[nfbmi-talk] blind students picket goodwill

[Georgia Kitchen]

Hi All,

I  just asked my volunteer to put this article on NFBNewsline local channel. 
Give him some time before you look for it. He may be out of town because I 
could not get him tonight.

Thanks  Joe for the article. It is a good article .

Georgia
Hey, Joe give  Newsline a chance. Try it, you'll like it.

Georgia

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "joe harcz Comcast" <joeharcz at comcast.net>
To: <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2012 5:10 PM
Subject: [nfbmi-talk] blind students picket goodwill


Blind students picket Goodwill



Jige Kanshin, a blind Zen Buddhist monk, leads a picket line in front of a 
Denver Goodwill store Aug. 25. Staff and students from Littleton's Colorado 
Center

for the Blind joined 50 or so other groups around the nation in an effort to 
call attention to what they say are Goodwill's discriminatory wage 
practices.

Photo by Jennifer Smith



Posted: Tuesday, August 28, 2012 2:26 pm | Updated: 2:28 pm, Tue Aug 28, 
2012.



Blind students picket Goodwill

Jennifer Smith

jsmith at ourcoloradonews.com

Community Media of Colorado |



Staff and students from Colorado Center for the Blind in Littleton have 
taken part in a national effort to protest what they call Goodwill 
Industries’ unfair

wage practices.



The National Federation of the Blind and nearly 50 other organizations 
marched in support of the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act on 
Aug. 25,

which would phase out a 75-year-old provision of the Fair Labor Standards 
Act that permits special certificate holders to pay subminimum wages to 
workers

with disabilities.



“Taking advantage of a loophole in the law is nothing more than greed,” said 
Jige Kanshin, a blind Zen Buddhist monk who participated in the protest 
along

with a few dozen others at the Goodwill retail outlet at 21 S. Broadway in 
Denver.



More than 80 such protests were organized throughout the country after NFB 
obtained documents indicating Goodwill employees with disabilities were paid

as little as 22 cents an hour.



“Goodwill Industries is one of the most well-known charitable organizations 
in the United States, but most members of the general public are unaware 
that

Goodwill exploits people with disabilities,” Marc Maurer, president of the 
National Federation of the Blind, said in a statement.



“Given its lucrative retail operations and the fact that it can lavish 
half-a-million dollars on the salary of its president and chief executive 
officer,

Goodwill is certainly in a position to stop exploiting its workers with 
disabilities,” he continued. “We are calling upon all Americans to refuse to 
do

business with Goodwill Industries, to refuse to make donations to the 
subminimum-wage exploiter and to refuse to shop in its retail stores until 
it exercises

true leadership and sound moral judgment by fairly compensating all of its 
workers with disabilities.”



Employees of the Broadway Goodwill briefly emerged from the store to hand 
out a statement from the company.



“Every Goodwill retail-store employee is paid at or above minimum wage, 
including those with disabilities,” it reads.



“For more than 90 years, Goodwill has been providing employment tools for 
people with a broad range of disabilities, including the most significant 
disabilities,

to enter the workforce,” the statement continued. “Providing a safe and 
nurturing environment for people with employment challenges to reach their 
full

potential is what we do at Goodwill. Goodwill looks for ways in which people 
can maximize their productivity and move into competitive integrated 
employment.”



James Gashel, spokeman for the picketers, noted the statement doesn’t say 
anything about employees who don’t work in the retail stores but perhaps in 
the

warehouses or in janitorial services, for instance.



“This idea of the subminimum wage is just wrong, and the public needs to 
know about it,” said Gashel.



Littleton City Councilor Bruce Stahlman is the chief financial officer of 
Arc Thrift Stores and says his company pays all hourly workers minimum wage 
or

more.



“Our goal is to treat everyone the same, and that’s what we do,” he said. 
“It’s the culture of our organization. As a parent of twins with 
developmental

disabilities, I certainly respect members of (NFB) utilizing their right to 
stand up for something they feel strongly about.”

Twitter Tweet Button frame

Tweet Button Tweet 2 This page has been shared 2 times. View these Tweets.

Twitter Tweet Button frame end


_______________________________________________
nfbmi-talk mailing list
nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmi-talk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
nfbmi-talk:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmi-talk_nfbnet.org/ghkitchen%40comcast.net