[nfbwatlk] {Disarmed} Fwd: National Federation of the Blind to Unmask Goodwill’s Exploitation of Workers with Disabilities

[Marci Carpenter]

Good morning NFBW colleagues,

This afternoon at 2 p.m. we will be delivering the petition and 170,000 signatures (over 5,000 pages) to a Goodwill office in North Seattle. We are partnering with the Autism Self-Advocacy Network on this action. As you may remember, one of their representatives was interviewed for the NBC piece earlier this year. 

This event was put together on short notice, which is why you haven’t seen anything about it until now. I have been interviewed by IOMO Newsradio, KING 5 TV and KIRO TV this morning so watch for news coverage tonight.

I will post a summary of the day’s event later.

Marci

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "webmaster" <webmaster at nfb.org>
> Subject: National Federation of the Blind to Unmask Goodwill’s Exploitation of Workers with Disabilities
> Date: October 31, 2013 at 6:30:11 AM PDT
> To: <mjc59 at q.com>
> Reply-To: "webmaster" <webmaster at nfb.org>
> 
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> 
> CONTACT:
> Chris Danielsen
> Director of Public Relations
> National Federation of the Blind
> (410) 659-9314, extension 2330
> (410) 262-1281 (Cell)
> cdanielsen at nfb.org
> 
> National Federation of the Blind to Unmask 
> Goodwill’s Exploitation of Workers with Disabilities
> 
> 
> NFB Members to Educate Donors about 
> Goodwill’s Discrimination Against Workers with Disabilities
> 
> Baltimore, Maryland (October 31, 2013): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the oldest and largest organization of blind people in the United States, announced that it will hold a public awareness event today regarding Goodwill Industries International’s payment of wages as low as pennies per hour to workers with disabilities.  Members of the NFB will deliver copies of a recent Change.org petition to various Goodwill headquarters across the country.  The petition garnered 170,000 signatures from Americans who demand that Goodwill pay its workers with disabilities a real wage.
> 
> Goodwill is one of the many nonprofit organizations that takes advantage of Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), an obscure provision that permits employers to pay workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage.  For over seventy years, Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act has allowed employers to obtain special wage certificates that permit them to pay their workers with disabilities wages far less than the federal minimum.
> 
> 
> Dr. Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind, in his banquet speech delivered at the 2013 NFB National Convention, said: “Our benevolent superiors (self-appointed, self-governing, self-important, self-willed) have determined that a wage structure in our country that offers to pay us less than the federally guaranteed minimum wage available to everybody else has been established for our own good…They tell us that our lives have been improved through this system of government-authorized discrimination, while they collect their six- and seven-figure compensation packages.”
> 
> 
> Congressman Gregg Harper (R-MS) has introduced H.R. 831, the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2013, to repeal Section 14(c) of the FLSA.  The National Federation of the Blind, along with a growing list of over sixty national and local cross-disability organizations, support the passage of H.R. 831 to responsibly repeal this discriminatory provision over a three-year period. 
> 
> 
> ###
> 
> 
> About the National Federation of the Blind
> 
> The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is the oldest, largest, and most influential nationwide membership organization of blind people in the United States. Founded in 1940, the NFB advocates for the civil rights and equality of blind Americans, and develops innovative education, technology, and training programs to provide the blind and those who are losing vision with the tools they need to become independent and successful.
>  
> 
> Unsubscribe from this mailing 
> Or you may opt-out of all future mailings from us 
> National Federation of the Blind
> 200 East Wells Street
> at Jernigan Place
> Baltimore, MD 21230
> United States
> 410 659-9314