[Nfbf-l] {Disarmed} Fwd: Goodwill

[Ryan Mann]

I recommend that everybody who is interested in fair wages sign this petition.
Ryan
Follow me on twitter @progressivecat.
Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Shelia Leighland via Change.org" <mail at change.org>
> Date: July 27, 2013, 9:30:26 AM EDT
> To: rmann0581 at gmail.com
> Subject: Goodwill
> Reply-To: "Change.org" <mail at change.org>
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> I worked at Goodwill until they cut my pay so drastically that I was forced to quit. Join me in asking Goodwill to pay disabled workers like me and my husband a living wage.
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> Sign the Petition
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> Ryan -
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> My husband and I are both blind. We've struggled for years to find consistent employment, even though we both have college degrees. We finally took jobs hanging clothes at Goodwill for only $3.50 an hour: barely enough to live on, less than minimum wage, and less than our non-disabled co-workers got paid.
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> After I had knee surgery last summer I returned to my job to find out my wage had been lowered to $2.75 an hour. Working for this little money barely covered my cost of getting to work. I wasn't making enough money and eventually was forced to quit.
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> I was shocked to find out that Goodwill exploits a 75-year-old legal loophole to pay disabled workers like me far less than the minimum wage -- some make as little as .22 cents an hour. I want to be paid a living wage for meaningful work, and other workers like me deserve the same. 
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> My friends at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network started a petition on Change.org asking Goodwill to pay disabled workers like me a living wage. Click here to sign the petition.
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> Goodwill determines how much they pay disabled workers using "time studies" where an employee uses a stopwatch to time how long it takes to complete a certain task and compares it to a non-disabled worker. Time studies were the most stressful part of my job because I never knew what the task would be and how they would turn out. My husband even had his wages lowered because of a time study, and they could cut it again. 
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> My husband and I feel trapped by Goodwill. They know they can pay disabled workers like us less and less because we have fewer places to go. Goodwill recently came under scrutiny for this practice of paying disabled people pennies for their labor, and defended it. I know they are vulnerable right now and could be pressured to change this practice if enough people join me in speaking out.
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> Click here now to sign a petition demanding that Goodwill stop exploiting disabled workers and pay a fair wage.
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> Thank you for your support. 
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> Sheila Leighland
> Great Falls, Montana
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> Sign the Petition
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> This email was sent by Change.org to rmann0581 at gmail.com. You can edit your email preferences or unsubscribe from Change.org emails.
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> Start a petition on Change.org
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