[Nfbmo] Letter bout the Subminimum Wage a

Gary Wunder gwunder at earthlink.net
Wed Sep 9 19:43:19 UTC 2015


Here is the letter I am submitting to the St. Louis board of aldermen both
attached and in the body of this message. If you know of places it should
appear where it might do some good, please share it.

 

Gary

 

 

September 9, 2015

 




The Honorable Francis G. Slay, Mayor

City of St. Louis, City Hall

1200 Market Street, Room 200
St. Louis, MO 63103

St. Louis Board of Aldermen

City of St. Louis, City Hall

1200 Market Street, Room 230
St. Louis, MO 63103




 

Dear Mayor Slay and the City of St. Louis Board of Aldermen:

 

I was very encouraged to read that the proposal to raise the minimum wage in
St. Louis, Missouri, did not contain a provision robbing blind people and
those with other physical disabilities of the benefits intended from such
legislation. I am guessing that you are receiving some mail and phone calls
from what are often called sheltered workshops suggesting that the people
they employ are so unproductive that to pay the minimum wage would result in
the loss of jobs if not the sheltered workshop facilities themselves. These
are arguments we have heard for a long time. There are, as you would
suppose, counterarguments to all of this, and I reflect on them briefly for
your consideration.

 

By their very nature sheltered workshops are given some advantages to
compensate for the perceived disadvantages suffered by their workers. Many
of them receive subsidies on the grounds that they are providing training
that will lead to other work. Seldom does this other work ever materialize,
but the subsidy is accepted by the workshops nonetheless. These entities are
incorporated as not-for-profit organizations, meaning that they have no
investors to satisfy, and any money that they make in excess of expenses is
by law to go back into the corporation. These sheltered workshops are
tax-exempt, a significant savings for any business. They also receive
preferential treatment when it comes to bidding on contracts for the federal
government. In addition, many workshops also have a philanthropic arm to
supplement sales from the products manufactured by disabled workers.

 

Many people are surprised when they learn that the revenues generated by
sheltered workshops are often used to sponsor other programs; but while
there is no question that there is a need for other programs, one wonders
how a sheltered workshop could manage to subsidize a children's program, a
program for the elderly, or a community picnic for the disabled on the backs
of the disabled themselves who are making less than the current minimum
wage. It seems an unfair burden to impose on people who are already
presumably working at a disadvantage.

 

The National Federation of the Blind of Missouri would urge that you leave
the law you have passed as is. If, however, you feel that this represents
too drastic a change for the sheltered workshops that operate in your city,
you might consider as a compromise the language used in federal legislation
to do away with the exemption and the subminimum wage it allows. The
proposal is that the practice of paying subminimum wages be phased out over
a three-year period, allowing sheltered workshops to be more innovative in
the way they assign people to work, form contracts, and solicit outside
funding.

 

As a final point, please take note of the fact that two states in the union
have outlawed the payment of subminimum wages for people with disabilities.
The states are New Hampshire and Vermont, and despite the gloomy predictions
that this would result in job losses and the closure of workshops, such has
not been the case.

 

I am glad to entertain any questions you may have. Thank you for reading.

 

Cordially,

 

 

 

Gary Wunder, President

National Federation of the Blind of Missouri

 

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