NFB Affirms it's Committment to Fair Wages for ALL

In Dallas Texas an the 2012 National Convention of the National Federation of the Blind, the statement was loud and clear.  We will NOT rest until  workers with disabilities are paid at least the federal minimum wage for the work that they do!  Speakers including Anil Lewis, Fred Schroeder, and President Marc Maurer expressed their deep dissatisfaction with current employment practices supported under section 14(c) of the fair labor standards act which permit employers to gain a certificate allowing them to pay workers with severe disabilities less than the minimum wage.  


As Anil Lewis says, this practice is unfair, discriminatory, and immoral!  Practices that permit and encourage the exploitation of workers with disabilities should have never been permitted in the 1930s and certainly should be outlawed in 2012.  In our efforts to end this degrading practice, we are attempting to pass legislation that would phase out the certificate that allows payment of less than minimum wage to certain workers iwth disabilities.  The Strategic Initiatives team of the National Federation of the Blind is making steady progress in their diligent work to gain more cosponsors for this bill. 


We are also drawing attention to those large corporations who still engage in the payment of sub-minimum wage to workers iwth disabilities.  One of the largest of such organizations is Goodwill Industries.  Although Goodwill Industries has deminstrated the capacity to run 2/3 of its stores without usign the sub-minimum wage certificate, they still employ individuals under this certificate in many of their locations across the nation.  the National Federation of the Blind believes that if Goodwill Industries changes this practice that other organizations will follow.


The numerous attempts of the Strategic Initiatives team to meet with the CEO of Goodwill Industries, who also happen to be blind, have proven fruitless.  Below you will find a link to a news report aired in Washington DC in which the Strategic Initiatives team actually went to pay an in person visit to Goodwill Industries CEO and were again denied a meeting.    

News Clip

The National Federation of the Blind is committed to ending this UNFAIR, DISCRIMINATORY, and IMMORAL practice so that every person with a disability who puts in an honest days work receives an honest days pay!