[Nfbmo] Goodwill Article in Columbia Paper
Gene Coulter
escoulter at centurytel.net
Tue Aug 28 16:45:55 UTC 2012
>From the Columbia Tribune:
Wages at Goodwill draw protesters to local store Don Shrubshell | Buy this
photo Members of the Columbia chapter of the National Federation of the
Blind, Carol Coulter, left, and her husband, Eugene, and grandson Cyrus, 7,
held signs while walking in front of the Goodwill Store at 1405 Grindstone
Parkway Saturday to protest wages they say are being paid to some Goodwill
employees with disabilities. By Rudi Keller Columbia Daily Tribune Sunday,
August 26, 2012 The National Federation of the Blind is taking on Goodwill
Industries over policies at sheltered workshops that pay disabled workers a
fraction of the minimum wage. Ten protesters picketed outside the Goodwill
retail store on Grindstone Parkway yesterday, calling for a boycott until
wages are increased and the salary of the national president is reduced.
We're not knocking Goodwill's philosophy or goals," said Eugene Coulter,
president of the Columbia chapter of the federation. We are saying they can
still meet their goals and pay the minimum wage. A sheltered workshop is an
employer that hires people with severe disabilities. In Missouri, most are
tax supported through local property tax levies. In Columbia, the local
sheltered workshop is known as Central Missouri Contracting Enterprises and
is not part of Goodwill Industries. The workshops are exempt from federal
minimum wage laws and usually set pay rates for individual workers based on
productivity. The federation hopes to change that. Goodwill operates only
one sheltered workshop in Missouri and that is the only place Goodwill
employees are paid less than minimum wage, said Dave Kutchback, chief of
staff for the MERS/Missouri Goodwill Industries. All of the employees in its
retail stores are paid at least $8.25 an hour with an opportunity for
bonuses, he said. If it was forced to pay minimum wage currently $7.25 an
hour in the sheltered workshops, those operations would go out of business,
Kutchback said. And for some of its clients, an increase in pay could result
in a devastating loss of income and medical support from the government, he
added. Disabled individuals on Supplemental Security Income can earn $85 a
month before their benefits are reduced. If they lose their benefits, they
also lose automatic eligibility for Medicaid, which pays premiums and
copayments for Medicare. Those receiving Social Security disability can earn
$500 a month for nine months before their benefits are cut off, and with a
cut off of benefits, they would lose Medicare, Kutchback said. And
MERS/Goodwill provides case management and other support services that
clients no longer would able to obtain if their incomes rose to the $1,160 a
month for full-time minimum wage employment. I would say it is misguided and
misinformed," Kutchback said of the protest. Coulter, however, said the
minimum wage exemption allows Goodwill to pay some employees as little as 22
cents an hour, while James Gibbons, president of Goodwill Industries
International, was paid $522,000 in 2010. Paying six-figure CEO salaries
while paying disabled workers pennies is IMMORAL! a flier distributed to
Goodwill customers stated. Of 160 sheltered workshops operated by Goodwill
nationwide, 64 pay less than the minimum wage, Coulter said. We are saying
that 95 percent of the people who entered sheltered workshop employment are
productive and deserve a living wage," he said, "and certainly something
better than being paid $8.80 a week. Reach Rudi Keller at 573-815-1709 or
e-mail rkeller at columbiatribune.com . Copyright 2012 Columbia Tribune. All
rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed. This article was published on page A12 of the Sunday, August
26, 2012 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune
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