Americans Want Work Now (DAWWN) staged a rally against the offices of Goodwill at 30 N. Racine last Friday.

Members of DAWWN demanded that Goodwill drop its 14(c) Certificate. Under the Fair Wages Standards Act, 14(c) allows employers to pay people with disabilities subminimum wages. While policy advocates in Washington, DC work to amend the law so that it is no longer legal to pay subminimum wage, organizers around the country are demanding that goodwill drop the wage exemption and pay people with disabilities a fair wage. In Jun of 2012, the National Federation for the Blind (NFB) issued a nation-wide boycott of Goodwill for unfair labor practices. DAWWN and NFB both support the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act (H.R. 3086, which would phase out and then repeal the provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act that permits subminimum pay to workers with disabilities.

“Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act is an archaic piece of a law that must be changed,” said Michael Grice of DAWWN. “Society has underestimated the employment capacity of people with disabilities for too long. With the proper training and support, people with disabilities, no matter how severe their disability can be competitively employed.” The unemployment rate of people with disabilities is higher than that of any other minority population. Two thirds of unemployed people with disabilities are able to work and want to work. But rather than train them for jobs and place them in jobs, people with disabilities are often funneled into subminimum wage positions. DAWWN is a grassroots group of individuals working to increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities. DAWWN is part of Access Living’s Power to the People Community Organizing Coalition.