[nfbmi-talk] peckham ends sub-minimum pay

[Terry D. Eagle]

NFB members' rally and false arrest pay off for persons with significant
disabilities at Peckham Industries in Lansing!.

 

Peckham ends sub-minimum wage pay

Judy Putnam ,

Lansing State Journal 

7:01 a.m. EDT October 7, 2016

 

Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal

In Michigan, there are about 7,400 workers with disabilities who are paid
less than minimum wage.  

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.

 

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.

 

'Sweatshops' or a needed choice?

 

Contact Judy Putnam at (517) 267-1304 or email her at jputnam at lsj.com.
Follow her on Twitter

@judyputnam.  94 CONNECT

Source:

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/opinion/columnists/judy-putnam/2016
/10/07/peckham-ends-sub-minimum-wage-pay/91316794/