[nfbmi-talk] Fw: peckham ends sub-minimum pay

Sat Oct 8 15:43:51 UTC 2016

It is good to see that some of us are still out there on the front line fighting discrimination. 

Dave
----- Original Message ----- 
From: joe harcz Comcast 
To: Eleanor Canter 
Cc: David Robinson NFB MI ; terry Eagle ; Mark Eagle ; Laura Hall ADAPT MDRC ; Norm DeLisle MDRC ; Jill Gerrie MI ARC ; Mark A. Riccobono NFB Pres. ; Kelly Buckland NCIL ; Marsha Katz ; Fran Fulton ; Larry Wanger 
Sent: Saturday, October 08, 2016 10:56 AM
Subject: peckham ends sub-minimum pay

Peckham ends sub-minimum wage pay

 Judy Putnam ,

Lansing State Journal 7:01 a.m. EDT October 7, 2016

In Michigan, there are about 7,400 workers with disabilities who are paid less than minimum wage. Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal

Once employing a few hundred in sub-minimum or commensurate wage jobs, now all Peckham workers make at least minimum wage.

Peckham Inc.

The manufacturing facility of Peckham Industries, Inc. is near the Capital Region International Airport.(Photo: Courtesy photo)

LANSING - Peckham Industries Inc. has gotten out of the business of paying workers with significant disabilities less than minimum wage.

The 40-year-old nonprofit vocational rehabilitation organization still employs between 70 and 80 of the workers, but, since the end of last year, their

pay has been supplemented by Peckham Community Partnership Foundation, the nonprofit's fundraising arm, said Greta Wu, chief human services officer, in

a written response to questions.

The workers are out of a group of 131 people with significant disabilities who are referred from the local community health program. Peckham, which has

seven locations in Lansing, plus worksites in Charlotte; Battle Creek; Phoenix, Arizona and Coralville, Iowa, employs 1,800 people with disabilities.

The decision came after a confrontation a year ago at the state Capitol where Peckham officials and other advocates gathered to mark the 25th anniversary

of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Protesters interrupted the program, arguing that the state Capitol itself didn’t comply with the ADA, lacking the needed signage in Braille among other

concerns. Peckham was targeted for

paying workers with disabilities well below minimum wage

while top officials, such as CEO Mitch Tomlinson, earned six-figure salaries.

Once employing a few hundred in sub-minimum or commensurate wage jobs, now all Peckham workers make at least minimum wage.

It’s unclear what will happen to the jobs of those workers into the future.

“Continuation of these workers is dependent on our ability to continue the subsidy and the availability of jobs,” Wu said.

She said Peckham has been reducing the number of workers earning commensurate wage since 2013, when a program offering paid vocational training to special

education students at the Lansing School District’s Beekman Center ended.

The sub-minimum wage jobs are sometimes called 14(c) certificates, referring to Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

While it ended its 14(c) jobs, the organization still defends the practice. Wu said that nationally, the number of workers under a 14(c) certificate has

gone down while the number served in non-work activities has gone up. The number of employed stayed the same.

Read more:

Mixed reports from other states when workshops closed

“That is the nexus of our concern, that if 14(c) is eliminated, those individuals that used to work will now be relegated to non-work outings and unpaid

work,” Wu said.

Paul “Joe” Harcz, a Mount Morris disability rights activist who is blind, was arrested at the protest for trying to cross a police barricade to protest

the ADA anniversary event at the Capitol.

Charges of resisting and obstructing police were dropped

by the Ingham County prosecutor in August.

Even with the ending of sub-minimum wage pay, Harcz remains critical of Peckham and other similar worksites, which he said segregate workers with disabilities.

“They certainly have nondisabled people. They’re the bosses,” he said.

Workers with disabilities “aren’t getting a choice. It’s a pipeline. Real choice comes with having options, not with having one option,” he said.