Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007...11:03 am
Minimum Wage!
It looks like the pressure is going to be on our legislators to gut the provisions of the just passed proposition 202 that raised our state’s minumum wage.
The crux of the argument is that the new minimum wage statute overrides a federal provision that allowed of sub-minimum wage for employers that hired the developmentally disabled. I don’t know why this argument was not brought up during the debate on the initiative, instead opponents used a bogus privacy argument that rang hollow with most of the public.
I don’t work with the devlopmentally disabled, so someone with more experience in that area may have to tell me why we allow an employer to pay them less for the exact same jobs that non-disabled people perform in the same workplace. If their disabilities make them less able to perform their job functions than other employees (thus deserving of lower pay), then why hire them at all?
By the way, do the developmentally disabled pay less for a loaf of bread than the rest of us?
There was an attempt to get the governor to call a lame duck special session shortly before Christmas on this matter. The governor said “no dice” faster than Andrea Martin in that old SCTV sketch. Probably lucky for the Republicans too, since I can already tell you what would have happened:
- Governor calls a special session on adjusting the new minimum wage statute to allow for a sub-minimum wage for developmentally disabled employees.
- Democratic legislators are shut out of the process while Jim Weiers and attempts to find 31 votes entirely out of his caucus
- Eventual bill is passed after three days of back room armtwisitng. Phil Lopes complains that his caucus hasn’t seen the bill. His “no” vote is derided by Republican leaders as another example of obstructionism.
- Bill turns out to be a series of tax credits that bear only the most tangential relationship to the issue of the developmentally disabled.
- Governor vetoes bill. Republicans pretend to be shocked.
Despite the flurry of e-mails to legislators on this issue, there is actually a sizeable block of folks that work with the developmentally disabled that like the new minimum wage law. On the 21st, a letter went out from Arc, one of the largest organizations advocating for the developmentally disabled, endorsing the $6.75 minimum wage and stating that paying the developmentally disabled like other employees actually helps in their integration into the larger community. The letter was authored by Arc Executive Director Carrie Hobbs Guiden and signed by six other leaders of advocacy organizations who endorse moving the developmentally disabled out of “sheltered work environments” and into what they term “integrated employment.”
I have no doubts that there are many who are looking out for the best interests of the disabled here who want this change in the minimum wage. The cynic in me wonders though how long it will take for other interests to try to ride this issue and gut the new minimum wage law that they never wanted in the first place.
2 Comments
January 4th, 2007 at 6:54 am
You actually nailed the rationale, twisted logic though it might be, being employed by those opposed to paying people with developmental disabilities a fair wage.
Currently, people with disabilities are paid using a fuzzy formula that calculates their pay rate based on their functional ability to do the jobs assigned to them. My understanding is the hubbub is mostly centered on people with developmental disabilities who live in institutional settings or group homes and spend their days in sheltered workshops or “dayhab” centers. The items they produce in these settings are sometimes sold as a means to support the organizations providing these jobs for people with developmental disabilities.
The people with developmental disabilities who are the focus of this debate probably have never bought their own loaf of bread. Just the same, they deserve the same rights and basic human dignity as anyone else. The Arc’s argument about the minimum wage applying to everyone helping people with developmental disabilities integrate into the larger community is spot-on. This is a group of people who are hidden from the public, often incorrectly assumed to be ‘useless’, ‘unproductive’, ‘asexual’, or worse.
Truth is, given the opportunity, many (if not most) people with developmental disabilities could and would lead very productive, happy and healthy lives. Part of the way to achieve that goal is to allow them access to the same resources as their peers without developmental disabilities.
Frankly, the fact that there’s even a debate about this seems silly to me.
January 4th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Wouldn’t the federal antidiscrimination statutes ban this kind of thing? I’ve heard plenty about times when people would be paid less because of the color of their skin, I thought we’d be beyond anything ringing of that.
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