Standards Act in order to abolish the unfair, discriminatory,
immoral practice of paying workers with disabilities subminimum wages; to
reverse over seventy years of mistaken institutionalized thinking about the
employment capacity of people with disabilities; and to incentivize the
development, implementation, and use of innovative strategies for their
competitive, integrated employment.

To sign the petition, visit www.nfb.org/fair-wages-petition

-- 
*Alan A. Chase, M.Ed.*
Occupational Course of Study Teacher, New Hanover County Schools
Program Coordinator, Envisioning Youth Empowerment Retreat
President, North Carolina Association of Blind Students
Secretary, Governor Morehead School Alumni Association