[Nfbmt] NFB of Montana Resolutions 2013

[Bruce&Joy Breslauer]

RESOLUTION 2013-01

Calling for the Removal of Section 511 of the Workforce investment Act of
2013

 

WHEREAS, it has been legal to pay workers with disabilities subminimum wages
under Section 14(C) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) since 1938; and 

 

WHEREAS, legality notwithstanding, paying workers with disabilities
subminimum wages is unfair, discriminatory, and immoral, and the National
Federation of the Blind is determined to end this unjust practice in the
land of the free by eliminating Section 14(C) from the FLSA; and

 

WHEREAS, Title V, Section 511 of the Workforce Investment Act
reauthorization purports to limit the tracking of youth with disabilities
into subminimum wage employment, but actually creates an unprecedented and
unacceptable link between Vocational Rehabilitation and the systemic
exploitation of workers with disabilities; and

 

WHEREAS, Section 511 would be a tacit endorsement of the subminimum wage
provision found in Section 14(C) of the FLSA and its antiquated contention
that people with disabilities cannot be competitively employed; and

 

WHEREAS, Section 511 links the Rehabilitation Act, which was established to
assist people with disabilities in obtaining competitive integrated
employment, with Section 14(C) of the FLSA, which is based on the false
premise that people with disabilities cannot be competitively employed and
therefore can be paid subminimum wages; and 

 

WHEREAS, the language of Section 511 is only contained in the Senate version
of the bill, S. 1356, and not in the House version: Now therefore, 

 

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Montana in
convention assembled this Twenty-seventh Day of October, 2013, in the city
of Billings, Montana, that this organization calls on its United States
Senators, The Honorable Max Baucus and The Honorable Jon Tester, to support
fair wages for all American workers by actively working for the removal of
Title V, Section 511 from S. 1356 before its passage by the United States
Senate, and 

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call on our entire Montana Congressional
Delegation to cosponsor the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of
2013.

 

Resolution 2013-02 

Calling for the Restoration of Intercity Bus Service in Montana      

     

WHEREAS, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) shut down
Rimrock Stages on March 22, 2013, leaving Montana intercity bus service in
shambles; and

 

WHEREAS, blind citizens of Montana, along with other nondrivers, have long
relied on intercity bus transportation to travel the great distances between
Montana cities; and

 

WHEREAS, currently, the only route with intercity bus service at all runs
between Billings and Missoula, and even our own State Capitol of Helena does
not have intercity bus service; and

 

WHEREAS, this lack of intercity bus service has a serious significant
negative economic impact on the citizens of and the visitors to our state;
and 

 

WHEREAS, Seven months after Rimrock's shutdown, plans for restoring
intercity bus service in Montana are still in serious disarray: Now
therefore,

 

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Montana in
convention assembled on this Twenty-seventh Day of October, 2013, in the
city of Billings, Montana, that this organization calls on Governor Steve
Bullock to bring the full resources of his office to bear on restoring safe,
reliable, and affordable intercity bus service in Montana.