[Nfbmo] FW: [Chapter-presidents] Online Fair Wages Petition

[Gary Wunder]

Please sign if you believe in blind people making at least the minimum wage.
Thank you.

 

Gary

 

 

 

From: Chapter-presidents [mailto:chapter-presidents-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Lewis, Anil
Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2013 8:41 AM
To: Undisclosed recipients:
Subject: [Chapter-presidents] Online Fair Wages Petition

 

All:

 

The online Fair Wages petition is going better than we anticipated.  We
could reach 1,000 signatures today.  Please circulate the following to your
networks.

 

Current labor laws unjustly prohibit workers with disabilities from reaching
their full socioeconomic potential

 

Written in 1938, Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
discriminates against people with disabilities, by allowing the Secretary of
Labor to grant special wage certificates to employers, permitting them to
pay workers with disabilities less than the minimum wage.  Despite
enlightened civil rights legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis
of disability, this antiquated provision is still being practiced, with some
disabled workers making only 3 cents an hour. 

 

Click here to sign the petition to stop this discrimination
<http://www.nfb.org/fair-wages-petition> 

 

The twisted merit of the subminimum wage model is that it is a cash cow for
the employer. The subminimum wage employers receive taxpayer and
philanthropic dollars because the public believes they are providing
training and employment for people with disabilities.  Instead, The
executives use these substantial proceeds to compensate themselves above
industry rates on the backs of disabled workers they pay pennies per hour.
In any other context, people raising their standard of life while
significantly limiting the potential of others to fully participate in
society would be obvious exploitation.  

 

Click here to sign the petition to stop this exploitation
<http://www.nfb.org/fair-wages-petition> 

 

The discrimination persists because of the Misconceptions that Section 14(c)
is:

 

.        .a compassionate offering of meaningful work.  Subminimum wage work
is not true employment.  The entities that engage in this practice are not
employers. They are "day Custody" centers for people with disabilities,
offering days filled only with repetitive drudgery for sometimes third-world
wages, leading their workers toward learned incapacity and greater
dependence on social programs.

 

.        .an employment training tool for disabled workers. Less than 5% of
workers with disabilities in subminimum wage workshops will transition into
competitive integrated work environments.  In fact, data shows that they
must unlearn the skills they acquire in a subminimum wage workshop in order
to obtain meaningful employment.  Therefore, Section 14(c) perpetuates
on-going underemployment.

 

.        .a controversial issue amongst the disability community.  Over 50
disability-related organizations support the repeal of section 14(c) of the
FLSA, and many former subminimum wage employers have abandoned the use of
the Special Wage Certificate without terminating anyone.  Only those
entities profiting on this exploitive practice refuse to acknowledge that it
is discrimination.   

 

.        .a place for those too significantly disabled to go.  Imprisoning
workers with disabilities in adult daycare environments keeps them from
acquiring the necessary training and opportunity to identify the skills or
job that could lead to their competitive, integrated employment at the
federal minimum wage or higher. 

 

Click here to sign the petition to stop this discrimination
<http://www.nfb.org/fair-wages-petition> 

 

Anil

 

Mr. Anil Lewis, M.P.A.

Director of Advocacy and Policy

 

"Eliminating Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities" 

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: alewis at nfb.org

Web: www.nfb.org

twitter: @anillife 

 

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