[Nfbnet-members-list] Fwd: Americans with Disabilities to Protest Goodwill’s Subm inimum Wages

[David Andrews]

>
>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
>
>Americans with Disabilities to Protest Goodwill's Subminimum Wages
>
>Protesters to Urge Boycott, Demand Fair Wages
>
>Baltimore, Maryland (August 20, 2012): <http://www.nfb.org>The 
>National Federation of the Blind (NFB), one of the oldest and 
>largest organizations of Americans with disabilities, announced 
>today that it, along with other organizations of people with 
>disabilities,  will conduct over eighty coordinated nationwide 
>protests in front of thrift stores operated by Goodwill Industries 
>International, Inc., the nonprofit manufacturer and retailer.  The 
>informational protests will raise awareness of Goodwill's practice 
>of paying <https://www.nfb.org/fair-wages>subminimum wages to many 
>of its workers with disabilities.  Freedom of information requests 
>filed by the NFB confirmed that Goodwill Industries employees with 
>disabilities have been paid as low as $0.22 an hour.  The NFB and 
><https://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/documents/word/hr%203086%20support%20list%208-16-12.doc>nearly 
>fifty other organizations of people with disabilities support 
>legislation, 
><http://nfb.org/Images/nfb/SI/Fair%20Wages%20for%20Workers%202012.pdf>the 
>Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act (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 
><http://www.dol.gov/whd/specialemployment/CRPlist.htm>special 
>certificate holders to pay subminimum wages to workers with 
>disabilities.  The protests will take place on Saturday, August 25, 
>generally from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time at Goodwill thrift store 
>locations throughout the United States.
>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 charitable 
>organizations in the United States, but most members of the general 
>public are unaware that Goodwill exploits people with 
>disabilities.  We are conducting informational protests to make the 
>public aware of this practice that, although sadly still legal, is 
>unfair, discriminatory, and immoral.  Given its lucrative retail 
>operations and the fact that it can lavish half-a-million dollars on 
>the salary of its president and chief executive officer, Goodwill is 
>certainly in a position to stop exploiting its workers with 
>disabilities.  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 all of its workers with disabilities."
>
>For more information about the protests, contact Anil Lewis, 
>director of Strategic Communications at the National Federation of 
>the Blind, by phone at (410) 659-9314, extension 2374, or by e-mail 
>at <mailto:alewis at nfb.org>alewis at nfb.org.   For more background 
>regarding this critically important issue, please visit 
><http://www.nfb.org/fair-wages>www.nfb.org/fair-wages.
>
>###
>
>
>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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