Celebrating labor, including the labor of people who are blind and otherwise disabled.

Celebrating labor, including the labor of people who are blind and otherwise disabled.

Taking the battle to the streets of our Nation’s capitol.

By: Kevan Worley

A year ago, before our Blind Coloradan became available as a blog, the Labor Day issue focused on the challenges workers with disabilities face under 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. One article, Standing up for Workers, received wide attention and a great deal of comment. Another Labor Day weekend is upon us. On Thursday, August 28^th I will fly to Washington, DC to participate in a demonstration in front of the palatial headquarters of SourceAmerica. SourceAmerica (formerly NISH, National Industries for the Severely Handicapped), is a national nonprofit entity which is authorized by the AbilityOne commission within the Federal Government. They do their work through a nationwide network of more than 550 community nonprofit agency partners, including Goodwill, to fulfill contracting needs for the Federal Government, commercial businesses and government contractors. We all know how Goodwill of Denver and Goodwill of Southern Colorado subjugates workers with disabilities while enriching their executives. This behavior is supported, sanctioned, and aggressively promoted to government procurement officials and private industry by SourceAmerica.

National Federation of the Blind along with ADAPT, Association of People Supporting Employment First (APSE), Little People of America (LPA), National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), and other organizations will conduct a protest in front of SourceAmerica from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in Vienna, Virginia. I have been to the opulent operations center of SourceAmerica over the years. I have gone to meet with them in their sumptuous suites of excess about how to increase opportunities under their programs for entrepreneurship. I have met them in their richly appointed offices, at their request, to consider how they might partner with the Randolph-Sheppard program. I have visited their lavish digs to advocate payment of fair wages to people who are disabled. Every time I have visited their plush offices, decked out with the most modern furniture and ostentatious show of executive wealth, I cannot help thinking about the workers who receive little training and little money from a system which was designed to employ and empower the worker. On Thursday I will not be entering their swanky suites. I will be on the streets with hundreds. These highly paid executives must be called to account for their unfair, unjust, immoral enterprise. We know that Goodwill of Denver and Goodwill of Southern Colorado are two significant abusers of an outdated system sanctioned by a section of a law passed 75 years ago. The National Federation of the Blind of Colorado and dozens of National Organizations representing the quest for labor security and equality of opportunity will continue our fight another year. This coming weekend we celebrate all workers, including those who happen to have disabilities. This Thursday, we will stand in front of the most wealthy power broker in the area of employment for the disabled and proclaim their guilt to the public, the media, and congress. It may be worth remembering what we said at Labor Day 2013, here is it in part: …Labor Day is more than a day of sales, the end of summer, or picnics in the park.  Labor Day was the brainchild of Matthew Maguire, a labor leader and machinist from the state of New York in the 1880’s.  It became a national holiday when signed into law by President Grover Cleveland in 1894.  At the time of this year’s celebration of those who labor, we call upon the public to think of the contributions made by blind workers and the contributions that many blind workers would make if included into the workforce on terms of equality.  Many blind individuals are part of the 70% unemployed statistic.  Many workers with disabilities, including blind laborers, work for pay below the federal minimum wage.  President Barack Obama, in a speech given on Labor Day 2010, said, “It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of what we take for granted today. The 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, family leave, health insurance, Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans. The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label”.