[Nfbmd] Calling Senator Mikulski

[NFBMD]

Hello All,

Did you call Senator Mikulski yet??  

If not, please do so on Monday June 27.   Be sure to give your name and
address.

 

Senator Barbara A. Mikulski 
Maryland
(202) 224-4654



This is very important, read Anil's message below.  

 

Thanks,

Sharon Maneki

 

 

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.  
 
cv 

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