[Nfbnet-members-list] Please Sign and Circulate the Petition to Support Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities

[Lewis, Anil]

Petition to Support Fair Wages
for Workers with Disabilities

<http://www.nfb.org/fair-wages-petition>www.nfb.org/fair-wages-petition

We, the undersigned, are Americans with disabilities who are 
adversely affected by subminimum wage payments to workers with 
disabilities; representatives of organizations made up of, and 
working on behalf of, Americans with disabilities; friends and family 
members of individuals who have disabilities; and other concerned 
citizens who believe in fairness and equality.  We all speak in 
support of the repeal of Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards 
Act (FLSA), which authorizes Special Wage Certificates that permit 
employers to pay workers with disabilities subminimum wages, some as 
low as 3 cents per hour.

We reject the low expectations for, the false view of the true 
capacity of, and the misguided compassion used to justify this 
discrimination against workers with disabilities.  This provision has 
existed for over seventy years, and rather than creating real 
employment opportunities for workers with disabilities, it has 
relegated hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities to 
segregated, subminimum wage work environments, perpetuated the 
misconception that workers with disabilities do not have the capacity 
for productive employment, and masked the need for further 
development and implementation of innovative employment strategies 
for the competitive integrated employment of people with disabilities.

We all believe that the future prospects for workers with 
disabilities are limited only by the spirit, ambition, and 
imagination of Americans with disabilities, and by the willingness of 
society to expand and implement enlightened policies that will help 
them succeed.  We adamantly assert that as long as workers with 
disabilities are denied the same workforce protections as every other 
American citizen, and the solution to the employment dilemma of 
workers with disabilities is thought to be their continued 
segregation in subminimum-wage work environments, our society will 
never truly implement the innovative employment strategies that 
empower workers with disabilities to fully participate in the workforce.

For these reasons, we, the undersigned, urge the repeal of Section 
14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act in order to abolish the unfair, 
discriminatory, immoral practice of paying workers with disabilities 
subminimum wages; to reverse over seventy years of mistaken 
institutionalized thinking about the employment capacity of people 
with disabilities; and to incentivize the development, 
implementation, and use of innovative strategies for their 
competitive, integrated employment.

To sign the petition, visit 
<http://www.nfb.org/fair-wages-petition>www.nfb.org/fair-wages-petition

Mr. Anil Lewis, M.P.A.
Director of Advocacy and Policy

"Eliminating Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities"
http://www.nfb.org/fairwages
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, Maryland   21230
(410) 659-9314 ext. 2374 (Voice)
(410) 685-5653 (FAX)
Email: alewis at nfb.org
Web: www.nfb.org
twitter: @anillife

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