(Editor’s Note: What follows is a compilation of information from ACB Executive Director Charlie Crawford. This information was originally distributed via ACB-L, the organization’s Internet mailing list. These weekly e-mail notices are intended to be informal brief summaries of weekly activities in the ACB National Office. We include them here for the benefit of those who do not currently have access to ACB’s Internet mailing list. If you would like to view these notes on a weekly basis, visit the ACB web page, http://www.acb.org. Scroll down to “News Notes” and select it. You will then be at the page where “News Notes” is housed. It will let you choose the current issue or whichever back issue you would like to read. Please let us know your opinion of “News Notes.”)
For the week ended November 5, 1999
Video description moving: support activities under way
After 14 years of struggle, it looks as if we are on the verge of seeing a real event in the development of access to video programming on TV and video tapes. After last week when we found out that the Federal Communications Commission staff had sent a draft of a notice of proposed rules to the various commissioners at the FCC, ACB and its partners swung into action. We have listed the alert to our electronic lists, made phone calls to all ACB affiliate presidents, met with one of the FCC commissioners and are arranging to meet with the others. In addition, other groups are moving to provide support to the effort.
It looks as if the public voting of the FCC commissioners will happen on November 18 and we will be looking to get as many blind folks as can come to the event. Then ACB and its friends will make sure we get the views of blind folks clearly out there for descriptive video including those emergency video flashes of information that come up on the screen.
ACB legislative seminar moved to weekend of March 18
After hearing requests for the legislative seminar to move up a week in order to avoid a conflict with the national Sagebrush conference, ACB is pleased to announce that we can accommodate those requests. All systems will be go on this and we only ask that folks coming in on March 17 don’t drink too much green beer from those Washington Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations.
ACB, NFB, and NIB engage in hard negotiations on minimum wage issue
A bit over a week ago, the National Federation of the Blind proposed amending language to the Fair Labor Standards Act which would prohibit employers from paying less than minimum wage to a person solely on the basis of that person being blind. National Industries for the Blind expressed legitimate concerns for transition periods for those few industries who currently pay under the minimum wage, and for the need to have evaluation and training programs exempt from the prohibition.
ACB has been in the thick of these discussions to support the long standing position of our organization which is in agreement with the central point of the NFB effort. While agreement has not yet been reached on the final language about the issues of evaluation and training and transition time, it looks as if these can be done early next week.
Not surprisingly, there are now opposing voices from the National Industries for the Severely Handicapped and others. This may turn out to be a dog fight, but looks like the blind consumer groups are together on this one.