The minimum wage the law of the land. 70 years later america is locked in a partisan debate about raising the federal minimum by 7. 25. No matter where you stand, theres no arguing. When you adjust it for inflation, the wage is lower than the minimum wage in 1968. In todays dollar the wage back then was 10. 94 an hour. President obama backs a democratic bill that would raise this to 12 an hour. Today, hundreds of thousands of disabled workers throughout this country are earning as little as 2 an hour. Sometimes less. Another part of the fair labour standards act allows employers to pay americans with physical and mental disabilities less than the minimum wage. The intent was to encourage businesses to hire people they wouldnt higher. The law says that disabled workers can be paid based on how much they produce. Theres no minimum wage for the disabled. Low pay is not the only issue. Disabled workers are segregated fromable bodied workers in what are known as sheltered wark shots. Thee are workers who perform basic representative tasks. Almost always for subminimum wages. The sheltered workshops are guilty of discrimination and exploitation. The workshops violate the americans with disabilities act. The federal government is pushing states to integrate disabled workers. That means closing sheltered workshops, here is where this issue is complicated. Some advocates says closing the sheltered workshops will do more harm than good, and without sheltered workshops many disabled americans lose any chance of working, theres no denying disabled workers face major hurdled. Consider this in 2014, 17 of workers had jobs. The corresponding number is 61. 4 of people without a disability. The controversy of whether working for little is better than working for nothing came to a head at a city hall hearing in st. Louis. At issue, a proposal to exempt sheltered workshops from a bill raising the minimum wage. The bill passed, but the debate is far from over. Reporter 50yearold teresa jordan never had it easy. The single mother was determined not to let Cerebral Palsy get in the way. They live in a modest apartment, her and her daughter. I basically look after myself, i have no one coming in paying groceries or helping. Right now i label boxes for scol aft. , its a big ard scholastic. I do many a day. Reporter like 420,000 disabled workers in the u. S. , teresa is paid below the minimum wage, earning about 3. 65 an our, 4 less than missouris minimum wage. Her wage fluctuates on how many boxes she labels. She works at contractual aid. They employ 130 adults with disabilities, producing 500,000 packages a week. To me its not right that we get the pay we get. We work hard over there, we work very hard. I would like to make more money, my daughter is older. By the time you get the disability check, theres not much left. Reporter industrial aide is a sheltered workshop. They can deploy disabled workers at subminimum wages. Sheltered workshops gain traction in the late 1930s in the u. S. , in reaction to a reluctance to hire the disabled. A section of the fair labour standards act allows businesses to pay less than minimum wage if they higher disabled workers. Many providers began to develop a concept of a sheltered environment where people with disabilities would come and work on contracts that they would get from various businesses, and then end up paying less than the minimum wage. Kurt dekker who heads the National Disabilities network says its a well intentioned idea gone wrong. Ndrn issued a report. Sheltered workshops segregate the disabled, they are harming help. Whether its legal to pay people less than the minimum wage, raises questions about exploitation, and whether people are given an opportunity to reach their full potential. All of our revenues are put into the organization to support the mission. The heads of the st. Louis workshop says the Business Model is dependent upon subminimum wages, and appealed to city hall to convince alderman to pay for a bill. If we were forced to pay minimum wages to those that can realistically can only work at 25, 30, 40 of national standard, it would put us out of time. Scott legislation. The model is that they receive public funding. The primary income source is the strategy, winning contracts. The wage increase makes them uncompetitive to win a contract. And left a lot of individuals with Developmental Disabilities without work. Its been a fight to prove my intellect utility ability all my intellectual ability all my life. These workers, they deserve at wage. Reporter painful decisions within the disabled community were exposed at the hearings. Im scared. Im scareded to death that the workshops will go away because it gives him meaning, and if his job goes away i have to quit my job to work with him. The threat is by an enforcement by a 1993 ruling that people with disability work in more integrated sessions. Governor comey said sheltered workers should be faced out. Jims developmental brother gerard makes about 1. 93 an hour. At a sheltered workshop in west hampton, new york. Jim, who is on the board drives about half an hour to visit his brother and says the workshop is the best thing that ever happened to gerard. I am sure its not something that works out to mig mum wage. Its not an issue. It feels good about the pay check. Good about having accomplished that. If you see him working at the electronic recycling programme. Hes thrilled about that. A tremendous amount of it. The feels out of it. Reporter the thought of gerard and his coworker losing their job, literally brings them to tears. The families give me a sec the families worry about the guys, the gals just being at home. With little meaning to their day to day existence. We dont want to workshop to close down, i dont want to be laid off. If the government shuts us done, i wont make money. Loreta was disappointed that her side lost. She wants to make it clear, she either. There are people that lose a little press. But they love coming there. Teresa believes she can. Choices. She is meeting with a job coach, hoping to make minimum wage or more in the near future. Its a complicated issue. Next, a man that has no problems paying disabled americans below the minimum wage, warning that the alternatives might be worse. The only Live National news show at 11 00 eastern. We start with breaking news. Lets take a closer look. As the nation engages in a heated debate about whether to raise the minimum wage, it is legal in this country to pay disabled workers below the minimum wage. As we saw earlier, sheltered workshops, which employ a large majority of the disabled working population can pay their employees as little as 1 or less. Some believe the workshops are a god send for a population that would be shuttered at home. Others charge that paying anyone below minimum wage is exploitation and discrimination. Randy hilton represents sheltered workshops in missouri and supports a bill that passed in st. Louis, allowing work stops to be xe ex exempt from a wage hike. Thank you for being with us. The the issue here is whether or not the disabled working population is better off with a system that paid them more, or they are better off with a system that pays them less but keeps them out of being stuck at home. This. We believe sheltered workshops is a pathway for people with disabilities no not only have a pay check and work in the community, but, if necessary, at some point move into a regular job in the community once they gain skills and ability. That is the hope. According to the Government Accountability office, sheltered workshops are not effective at getting disabled workers into the workforce, saying that only about 5 of sheltered workshops end up leaving to take a job in the community outside the sheltered workforce environment. Again in missouri, thats an option for each individual, and what their needs and familys needs are, we look to help meet those. If its working at the workshop, we support that. If its an opportunity to move that. What should we hope it does. If you are paying for labour, at a rate lower than the minimum wage, there has to be some good outcome for it. Inherently it seems unfair. The good outcome is that you will help the people transition what . Right. Thats the opportunity there, to learn skills, how to operate out in the community, have the ability to deal with coworker, all of those things that give them the skills to move into a community. Otherwise its offering them an opportunity to work, get a pay community. What is the problem with just as a push in this country to gain popularity in all quarters and across the lines to increase the minimum wage for all workers, why is that not available for disabled workers . Well, disabled workers do prevailing wages in each local shop, and that puts that into their formula to pay individuals on a commensurate wage basis. On the state of security that increased their wages an average of 3 a year. All right. But you were in favour of this bill in missouri. In st. Louis, that exempted sheltered workshops from increasing wages. Why would you be against that . We need to be in the real world of operating, and we have to provide employment first in to be able to pay that in the minimum wage. We are not able to do that on a regular basis based on how our people function. We have to work with them, based abilities. The range is so buried, thats the issue, generally again, theres a growing population in the United States that things that the 7 and a quarter federal minimum wage is too low. We are hearing stories about people that are paid less than a dollar. At some point you have disabled workers who are unable to be very productive, and get paid at a remarkable discount to what that work would be if given to an able bodied worker. If you follow the guidelines by department labour, youll be paying that wage commensurate with the ability to produce. The guidelines are the same for everyone in the country. What do you say to people that say its not fair to pay them a lower wage, that if they are working, we anticipated, theres a minimum wage and it doesnt seem fair. Its an opportunity and a choice for an individual. They can work with family members and make decisions about what they want to do. If they are not ready for a job in the community, it gives them a chance to make a choice and go to work and get a paycheck. New york, as you have heards is phasing out sheltered workshops. They were shut in vermont more than a decade ago. Within three years of the shutdown 80 of people that worked in the last sheltered workshop found jobs outside of a sheltered workshop environment. It argues that may be they can find jobs if they are not in the sheltered workshop system. There has been studies, and a white paper released by some universities that showed that a lot of the people were not able to find jobs, that a lot were earning less than in the workshops, and some were volunteer of course, not getting a job at all. For those with the level of functioning, its not fair. In the case of vermont. It said 80 of those found jobs. The average wage was 9. 76 an hour, more than 2 above the federal minimum wage. I dont know if you know of this example, but it sounds promising for those that argue that veldter workshops are environment. I am not sure if the one you are looking at didnt show the ability and success. I would have to take a look at that and assess what that is. Our experience is that we are able to find people jobs. We do supported employment, and were successful transitioning people from the pork shop. Food to talk to you. Randy is the executive director coming up. Watch what happens when disabled americans try to book a ride conclude weve been talking about socalled sheltered workshops paying subminimum wages. Critics say it violated the americans with disability act. I want to look at uber and lift allegations, allegations that they violate the requirement that disabled people have equal access to transportation. Uber and lift, of course, offer smart phone apps for booking cars. Lawsuits claim they discriminate against people with physical disabilities. Uber and lift have a simple response. Mary snow has this story. Stephanie woodward is a vibrant lawyer and activist who doesnt let anything get in her way. On a trip to washington d. C. , she encountered a barrier that is blatant discrimination by uber, for not providing service to disabled people. This is my first time using uber. I cant get out of my hair. Stephanie was born with spinal positiveda and has a wheelchair. When she calls for a car or taxi, she needs one with a ramp or vehicle. The driver tried to help her. In the end they had to cancel the yard. He was nice, took my phone and said let me see if i can help you. He was unable to find a way to get the uber successful, and suggested we email and let them know this was a problem and said possibly i would be better off making a taxi. Is it there anything sinister about this company or are they the same as others. Its disappointing when they try to have access for all people. What they mean is access for transportation for all nondisabled people and the rest of you stay home. Steph academy stephanie is not alone, theres about complaints against uber and list for violating the ada, by not providing Transportation Options foreign persons with disability. Lawsuits have denying rights to blind people and putting a service dog in the trunk. In texas, a couple filed separate lawsuits, denied rides by uber and lift. Disappointed, frustrated. Melt rejected. I want more options, to get to where i want to go and pay for a service like everyone else. The department of justice filed a statement of interest against uber, and pointed out that operators of these ride of sharing apps see it differently, arguing that the drivers are independent contractors, and say they are unable to control the actions of drivers, and legally cant enforce compliance we went to washington d. C. During a conference celebrating the anniversary. We asked four people to use the Transportation Network companies, while we video taped their experience. The app doesnt have an area. I need accessibility of any kind. I was a little nervous. If it had been a compact car it would have been a challenge for my service dog. Joe became a parapledgic after a 2010 speed flying accident and travels with the wheelchair and his dog henry. Are you with uber. He found a courteous driver more than willing to work with him to figure out how to get him to the location. For me it was huge to call that, having them pick me up, i was able to get in the car. Opportunity. Matt sealy is a paraplegic from harrisburg and never used a transportation before, they werent in his town. He was curious to see what he would fine when he requested an uber. While ut driver who first came couldnt accommodate mats chair, he suggested he request another uber, and ask for a larger car that should accommodate the chair and tell the driver when he calls that hes in a wheelchair. Thats what matt did, and he waited. The driver called and told him where he was. Im at h and 11, on the corner. Im in front of the hyatt. I saul saw me from across the road, saw my chair, and 30 seconds later the trip was cancelled. Reporter any reason given why the trip was cancel. It says the driver cancelled the request. Lfferents reporter when you got that, how do you feel . If someone excludes me based on what i look like, this driver, you know didnt have the time, couldnt say sorry, i cant handle you. Just said sorry and trip. Cliff has been blind. He was able to book his car. Its difficult in interpret of not seeing the vehicle, knowing the vehicle and not making the effort to look you up. For its part. Uber says its been working with drivers to improve accessibility for riders with accessibility. On the website theres a video. As you see many people, including some wheelchair users use our vehicles. In response, uber is launching a pilot programming. Teaming up with companies that provide wheelchair transportation. Its not satisfying critics. If a restaurant opened and said well work out on a ramp later. Its ridiculous. Ada has been around, its a cost of doing business, to be accessible to the population. To start a business, not being accessible to people with disabilities and saying well get there eventually, shows me you dont think im worth it we reached out to uber several times for an interview or statement. They didnt respond to the requests. Uber has launched pilot programs in recent months to include Wheelchair Accessible vehicles in several cities, in the scpus abroad. Lift send a statement saying they are working would oaring niceations like organizations like the National Federation of the blind to address their needs. And is addressing a driver education video focused on interacting with passengers. Thats the show today. Im ali velshi, thank you for the news continues on Al Jazeera America were here to fully get into the nuances of everything thats going on, not just in this country, but around the world. Getting the news from the people who are affected. People need to demand reform. Ali velshi on target. Intense manhunt and Security Forces conducting hundreds of raids overnight as the Prime Minister warning that more attacks are possible. A show of force of French Police in brussels this morning hunting down suspects in the paris attacks. France launching air strikes in retaliation for attacks and this. A city on edge, a false alarm causes panic among people paying tribute to friday nights victims