[Nfb-new-hampshire] Fwd: [Nfbnet-master-list] Legislative Alert Subminimum wage

[Penny Duffy]

On Jun 23, 2011 8:18 PM, "Lewis, Anil" <ALewis at nfb.org> wrote:
> 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: <mailto:alewis at nfb.org>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
>
>