For Immediate Release--Blind People to Protest Subminimum Wages.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Dennis Franklin
Public Relations Committee
National Federation of the Blind of Kentucky
(502) 499-0759
Cell: (502) 641-1956
E-mail: kyfranks@yahoo.com


MEDIA ADVISORY

Blind People From Throughout Kentucky to Protest
Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities

Proposed Legislation Would Reauthorize This Outrageous Practice


Date: July 26, 2011

Time: 10:00 a.m.

Place: The Office of Senator Rand Paul
600 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Place
Suite 1072B
Louisville, KY 40202


On Wednesday, August 3, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee is scheduled to vote on the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), which contains language reauthorizing the payment of wages below the federal minimum wage to workers with disabilities. In response to this proposed legislation, on Tuesday, July 26—the twenty-first anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act—blind people from across Kentucky will conduct an informational protest outside of Senator Rand Paul’s office in Louisville. Other blind Americans will also be protesting around the nation at the offices of other senators who serve on the Committee.

Unequal pay for equal work is unfair, discriminatory, and wrong. For more information, visit www.nfb.org.


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About the National Federation of the Blind
With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the Blind is the largest and most influential membership organization of blind people in the United States. The NFB improves blind people’s lives through advocacy, education, research, technology, and programs encouraging independence and self-confidence. It is the leading force in the blindness field today and the voice of the nation's blind. In January 2004 the NFB opened the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and training center in the United States for the blind led by the blind.