Thanks to a variety of government programs, private charities, and federal labor rules, tens of thousands of people with serious disabilities have jobs that they can do.
The Washington Post has started a campaign against these jobs, and Vice President Kamala Harris has promised to make them illegal. The Labor Department under President Joe Biden plans to change the program with new rules coming out this month.
The fight is over a federal rule that sets a different minimum wage for handicapped workers in very specific situations. Many of these workers, who normally would not be able to do their jobs in a normal workplace, work in workshops run by nonprofits. They do easy tasks and are paid by the piece instead of by the hour.
The wage is usually less than the government minimum wage, but these jobs aren’t meant to make people rich—the people who get them all get Medicaid and other state benefits. What these special jobs are most useful for are giving adults with serious disabilities a purpose, skills, friends, and a small sense of freedom when their disabilities make it impossible for them to live on their own and hold down regular jobs.
Disability groups and labor unions are still against these programs. For example, the Service Employees International Union, a large labor union with ties to Democrats, has been trying to get rid of them since the Obama administration. The Washington Post started its attack just this month.
People who work with this program don’t understand why the Democrats and the Washington Post are against it. David Ordan, CEO of the Milwaukee-based IKE Center, said, “I honestly and truly have no idea why they are trying to do this. The IKE Center runs a bakery where people with serious disabilities make dog treats. I don’t understand how it makes sense.”
It looks like they have different ideas about how to best help people who are seriously handicapped. In a larger sense, though, this shows intellectual differences about what work is worth and how fairness works. A story about pushing for special interests in Washington, D.C., and an attack on the Left’s claim to be the defenders of the most needy.
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