This blog ardently supports the efforts of the National Federation of the Blind to protest sub-minimum wages for people with disabilities.
Blind Americans To Protest Subminimum Wages
(National Federation of the Blind)
July 20, 2011
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND–The National Federation of the Blind, the oldest and largest nationwide organization of blind people, announced today that its members will conduct informational protests across the United States to raise awareness about the practice of paying wages below the federal minimum wage to Americans with disabilities.
The protests will take place at the district office locations of United States Senators serving on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (the HELP Committee). The HELP Committee is currently considering legislation — the Workforce Investment Act — which would reauthorize the payment of subminimum wages to disabled workers.
Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “Unequal pay for equal work on the basis of disability is unfair, discriminatory, and immoral. The senators who serve on the HELP Committee must decide whether they stand for the outrageous exploitation of disabled workers, or for true equality for Americans with disabilities.”
On Wednesday, August 3, the HELP Committee will vote on the Workforce Investment Act, which contains language reauthorizing the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. The Rehabilitation Act is supposed to provide services to disabled Americans so that they can obtain competitive employment, but Title V, Section 511 of the proposed Rehabilitation Act language references Section 14(c) of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, which allows certain entities holding special wage certificates to pay workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage.
Entire press release:
Blind Americans to Protest Subminimum Wages
http://www.nfb.org/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=826
Planet of the Blind 