The TIME to Act for Fair Wages in the Colorado General Assembly is Now!

 The TIME to Act for Fair Wages in the Colorado General Assembly, Is Now!

By Kevan Worley

For years, the National Federation of the Blind has advocated in strongest terms for the payment of fair wages to people who happen to be blind or disabled. That effort will continue, unabated, in 2015. For many years, the legislation we have presented to the United States Congress has been known as our Fair Wages bills. As our Colorado delegation heads to Washington D.C. the week of January 26, we will continue to advocate for fair wages. Only the name of our proposal will change. The bill will now be called the Transition to Integrated and Meaningful Employment Act.

As the time approaches for the 2015 session of the Colorado General Assembly, we are preparing to act in the Centennial State as well. We have never brought a significant proposal to the Colorado General Assembly urging their support to end unfair wages to Colorado’s disabled citizens. Under a resolution passed at our 2014 state convention, this year we will urge the General Assembly to pass a resolution in condemnation of the practice of paying less than minimum wage. Currently, there are 29 Colorado based companies which are granted certification under the Fair Labor Standards act by the Department of Labor to deny Colorado citizens equality of opportunity through the payment of subminimum wages.

We hope you will join us when we head to the State Capitol in January to tell our representatives to pass a strong statement deploring the practice of unfair labor policy in Colorado. Join us as we entreat the General Assembly to take a stand against the immoral application of an unjust, archaic law passed over 75 years ago. We will be asking legislators to pass a statement urging the Colorado Congressional Delegation to support our 2015 Transition to Integrated and Meaningful Employment Act. We have taken our fight to Washington D.C. for many years. This year, we take it to Denver. There are still organizations, such as Goodwill, which believe that they will outlast us. They think they will wear us down. They think they can ignore us and we will just go away. But we know that we are on the right side of history. We know that their outdated, unjust, and irrational treatment of people with disabilities is antiquated and ineffective. We know that TIME is on our side. 

National Federation of the Blind of Colorado Resolution 2014-11-2

Resolution 2014-03

Resolution Urging Colorado General Assembly to Pass A Resolution Urging Congress to Support Legislation to Phase Out 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act

WHEREAS, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) established a federal minimum wage to be paid to all American workers; and

WHEREAS, only workers with disabilities, as a class, are excluded from this federal wage protection; and

WHEREAS, over the years, workers without disabilities have received periodic increases to the federal minimum wage, which currently stands at $7.25 per hour, while workers with disabilities have seen the statutory floor for their subminimum wages fall and then disappear completely, with the result that some are now paid pennies per hour; and

WHEREAS, the practice of paying workers with disabilities subminimum wages stems from the public misconception that people with disabilities cannot be productive employees; and

WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind has been joined by more than sixty (60) organizations of, or for, people with disabilities to condemn and deplore the archaic, misguided, unjust, unfair, and immoral practice of subjugating people with disabilities in non-integrated sheltered work settings with no hope of reaching their full vocational potential; and

WHEREAS, there are currently twenty-nine (29) entities across the state of Colorado which are certified by the United States Department of Labor to take advantage of the 14(c) Minimum Wage Payment Exemption allowing them to pay thousands of Colorado citizens who happen to have disabilities, wages well below the federal minimum wage; and,

WHEREAS, two of the most egregious perpetrators of continuing outdated, outmoded, and regressive treatment of people with disabilities are, unfortunately, Denver Goodwill, and Goodwill of Southern Colorado. Organizations which receive millions in non-compete government contracts, and are revered by the public, by holding themselves up as non-profits doing laudable, charitable work while executives have salary and compensation packages well into the six figures. Now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED, by the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado in convention assembled, this 2^nd day of November, 2014, that this organization calls upon the Colorado General Assembly to immediately pass a resolution urging the United States Congress to phase out the use of the Special Minimum Wage Certificate provision by repealing Section 14(c) of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act to support the goal of competitive, integrated employment of people with disabilities through the use of modern practices of vocational training, improved technology, and innovative rehabilitation and employment strategies.