[nfbmi-talk] FW: [vendtalk] National Federation of the Blind Urges Boycott of Goodwill Industries

[Fred wurtzel]

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Subject: [vendtalk] National Federation of the Blind Urges Boycott of
Goodwill Industries

 

 

From: Freeh, Jessica [mailto:JFreeh at nfb.org] 
Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2012 9:15 AM
Subject: National Federation of the Blind Urges Boycott of Goodwill
Industries

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

CONTACT:

Chris Danielsen

Director of Public Relations

National Federation of the Blind
(410) 659-9314, extension 2330
(410) 262-1281(Cell)
 <mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org> cdanielsen at nfb.org

 


National Federation of the Blind Urges Boycott of Goodwill Industries


Condemns Practice of Paying Subminimum Wages to Workers with Disabilities


 

Baltimore, Maryland (June 7, 2012): The National Federation of the Blind
<http://www.nfb.org/>  (NFB), one of the oldest and largest organizations of
Americans with disabilities, today called for a boycott of Goodwill
Industries International, Inc., the nonprofit manufacturer and retailer, for
its payment of subminimum wages to many of its workers with disabilities.
Freedom of information requests filed by the NFB confirmed that Goodwill
Industries employees have been paid as low as $1.44 an hour.  The NFB and
over forty-five other organizations
<http://nfb.org/Images/nfb/documents/word/HR_3086_Support_List_2.doc>
support legislation, the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act
<http://nfb.org/Images/nfb/SI/Fair%20Wages%20for%20Workers%202012.pdf>
(H.R. 3086), which would phase out and then repeal the nearly
seventy-five-year-old provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act that permits
special certificate holders
<http://www.dol.gov/whd/specialemployment/CRPlist.htm>  to pay subminimum
wages to workers with disabilities. 

 

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the  <http://www.twitter.com/nfb_voice>
National Federation of the Blind, said: "Goodwill Industries is one of the
most well-known and lucrative charitable organizations in the United States,
yet it chooses to pay its workers with disabilities less than the federal
minimum wage.  While this practice is currently legal and many entities
engage in it, many other nonprofit organizations have successfully
transitioned to paying their employees the minimum wage or higher.  That
Goodwill Industries exploits many of its workers in this way is ironic,
because its president and chief executive officer is blind.  Goodwill cannot
credibly argue that workers with disabilities are incapable of doing
productive work while paying its blind CEO over half a million dollars a
year.  Goodwill should be ashamed of such blatant hypocrisy.   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 its workers with
disabilities."

 

For more information on this critically important issue, please visit
<http://www.nfb.org/fairwages> www.nfb.org/fairwages. 

 

 

###

 

 

About the National Federation of the Blind

 

With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the Blind is the
largest and most influential membership organization of blind people in the
United States.   The NFB improves blind people's lives through advocacy,
education, research, technology, and programs encouraging independence and
self-confidence.  It is the leading force in the blindness field today and
the voice of the nation's blind.  In January 2004 the NFB opened the
National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and
training center in the United States for the blind led by the blind.

 

 

 

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