Goodwill Industries, the nonprofit charity, pays workers as little as 22 cents per hour

[demosincebirth]

Goodwill stores in Pennsylvania are employing some disabled workers at rates of 22, 38, and 41 cents per hour, according to NBC News. These workers are being exploited via the federal law called the Special Wage Certificate Program, which permits nonprofits and companies to obtain a certificate that allows them to hire disabled workers “based on their abilities” at whatever wage they find appropriate, with no minimum. According to the company, less than 7 percent of its workforce is paid through this certificate.

Workers say they find that the minute pay diminishes the experience and that the paychecks are useless for even covering the cost to get to work, as one worker told NBC after her wages were decreased to $2.75. For those making cents on the hour, they might as well be volunteering.

Brad Turner-Little, Goodwill’s director of mission strategy, told The Huffington Post that workers’ pay is determined through a review process that assesses their productivity and other factors. This process, as described by NBC News, times how long it takes a worker to perform a given task. The completion time is then compared to the time it would take a work without a disability to complete the task. They then calculate the worker’s wage. The time studies are a requirement of the special certificate and “Goodwill does these time studies to comply with federal law,” a spokesperson for the company told ThinkProgress.




http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/06/24/2201101/goodwill-pays-cents-per-hour/

[JimDandy]

1. It gets even worse.

The State of Colorado forces their unemployed food stamp recipients to work at least 8 hrs and up to 20 hrs, for free, at Goodwill for as long as they are receiving food assistance:

"All individuals who apply for food assistance in Colorado and who do not meet federal exemption criteria must participate in Employment First activities...These activities include: workfare..."

http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/CDHS-SelfSuff/CBON/1251581773899

Workfare is the slave labor for Goodwill. The number of hours they are required to work for Goodwill depends on the amount the person/family receives in food assistance.

[Ilsa]

2. We know that if they make too much, the SSI benefits go down.

But that doesn't mean each of these people need to work 40 or more hours at a pittance. Maybe they need to work less than 40 hours because they aren't cut out for it.

These people are being used, and that's wrong. I will refuse to give anything to Goodwill if this is how they manage their workforce.

[demosincebirth]

4. The majority of these workers can not physically or mentally work 8 hours.

[Ilsa]

5. I know. Much less a 40 hour week. nt

[Trailrider1951]

3. Wow, I had no idea! I shop alot at Goodwill

Perhaps I could do more shopping on Craigslist and neighborhood yard sales.

[mucifer]

6. That sucks. I just donated a bunch of stuff there.

[loyalsister]

7. In the late 70s advocates successfully unionize a sheltered workshop in IA.

It didn't spread or last.