[Nfbf-l] FW: [Nfbnet-members-list] Please Sign and Circulate the Petition to Support Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities

[Dan Hicks]

Fellow Federation Members, 

 

Please see below, and please read and sign the petition. Urge your friends
and family to do the same. Let's end sub-minimum-wage exploitation of the
disabled once and for all. 

 

Thank you all. 

 

Dan Hicks, President

National Federation of the Blind of Florida 

 

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause
and reflect."

 
-Mark Twain

 

From: Nfbnet-members-list [mailto:nfbnet-members-list-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Lewis, Anil (by way of David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>)
Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2013 9:25 PM
To: nfbnet-members-list at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Nfbnet-members-list] Please Sign and Circulate the Petition to
Support Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities

 

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 
 
Mr. Anil Lewis, M.P.A.
Director of Advocacy and Policy
 
"Eliminating Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities" 
http://www.nfb.org/fairwages
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, Maryland   21230
(410) 659-9314 ext. 2374 (Voice)
(410) 685-5653 (FAX)
Email: alewis at nfb.org
Web: www.nfb.org <http://www.nfb.org/> 
twitter: @anillife 
 

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