Just came across this today, so I thought I'd share. I'm no expert, but there's some background beyond the squiggle:
From the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, 2/4/14 (my emphasis):
Disability Orgs Call on President to Include Workers with Disabilities in Executive Order
This morning, the Collaboration for the Promotion of Self Determination, a coalition of twenty one progressive disability rights groups on whose board the Autistic Self Advocacy Network serves, sent the following letter to the White House and the Department of Labor. CPSD’s members were also joined by a number of broader civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Japanese American Citizens League and the Service Employees International Union.
As national partners of the Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination (CPSD), we were pleased to read that you will soon be issuing an executive order to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour for federal contract workers. At the same time, we are profoundly concerned by recent statements suggesting that workers with disabilities employed by government contractors with 14c certificates will not be covered by the new $10.10 minimum wage....
As you know, many workers with disabilities are employed by government contractors, particularly those associated with the AbilityOne Commission. Government contractors who hold 14c certificates from the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division have been permitted to pay less than minimum wage to workers with disabilities. We believe that all Americans should be afforded minimum wage protections, including those workers with disabilities.
Recent statements from the administration have suggested that employees with disabilities working for federal contractors with 14c certificates will be excluded from the new $10.10/hour minimum wage and will only benefit to a minimal degree in so far as their subminimum wage compensation will now be calculated as a portion of the higher minimum wage required by the executive order. We believe this is fundamentally unjust.
Mr. President and Secretary Perez, all employees of federal contractors should mean all employees, regardless of disability status.
(read the rest of this open letter, plus a lengthy list of signers,
here.)
Change To Win posted a Statement In Support today (2/7/14):
Workers with disabilities deserve the same protections as workers without disabilities. That is why Change to Win and the Good Jobs Nation campaign are proud to urge President Obama and Secretary Perez to include workers with disabilities in their forthcoming landmark executive order requiring a $10.10/hour minimum wage for employees of federal contractors. Change to Win is proud to stand with all low wage workers fighting to improve their circumstances. As the White House and Department of Labor work to prepare the details of the executive order, we wish to strongly state our support for the full inclusion of workers with disabilities, including those today being paid drastically less than minimum wage, in the executive order.
Today, 420,000 workers with disabilities are paid less than minimum wage under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Many of these workers are being employed under federal contracts.
According to the Government Accountability Office, more than half of all 14(c) workers make $2.50/hour or less. As Secretary Perez commented this week on the Diane Rehm Show, Section 14(c) is “a provision of law which has worked to the detriment of people with disabilities.”
...Workers with disabilities have shown time and time again that they are as capable and as worthy of contributing to our workforce as any other American. It is our sincere hope that the President’s forthcoming landmark executive order will reflect that principle.
(Read the rest (and other
related posts) here.)
And finally, today's post on ASAN's tumblr which tweet linked to:
URGENT Action Alert: Contact the White House and Department of Labor
Our letter urging President Obama and Secretary of Labor Tom Perez to include federal contractors with disabilities who make less than minimum wage in the President’s forthcoming $10.10/hour minimum wage executive order has gained momentum. We’ve been joined by labor groups, like AFL-CIO, SEIU and Change to Win, as well as a broad array of disability and civil rights organizations, such as the ACLU, the Collaboration for the Promotion of Self-Determination, the National Down Syndrome Congress, and many others representing people with disabilities, our families, and the providers that serve us. Unfortunately, lobbyists for the sheltered workshop industry are now mobilizing to try and exclude people with disabilities from President Obama’s forthcoming executive order and the $10.10/hour minimum wage protections it will bring employees of government contractors
As the sheltered workshop lobby begins to push back against the turning tide, we must make sure that our voices are louder.Now, more than ever, it is important for self-advocates, our families, and providers who want to see disabled people have equality of opportunity write emails to the White House and the Secretary of Labor.
THIS MUST BE DONE BY MONDAY OF NEXT WEEK.
Read more, including sample points,
here. And those email addresses are:
In your emails to the White House, please contact:
Claudia Gordon (Claudia_L_Gordon@who.eop.gov) and ”cc”:
Valerie Jarrett (vjarrett@who.eop.gov)
Portia Wu (portia.y.wu@who.eop.gov)
In your emails to the Department of Labor, please contact:
Matthew Colangelo (Colangelo.Matthew@dol.gov) and “cc”
ODEP Assistant Secretary Kathy Martinez (martinez.kathy@dol.gov).
