[Nfb-or] [ALewis at nfb.org: [Nfbnet-master-list] Legislative Alert Subminimum wage]

[T. Joseph Carter]

Sen. Jeff Merkley sits on the committee that can put a stop to this.  
I urge everyone to contact him and make some noise.  We need to let 
him know that we will NOT tolerate sub-minimum wages for the blind 
and others with disabilities!

Joseph


----- Forwarded message from "Lewis, Anil" <ALewis at nfb.org> -----

Date: Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:06:32 -0500
From: "Lewis, Anil" <ALewis at nfb.org>
To: nfbnet-master-list at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Nfbnet-master-list] Legislative Alert Subminimum wage
Message-ID: <auto-000017340626 at mailfront4.g2host.com>

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



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----- End forwarded message -----