[Ohio-talk] FW: Take Action: White House Under Pressure on Subminimum Wage

[Suzanne Turner]

Begin forwarded message:
From: Amber Smock <asmock at accessliving.org<mailto:asmock at accessliving.org>>
Date: February 10, 2014, 12:56:50 PM EST
To: "ndla-general-list- at googlegroups.com<mailto:ndla-general-list- at googlegroups.com>" <ndla-general-list- at googlegroups.com<mailto:ndla-general-list- at googlegroups.com>>
Subject: FW: Take Action: White House Under Pressure on Subminimum Wage
Reply-To: ndla-general-list- at googlegroups.com<mailto:ndla-general-list- at googlegroups.com>
FYI, just wanted people to know that Access Living sent out the below alert to our Illinois list about the subminimum wage fight asking people to contact the White House. This is tagging onto the two news stories that came out over the weekend.  Feel free to borrow from it.
Amber

From: Amber Smock [mailto:asmock at accessliving.org]
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2014 11:51 AM
To: Amber Smock
Subject: Take Action: White House Under Pressure on Subminimum Wage


Dear Access Living friends and allies,

As President Obama gets closer to signing an Executive Order to raise the minimum wage for federal contractors, disability rights groups are turning up the heat on the matter of the subminimum wage paid to adults with disabilities in sheltered workshops. This past weekend, two important news stories came out.

USA Today published a story on the issue from a disability rights perspective and you can read it at this link: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/02/08/obama-minimum-wage-disabled-workers/5312205/<http://capwiz.com/accessliving/utr/1/NSXWTQMANK/OJLHTQMARY/10162026416>.

Rex Huppke of the Chicago Tribune also published a story on the issue at http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/careers/ct-biz-0210-work-advice-huppke-20140210-3,0,4183763.column<http://capwiz.com/accessliving/utr/1/NSXWTQMANK/KIARTQMARZ/10162026416>.

While providers and family members state that sheltered workshops serve an important role in “employing” people with severe disabilities, the reality is that the workshops are supposed to be “job training.” According to the National Council on Disability, 95% of these workers never get placed into an integrated full time or part time job. Something is wrong with this equation. It’s time for change.

It is time for disability providers to think about whether the people that receive “vocational” or “employment services” are, in fact, being supported into meaningful integrated employment. It is time for employers to recognize the benefits of a diverse workforce and keeping people employed.   It is beyond time to treat all workers with respect, dignity and fairness.

People with disabilities should be able to learn a living wage. We should be able to retire comfortably. We should be able to receive health care and other benefits. We should be able to accrue assets. We should not have to fear “becoming a burden” to others. We should be able to be in control of our own lives. We deserve all the worker’s rights and benefits that are due to non-disabled workers.

This should not blow your mind. It doesn’t blow the mind of anyone living in Vermont, where, if you can believe it, THERE ARE NO SHELTERED WORKSHOPS. Instead, people with disabilities there work in integrated settings with at least a minimum wage.

Access Living and our organizing group Disabled Americans Want Work Now (DAWWN) urge you to stand up for the rights of workers with disabilities. Call the White House switchboard to comment at 202-456-1111 and tell our President that the time has come to phase out the subminimum wage. You can also write him at this website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments<http://capwiz.com/accessliving/utr/1/NSXWTQMANK/HNJXTQMASA/10162026416>.

Let’s GO Illinois!

Amber Smock
Director of Advocacy, Access Living



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Suzanne Turner, BSW, MPA
Employment Coordinator and Benefit Specialist

Cleveland Sight Center
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