[Travelandtourism] National Federation of the Blind Urges Boycott of Goodwill Industries

[cheryl echevarria]

> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> 
>  
> 
> CONTACT:
> 
> Chris Danielsen
> 
> Director of Public Relations
> 
> National Federation of the Blind
> (410) 659-9314, extension 2330
> (410) 262-1281(Cell)
>  <mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org> cdanielsen at nfb.org
> 
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> 
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> National Federation of the Blind Urges Boycott of Goodwill Industries
> 
> 
> Condemns Practice of Paying Subminimum Wages to Workers with Disabilities
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> Baltimore, Maryland (June 7, 2012): The National Federation of the Blind
> <http://www.nfb.org/>  (NFB), one of the oldest and largest organizations of
> Americans with disabilities, today called for a boycott of Goodwill
> Industries International, Inc., the nonprofit manufacturer and retailer, for
> its payment of subminimum wages to many of its workers with disabilities.
> Freedom of information requests filed by the NFB confirmed that Goodwill
> Industries employees have been paid as low as $1.44 an hour.  The NFB and
> over forty-five other organizations
> <http://nfb.org/Images/nfb/documents/word/HR_3086_Support_List_2.doc>
> support legislation, the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act
> <http://nfb.org/Images/nfb/SI/Fair%20Wages%20for%20Workers%202012.pdf>
> (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
> special certificate holders
> <http://www.dol.gov/whd/specialemployment/CRPlist.htm>  to pay subminimum
> wages to workers with disabilities. 
> 
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> Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the  <http://www.twitter.com/nfb_voice>
> National Federation of the Blind, said: "Goodwill Industries is one of the
> most well-known and lucrative charitable organizations in the United States,
> yet it chooses to pay its workers with disabilities less than the federal
> minimum wage.  While this practice is currently legal and many entities
> engage in it, many other nonprofit organizations have successfully
> transitioned to paying their employees the minimum wage or higher.  That
> Goodwill Industries exploits many of its workers in this way is ironic,
> because its president and chief executive officer is blind.  Goodwill cannot
> credibly argue that workers with disabilities are incapable of doing
> productive work while paying its blind CEO over half a million dollars a
> year.  Goodwill should be ashamed of such blatant hypocrisy.   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 its workers with
> disabilities."
> 
>  
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> For more information on this critically important issue, please visit
> <http://www.nfb.org/fairwages> www.nfb.org/fairwages. 
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> About the National Federation of the Blind
> 
>  
> 
> 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.
> 
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