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<b>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br>
<br>
CONTACT:<br>
</b>Chris Danielsen<br>
Director of Public Relations<br>
National Federation of the Blind<br>
(410) 659-9314, extension 2330<br>
(410) 262-1281 (Cell)<br>
<a href="mailto:cdanielsen@nfb.org">cdanielsen@nfb.org</a> <br>
<br>
<div align="center"><b>Americans with Disabilities to Protest Goodwill’s
Subminimum Wages<br>
<br>
<i>Protesters to Urge Boycott, Demand Fair Wages<br>
</i></b></div>
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<b>Baltimore, Maryland (August 20, 2012):</b>
<a href="http://www.nfb.org">The National Federation of the Blind</a>
(NFB), one of the oldest and largest organizations of Americans with
disabilities, announced today that it, along with other organizations of
people with disabilities, will conduct over eighty coordinated
nationwide protests in front of thrift stores operated by Goodwill
Industries International, Inc., the nonprofit manufacturer and
retailer. The informational protests will raise awareness of
Goodwill’s practice of paying
<a href="https://www.nfb.org/fair-wages">subminimum wages</a> to many of
its workers with disabilities. Freedom of information requests
filed by the NFB confirmed that Goodwill Industries employees with
disabilities have been paid as low as $0.22 an hour. The NFB and
<a href="https://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/documents/word/hr%203086%20support%20list%208-16-12.doc">
nearly fifty other organizations</a> of people with disabilities support
legislation,
<a href="http://nfb.org/Images/nfb/SI/Fair%20Wages%20for%20Workers%202012.pdf">
the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act</a> (H.R. 3086), which
would phase out and then repeal the nearly seventy-five-year-old
provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act that permits
<a href="http://www.dol.gov/whd/specialemployment/CRPlist.htm">special
certificate holders</a> to pay subminimum wages to workers with
disabilities. The protests will take place on Saturday, August 25,
generally from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time at Goodwill thrift store
locations throughout the United States. <br>
Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/nfb_voice">National Federation of the
Blind</a>, said: “Goodwill Industries is one of the most well-known
charitable organizations in the United States, but most members of the
general public are unaware that Goodwill exploits people with
disabilities. We are conducting informational protests to make the
public aware of this practice that, although sadly still legal, is
unfair, discriminatory, and immoral. Given its lucrative retail
operations and the fact that it can lavish half-a-million dollars on the
salary of its president and chief executive officer, Goodwill is
certainly in a position to stop exploiting its workers with
disabilities. We are calling upon all Americans to refuse to do
business with Goodwill Industries, to refuse to make donations to the
subminimum-wage exploiter, and to refuse to shop in its retail stores
until it exercises true leadership and sound moral judgment by fairly
compensating all of its workers with disabilities.”<br>
<br>
For more information about the protests, contact Anil Lewis, director of
Strategic Communications at the National Federation of the Blind, by
phone at (410) 659-9314, extension 2374, or by e-mail at
<a href="mailto:alewis@nfb.org">alewis@nfb.org</a>. For more
background regarding this critically important issue, please visit
<a href="http://www.nfb.org/fair-wages">www.nfb.org/fair-wages</a>. <br>
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<br><br>
<b>About the National Federation of the Blind<br>
</b>With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the Blind
is the largest and most influential membership organization of blind
people in the United States. The NFB improves blind people’s lives
through advocacy, education, research, technology, and programs
encouraging independence and self-confidence. It is the leading
force in the blindness field today and the voice of the nation's
blind. In January 2004 the NFB opened the National Federation of
the Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and training center in
the United States for the blind led by the blind. <br>
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