Pay Attention

The Missouri Sheltered Workshop Statute 178.930 says that as of July 1, 2008 the per diem rate will be $17, or $85 per week; however, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has received a letter from the legislature to keep the per diem rate at $15, or $75 per week for the next budget year. The DESE then decided that they will honor the legislature’s letter and not raise wages as had bee previously promised.

Please write Governor Blunt and ask him to keep his promise! You can call, write or email at the following:
Office of the Governor
Room 216, State Capitol Building
Jefferson City, MO 65101
Phone: 573-751-3222
www.gov.mo.gov

Some talking points you may want to use:
1) The governor’s office recommended full funding of sheltered workshops for the FY2009 budget year.

2) The state statutes passed in the legislature and signed by the governor clearly state the per diem rate for workshops, starting July 1 2008, would be $17 per day, or $85 per week.

3) Missouri sheltered workshops have only had one small increase of $2 in the per diem in the last ten years!

4) Since the inception of sheltered workshops in 1966, DESE has repeatedly informed workshops that they must pay the per diem rate at the amounts mandated in state statute 178.930. It’s our contention that it is still the law, as approved by the legislature and signed by the governor in 2007.

5) This cut in funding from $17 per diem to $15 per diem could mean cutbacks and layoffs at many of the 93 sheltered workshops in Missouri.

6) There are over 7,500 people with disabilities in Missouri who count on sheltered workshops for their employment and this cutback could jeopardize their jobs.

7) Ask the governor to direct the Commissioner of Education, dr. D Kent King, to pay the Sheltered Workshops at the statute mandated amount of $17 per diem, starting July 1 2008.

Please take action today. Write, email, and call!

I’m not going to lie; you do take risks as an activist. And the greater the work you do, the greater the risk.

According to Greenpeace, activists Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki were recently arrested in Japan for “exposing a stolen whale meat scandal involving the Japanese government-sponsored Southern Ocean whaling programme.” Greenpeace had been investigating a possible whale meat embezzlement for four months, where crew members of the ships transporting the meat were taking the best cuts of meat for themselves to smuggle and sell to make personal profit. In turn, Greenpeace “intercepted” some of the stolen meat and presented it to the Tokyo District Prosecutor Office, who agreed to investigate.

Well, the investigation now over–and the only people arrested are these activists. Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki are being held without charges for trying to get justice served to begin with. Over 50,000 people have written for their release, which Greenpeace lawyers believe could really help their case. You can write on their behalf by clicking the icon below.