GOODWILL INDUSTRIES RUNS AMOK!

By Shirley M. Carolan, ATMG

Several weeks ago I was getting ready to donate some clothing and household goods to one of my favorite charities:  Goodwill Industries (in my local town).  Lo and behold Scott Pelley on the 6 PM news ran a story about the misdeeds of Goodwill Industries International who pays its disabled employees less than minimum wage, in fact some are getting less than .22₵ an hour.   I could hardly believe my ears I was so stunned.  I waited a few days expecting to hear more news about this dreadful situation and I held up my donation.

There has been no follow up that I am aware of, so last week I decided to check out some websites on my own.  Sure enough several carried stories about Goodwill Industries and its mis-treatment of employees going back several years.   Where have I been living?  Do I only read or hear what I want to read and hear?  Some of the websites I checked out were:  www.CBS.com, www.Snopes.com, Ariana Hufffington Post, www.Wikipedia.com.

Part of the problem is that Goodwill Industries uses an antiquated method of determining payment to its employees, i.e, using a provision of the federal labor law to pay workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage, i.e. Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.  Goodwill counters that these folks would not have any employment or income but for them regardless of how low the pay is.

This situation has definitely soured me on a charity I loved, shopped at, as well as donated to over many years.  It’s not like finding out there’s no Santa Claus or Tooth Fairie after all.  It’s far more serious and I hope and pray Goodwill will take positive action to correct this horrendous situation quickly. 

As a result of the above, I have called DAV (Disabled American Veterans) locally to come and pick up my donations.  They are also an excellent charity and I love hearing the ads Gary Sinese has about them and all the good they do for our veterans.

I’d love to hear from you about your thoughts on the above.  Thank you!

Shirley M. Carolan, ATMG
Writer ● Speaker ● Artist
artistwithaflair@att.net
Phone/Fax: 760-732-0663http://www.shirleycarolan.com
http://www.angelscross.blogspot.com

http://www.smcarolan.blogspot.com

Copyright© 2013 by Shirley M. Carolan. All rights reserved. To reprint any part of this article simply contact Shirley Carolan at artistwithaflair@att.net. Thank you.