Whereas, sheltered workshops for the blind were established on the erroneous theory that blind persons could not successfully compete in regular employment; and
Whereas, as a supposed logical result of this erroneous belief, it was assumed that blind persons working in sheltered workshops could not achieve productivity and should not be paid the minimum wage and, accordingly, an exemption was written into the Fair Labor Standards Act permitting production workshops to pay less than the minimum wage; and
Whereas, as a result of this law, thousands of blid persons find themselves employed at the present time at wages far lower than those paid to other American workers; and
Whereas, in order to remedy this inequity, the National Federation of the Blind has introduced legislation into the Congress on numerous occasions; and
Whereas, in the spring of 1980 Congressman Edward Beard of Rhode Island held hearings on this issue before the House Committee on Labor Standards, developed a complete record, and has pledged that a bill to remedy this problem will be introduced early in 1981: Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland in Convention assembled in the City of Hagerstown, Maryland, this 25th day of October 1980 that this organization strongly supports enactment of legislation requiring that sheltered workshops pay the minimum wage to blind workers; and
Be it further resolved that copies of this resolution be sent to each and every United States Senator and Congressman from the State of Maryland urging their support for this much-needed legislation, and
Be if further resolved that Maryland representatives be urged to contact Congressman Beard in order to become co-sponsors of his bill and that the Senators be urged to introduce companion bills in the Senate.