[nfbmi-talk] FW: Iowa View: Harkin's Antiquated Stand On Disabled Wages

[Kane Brolin]

This goes out to all Federationists in and around Detroit: especially
those inhabiting U.S. Congressional District #13.

Judging from the high activity I see on this list every day, the
following may be old hat to some.  But I found out about this posting
after it was forwarded to me by Indiana affiliate President Ron Brown.

What you see below is a very eloquent argument made by the president
of the Iowa NFB state affiliate Michael Barber and seconded by the
Federation's national Director of Advocacy & Policy Anil Lewis, in
favor of the Fair Wages For Workers With Disabilities Act.  This act
is identified in the Congressional records as HR-831, and it has been
sitting dormant in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce
since its introduction in February of 2013, and it stands in danger of
going unheard in the 113th Congress.

Mr. Barber's remarks below speak for themselves, so I won't bother to
repeat.  But it is essential we get the word out to those
Congresspersons we know who sit on this committee so that a fair
hearing is scheduled for sometime in 2014.  John Conyers, a Democrat
who represents a large part of Greater Detroit making up the 13th
District of Michigan, sits on the committee that must forward HR-831
to the House floor if it has a chance of being debated and voted on.
Please give careful consideration to what is below and contact
Representative Conyers if you live in his district, therefore standing
a chance that he will read, listen, and respond.  Thank you.

  _____
From: State-affiliate-leadership-list
[mailto:state-affiliate-leadership-list-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Lewis, Anil
Sent: Sunday, December 22, 2013 11:25 AM
To: nfb-legislative-directors at nfbnet.org; Affiliate
Presidents(state-affiliate-leadership-list at nfbnet.org)
Subject: [State-affiliate-leadership-list] Iowa View: Harkin's
antiquatedstand on disabled wages


Iowa View: Harkin's antiquated stand on disabled wages

Iowa View

Dec. 21, 2013 4:30 PM   |

http://cmsimg.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=D2&Date=201312
22&Category=OPINION01&ArtNo=312220046&Ref=AR&Profile=1035&MaxW=300&Border=0&
Iowa-View-Harkin-s-antiquated-stand-disabled-wages

Written by

Michael Barber



THE AUTHOR:
MICHAEL D. BARBER of Des Moines is president of the Iowa affiliate of the
National Federation of the Blind. Contact:  <mailto:michael.nfbi at gmail.com>
michael.nfbi at gmail.com.



As a blind person who leads a statewide organization of blind people, I am
often asked: What is the greatest challenge blind people face? My answer
usually surprises people: For the blind, as for all people with
disabilities, our biggest problem is other people's attitudes about our
disabilities and about how we should be treated.

Everyone wants to help us, but the kind of help they want to give isn't
always the kind of help we need. When we try to explain this, we are told
that we are being unreasonable or, worse, ungrateful.

Why can't we accept the things that society is willing to give us and
believes to be best for us? The answer is simple: Like all other Americans,
we demand freedom, not the care of supposedly benevolent custodians.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., has been the political champion of people with
disabilities for many years and was a key proponent of the passage of the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the civil rights act for people with
disabilities.

The adulation he has justifiably received for his advocacy has, however,
given him the impression that he can speak for us. Sen. Harkin has mistaken
our appreciation of his past service for permission to advance a public
policy that will set us back in our struggle for equality. He is endorsing
an antiquated and immoral practice that allows workers with disabilities to
be paid less than the minimum wage.

Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act allows certain employers to
pay less than the federal minimum wage - usually "sheltered workshops," the
term for segregated factories set up specifically for workers with
disabilities. Some of these workshops not only pay their workers mere
pennies per hour, but they have them working in abhorrent conditions where
the workers are physically and psychologically abused.

The Des Moines Register reported extensively on such a case, that of Henry's
Turkey Service, which paid workers at an Iowa turkey processing plant 41
cents per hour and housed them in a roach-infested, unheated building.

In a recent bill known as the Workforce Investment Act, reauthorization was
approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee,
which Sen. Harkin chairs. Language was included in Title V, Section 511 that
purports to reduce the number of youth with disabilities placed in a
sheltered workshop.

Although the intent is laudable, the policy endorses segregated
subminimum-wage environments as viable training and employment options for
workers with disabilities.

There is a better way to stop young people from becoming victims of
subminimum-wage employment: Responsibly phase out the use of this practice
over a three-year period, allowing existing entities to convert to a proven
business model that leads to competitive integrated employment of people
with disabilities.

That's what another bill, the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act,
would do. Rep. Gregg Harper, R-Miss., introduced this legislation, and it
currently has nearly 50 co-sponsors and is supported by the National
Federation of the Blind and over 60 other organizations of people with
disabilities.

Americans with disabilities have tried to convince members of the U.S.
Senate to support a responsible phase-out of subminimum wages, like that
introduced by Rep. Harper, rather than the ineffective, half measure
proposed in Sen. Harkin's bill.

We have offered objective policy analysis, historical data, case studies and
descriptions of alternative best practices. We have provided data
demonstrating that the archaic sheltered segregated model costs more and
produces poorer outcomes for workers with disabilities. We have informed
senators about alternatives for competitive, integrated employment that
assist even those with significant disabilities in acquiring job skills that
allow them to earn at least the federal minimum wage.

But rather than considering the merits of our arguments, most respond with
this insulting question: "How does Sen. Harkin feel about this?"

With all due respect to Sen. Harkin, he is not a person with a disability
and cannot speak for us. His reputation as a champion of the rights of
people with disabilities came about because, in the past, he listened to us
and put forward legislation in response to what he heard. When he rejects
our advice, as he is doing by putting forward Section 511, he is no longer a
champion but a custodian, seeking to substitute his own idea of what is best
for us.

Sen. Harkin helped Americans with disabilities achieve important milestones
on our road to freedom. But freedom cannot be achieved while Section 14(c)
remains in force and its grinding, soul-crushing machinery is merely
tinkered with.

If Sen. Harkin wants to secure his legacy as a champion of Americans with
disabilities, he should amend the Workforce Investment Act to remove Section
511 and introduce a Senate companion to the Fair Wages for Workers with
Disabilities Act.

These are the legitimate demands that millions of Americans with
disabilities, speaking for ourselves, have put forward. Sen. Harkin and his
colleagues must recognize and act upon them.



Mr. Anil Lewis, M.P.A.

Director of Advocacy and Policy



"Eliminating Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities"

 <http://www.nfb.org/fairwages> 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:  <mailto:alewis at nfb.org> alewis at nfb.org

Web:  <http://www.nfb.org> www.nfb.org

twitter: @anillife