[Nfbmt] Fwd: [Chapter-presidents] What about Workers with Disabilities Being Paid Three Cents an Hour?

[Dan Burke]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Lewis, Anil" <ALewis at nfb.org>
Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2013 21:24:57 +0000
Subject: [Chapter-presidents] What about Workers with Disabilities
Being Paid Three Cents an Hour?
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<state-affiliate-leadership-list at nfbnet.org>, "NFB Chapter Presidents
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What about Workers with Disabilities Being Paid Three Cents an Hour?
https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/what-about-workers-disabilities-being-paid-three-cents-hour

The New York Times recently published an editorial calling for an
increase in the federal minimum wage.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/opinion/meanwhile-at-the-bottom-of-the-wage-scale.html)
 The article noted that the current minimum wage of $7.25 per hour has
not increased since 2009, and that the federal minimum wage for
waiters and waitresses and other tipped workers has been $2.13 since
1991. The article did not note that federal law has allowed workers
with disabilities employed by certain entities to be paid less than
the federal minimum wage since 1938, and that this discriminatory
policy has not been reconsidered since that time, even as more
progressive disability laws like the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and
the Americans with Disabilities Act have come into force. There are,
even today, workers with disabilities earning as little as three cents
an hour who would jump at the chance to be paid $2.13 per hour plus
tips, not to mention $7.25 an hour. But the dead-end sheltered
workshop system does not allow them such opportunities.
The Times article notes that objections are often advanced against
raising the federal minimum wage, including that doing so will hurt
the economy by causing workers to lose jobs or stifling the creation
of new ones. But the article notes that large entities with highly
compensated executives that tend to pay workers low wages can well
afford a minimum-wage increase, and that increasing the minimum wage
also increases the purchasing power of consumers, thereby helping the
economy.  The same is true for disabled workers; many of the sheltered
workshops that employ them are multi-million-dollar enterprises with
executives pulling down six-figure salaries or higher that can well
afford to pay their workers at least the federal minimum wage. Indeed,
workshops that have switched to a business model where workers are
paid at least the federal minimum wage continue to thrive.
Furthermore, paying these workers at least the federal minimum wage
would not only increase their purchasing power but also release them
from dependence on public assistance. Given the current economy and
fiscal climate, surely this is a desirable outcome.
While the Times article, intentionally or otherwise, ignores the
plight of subminimum-wage workers with disabilities, the fact that
wages are a matter of current public concern means that there is no
better time to eliminate the discriminatory and exploitative practice
of paying workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum
wage. The National Federation of the Blind and those who partner with
us will continue to advance the cause of true wage equality for all
workers, including those with disabilities.


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<mailto:alewis at nfb.org>
Web: www.nfb.org<http://www.nfb.org>
twitter: @anillife




-- 
Dan Burke, President
The National Federation of the Blind of Montana

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