Today, Wednesday, February 5, 2014, TASH is supporting #FixWIA Wednesday – a social media campaign that will alert our Senators about our concerns with the Workforce Investment Act. If you can, please take a moment today to post to Facebook, Twitter and through emails and express your concern with WIA. Don’t forget to include the hash tag #FixWIA. To make the process easier, please find a list of Senator Facebook pages and Twitter handles at https://govsm.com/w/Senate.
We have two main concerns with WIA. First, we are concerned with Title 5, Section 511. If the Senate bill passes as written, subminimum wages for workers with disabilities will be a part of the Rehabilitation Act for the first time ever. Ultimately, we would like to phase out Section 14 (c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, but keeping this antiquated provision out of WIA is an important first step.
Second, we do not want to see the Rehabilitation Services Administration move from the Department of Education to the Department of Labor. No research can illustrate how this move will improve services for people with disabilities. In fact, we fear that services will become less efficient. The Department of Education focuses on educating, or training, people to become employed, whereas the Department of Labor only takes into consideration the existing skills. People with disabilities need training.
If you would like more information please read this NFB blog post (with whom we’ve partnered for #FixWIA Wednesday) at https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/fix-wia.
If you want to contact your Senators via phone today, please find the appropriate phone number by visiting www.senate.gov or by visiting your Senators’ websites.
I hope you find this information helpful. Together, we can #FixWIA.