I work at a goodwill store and I didn’t know they do this. they preach about helping people and creating jobs (im not disabled in any way) i took the job to help people as much as i can and cashiers only make 7.50 an hour with no pay increase! I took the job as soon as i got out of high school but the store on average where i am makes on average 30,000 a month
Tell me about it I work at one and it's like hell they just juice you up and they just want you come to work while your sick people please dont think it's nice working there when it's not I won't recommend it
@@brandonshebester9574 At the Goodwill I worked at even the managers didn't have great pay. Only like a few extra bucks an hour than the regular employees, plus they were required to work full time and basically do everything. It's really lile, the big wigs/ company owners who make bank off of Goodwill. They don't even treat the managers well.
Unbelievable! No wonder people can't afford to shop at Goodwill, because the prices reflect the high cost of the executives $100,000s worth of salaries. Yet they stiff the handicapped!
***** No. If companies can get away with paying sub par wages, than everyone would be working for pennies. Imagine working 8-10 hrs a day (or more), 5 or 6 days a week, and needing 1 or 2 other jobs just the make ends meet. No time for family, friends, etc. A lot of corporations see nothing wrong with this. These same companies want to give their employees very few if any benefits.
Dale Bergeron What is ridiculous is someone sitting here accusing them of ethics violations when they are obeying the law. If the law were changed, then they pay would be different. *Obeying the law is ethical*. If you disagree with it, then the law itself is the unethical bit.
ablestmage Are you serious! Even if it is law, it is a minimum standard, and the Goodwill can do much better than an 88cent minimum wage, you can argue about loopholes in the law all you want, but in my mind, its still unethical and the goodwill has the money and tax breaks to be ethical
why? if they aren't producing or getting the work done as fast or as much as others why should they be an exception? because you feel the need to make an exception for them because they are disabled? Nope I say they get paid for their production. NO hand outs... I get tired of all these people wanting all for nothing..... Yes they are disabled, yes I understand that they cant function like other ppl yes i understand they need to be accommodated. However, that doesnt necessarily mean that they have to make the same amount of money if they aren't productive
Merry Bow What do you mean, "why should they be an exception?" Your statement makes no rational sense. Exception to what? Did you even watch the video? They are working a job that pays them slave wages, hell, far less than slave wages. *ALL* people require money in order to *survive*. I'm not even talking about *thriving*, just basic survival, i.e. housing, clothing, food, water. Could *you* survive anywhere in the United States making 0.22, (that's 22 cents) per hour (or $1.76 for an 8 hour day, if that makes it any easier for you to comprehend)? Most people in the United States can't even survive making $7.25 per hour, let alone 22 cents per hour! Your lack of compassion for the suffering of others and obvious contempt astounds me! You need to search your heart and try putting yourself in the shoes of others before making ignorant comments like these.
Merry Bow How do you suggest they make a living? I sure hope you or your family never has any disabled children. You're totally wrong here. You sound so careless and its sad that there are people like you in this world.
jaydee are $7.25 an hour wil not make you a living. These people are on disability meaning the government pays them already. They could be fired and replace with people that don't have disabilities but they don't want to. It's people like you that try to help but always seem to make things worse.
John Dillinger While I agree that "$7.25 an hour wil[l] not make you a living," the point *is* that they should be paid a *fair* wage for the work they *are* doing; and they are not even being paid the minimum wage.
I worked at Goodwill for nearly 5 years, hanging clothes and, later on, as a cashier. As someone with Asperger's Syndrome, the more I fought to get a job more suited to my abilities, while still trying to get better pay, the more they decided to put me into the positions that would stress me out more and more.I was forced to quit, because of an increasingly corrupt operation, starting with store managers, and going up. Seriously, find better places to donate your things.
I have a severely autistic brother and i agree that all disabled people should be paid fair wages. I think my brother and the others he works with at the providence center work harder then most normal functioning people i know. And the sad truth to it is that social security would probably not be given to them anymore if we as a group fight for the rights that we as normal functioning people have. As it stands now my neither worked two weeks and was only paid a whole $2.83 that's it for two weeks. Since i have been in the warehouse and seen what companies are profiting from this i can tell you i will not be indulging in doing certain things...ringling brothers circus which has been a thing I've always done with my child...now not anymore. Anything Disney nope...i won't even watch it in my house. These companies pay these hard working people Pennies and reap the profits and don't even offer any benefits to them..Smh since when is it right to treat other humans that are differently abled so wrong and inhumane?
"You know what that means when someone pays you minimum wage? You know what your boss was trying to say? It's like, "Hey if I could pay you less, I would, but it's against the law." ~ Chris Rock
I'm not disabled but I've worked at Goodwill as a cashier and in production. Everything comes down to making the quota and they will exploit their workers in any and every way possible to make the quota. They make a huge profit on stuff they get for free. All the good items go directly to online sales and all the middling stuff goes out on the floor for big prices. Goodwill is a racket.
I used to work for Goodwill. I got pregnant about a year ago and I let them know. I ended up missing some days of work because of severe morning sickness, but I would always call ahead to let them know. I ended up having to go to the hospital once because I was so sick. Apparently not being able to control being sick wasn't acceptable to them because they fired me.
When I don't want stuff anymore I first take it to a consignment store and then I get paid for it. I made 37 bucks at Once Upon a Child for a box of kids clothes and shoes and they didn't even take it all. What they don't take I will give away to friends before giving it to Goodwill. We have a private charity thrift store where I live so I'm going to start taking stuff there instead if nobody I know wants it.
Private charity, as opposed to public charity? Which isn't a thing. Charities aren't traded on the stockmarket, here. Perhaps you meant local, as opposed to national. I'm not sure why that should matter, though, when Goodwill impacts the areas where their services are located. In that sense, it is still local. I'm also not sure why you would donate things to your friends sooner than to someone in need. If your friends happen to be in need, then fair enough. But want is not need, and you are doing no charitable service by redistributing wealth among the wealthy.
Yea that's what I meant...local charity. The one here has a homeless shelter too so a lot of the clothes are given to homeless people. If you give your clothes to your friends they use it and then they can either give it to someone else when they are done or donate it. Once the Goodwill here had so much stuff that they were throwing tons and tons of things in the trash. Good things. So yea I'd rather give it to my friends who can actually use it. I'm not wealthy...I'm a single mom. My friends who I give stuff to are not wealthy either.
This is why I donate and give my time to the Salvation Army. they also hire the disabled to do the same work at a normal wage, $30,000 annually on average.Todd Bassett The Salvation Army's Commissioner receives a salary of only $13,000 per year. I can't see how Goodwill can say they are a not for profit charity.
I worked for Goodwill 20 yrs ago, I know for a fact that they pay their sales execs a very high salary, give them trips and bonuses for good performance, and pay their managers a bonus for meeting weekly or monthly quotas. They have also implemented ways to make more money, like online auctions of finer goods, so-called "boutique" items, that no matter what shape they're in, because of a name brand, they are marked way higher. They also sell new goods, purchased at a very low rate as close-outs from stores like Target and JC Penney, which they mark up twice as much and resell. It's ridiculous how much their prices have risen, you can do better shopping the clearance racks of stores...I really love shopping there, but I recently have actually bought a pair of shoes, on clearance at Target, for $5 cheaper than they were marked at Goodwill! Shame on Goodwill, for taking advantage of the very people who are supposed to be their mission focus! There are child-labor laws, there should be laws to protect the disabled as well!
I'm impressed! If they are that innovative and successful, their executives deserve to be well compensated. Thank you for making the case. Now compare that to the bozos at NBC losing market share for years while drawing 7 figure compensation. Or the pea brains wallowing in our misery at Obamacare.
FALSE! I Work At Goodwill And We Are A Great Store! Everyone (Including Me) Takes Pride And Joy And Love With There Work. We Welcome Everyone With Open Arms And A Loving Heart And We Are Blessed To Do That.
Sometimes they made .03 cents per good piece of clothing depending on how many good clothes they can hang... it's a damp shame I'm glad they changed the law and now they get minimum wage!
I worked at a Goodwill in a lower management capacity.Even we who were not disabled were treated poorly.The upper management had deals worked out with the drivers who brought in donations.They ALWAYS scooped the best merchandise before it entered the floor for pricing or for sale.The administrators/directors had gold & diamond jewelry dripping from their bodies.None of the "good stuff" ever made it to the floor for retail. Meanwhile the workers in the back labored in 95 degree warehouses.Frauds.
I worked at Badwill's Colorado corporate offices & I worked with people who had been there for years without a pay raise [one person was only getting $9.50 hr. after 5 yrs. of working for them]. Badwill IS a dead end job of last resort. Jim Gibbons, Pres. & CEO (who is himself blind) has the temerity to defend Badwill's despicable, exploitative & in my opinion, discriminatory policies. The man should be ashamed of himself. He's more than happy to rake in the 💰 on the backs of other disabled people while actively participating in keeping them down. He is a traitor to them & forgets his own past. So much for human empathy. Look at his face in this video, he looks very much like a well fed 🐷. He was very evasive with his answers & has the nerve to accuse critics of being "elitist". Frankly, I'm surprised he didn't try yo turn the tables & accuse these very same critics of some sort of "disability bias" as a way to deflect attention away from himself & his dishohourable actions. Look at his body language & the way he speaks and behaves when answering (or not) the interviewer's questions. He & all the other regional Ceo's are stealing from the poor to give to themselves. I guess crime really DOES pay afterall, especially when it's sanctioned & the pay loophole exploited so vigorously by a FOR PROFIT corporation. They use these "skill tests" as an excuse to not pay these people a fair wage. Another policy the individual stores practice is having employee parties in the break room (potlucks, pizza delivery, etc.) & pointedly excluding volunteers & others who are not paid employees from being allowed to participate. The manager of the Broadway & Archer store in Denver, Co. (Maria), went so far as to put a sign on the break room door ordering ALL non-paid workers to stay out for at least an hour. After the lunch party was over, sealed containers of food were still on the table with a sign saying non-paid workers were not allowed to touch the food. In Denver, food stamp recipients are often required to do community service at Badwill retail stores in order to continue receiving benefits. One time, I witnessed the store manager, Maria, threaten a food stamp recipient, one of her store volunteers. She threatened to contact the volunteers' case worker & have their F/S benefits cut off. I have witnessed a LOT of very questionable practices & behaviours at Badwill. So, go ahead & continue to patronize Badwill if you want. Virtually none of your hard-spent 💸 will go into the pockets of those who hard-earn their $1.66 per hour, but you CAN bet it will most likely end up in the pockets of Jim 🐖 Gibbons & his exploitative, sub-minimum wage buddies. Sleep well. 😘
Nobody should be receiving anything less than minimum wage if they're working, especially not the disabled. They probably need more money than the rest of us just to compensate for whatever different kind of lifestyles they have. And nobody (in reference to the CEO millionaires) actually needs to make a million bucks in a year while their employees barely make enough in a day to buy a McChicken off the dollar menu. This is heartbreaking.
That's horrible... And the CEO sat there and justified it! Like the all mighty dollar is more important than a human being. Might as well put up an auction block and sell some of your cheap labor disabled people to other pieces of crap companies that would do such a thing. I'm sure they are out there.
I worked for the Salvation Army in Australia and they didn't give us a red cent for our help. In fact, they pushed us around like we were paid employees. One of their 28 year old officers, had an 85 year old volunteer in tears. Yes good one Salvos
Complete scam. As someone who worked at the top. Helping people huh? They count anyone who comes in to use a computer as helping the community and inflate their numbers. Salaries range from 72k and up for those who manage a few stores. The truth is awful.
We were waiting in line to donate in Queen Creek, AZ. We listened to an empliyee berate and harrass a mentally handicapped employee! He wasn't moving fast enough, hurry up slow poke! Stop goofing off! All the while, just standing around, doing nothing! We had a heavy furniture piece. No one came to help this young man, so my son and husband got out to help. They were told "this is his job. Please get back in your vehical." My husband replied " Son, get out of my way, if you know what's good for you." 2 other men got out of their cars to help. Seeing this, I hope he didn't get fired or his pay cut. I emailed corporate and recieved a call from the store manager. They acted very surprised and told me I must have misunderstood because Larry, the employee in question, was treated very well and they had never had any issues with the way he was being treated. I told her but I couldn't have misunderstood the words idiot, lazy, slowpoke, and hurry up. And neither could the four people in the car with me. She said she would have to look into it further. That was two years ago. Never heard back.
My dad has always said "An honest wage for an honest day's work." There are people who spend all the working day on FB and texting (when they should be doing what they were contracted for) and they get paid more than people putting in honest work who happen to have a disability they DID NOT REQUEST. Many sociological and psychological studies have shown that a bad job is worse than no job. No one asked to be born blind/deaf, with palsy, with downs, with limbs missing. We just get on with it.
The solution is not to avoid Goodwill, but to write your reps and congresschumps about altering the fair labor standards act provisions, to see whether one sob story news article is enough to change the policy, or whether the policy actually makes better sense with science involved in the issue.
Ming Chen Because they are following the letter of the law. The Fair Standards act lists specifically what to do when hiring handicapped workers, and they do exactly that. There are no loopholes being used -- they are following the law. That's like saying people who drive 45mph in a 45mph zone should take a hit for their actions. There's no deception going on at all. The labor standards are clearly defined about what to do with handicapped worker pay rates.
No, it is a false equivalence to compare this to merely driving 45 mph in a 45mph, there is no ethical issue there. The fact of the matter is, there are plenty of laws on the books and following some exactly doesn't remove the ethical context of the situation. To advocate that they get a free ethical pass merely because they are following an arbitrary law is precisely to advocate for a loophole of a different order. When a company moves a bunch of money to their account in Ireland and then posts a loss here, getting a huge tax write off despite the fact that they actually had huge profits, in a strict technical sense, is NOT a loophole, this has nothing to do with the fact that it is still unethical. A company in both situations should be penalized while there is work to change the law. Especially considering how slow laws are to change, companies don't just get to neglect their social responsibility during this time. It also isn't a matter of Goodwill competitive pricing or losing market share, this isn't like outsourcing, where if they don't do it, their competitors will and in effect their company will likely go under. Their corporate teams take away huge bonuses that could even be reduced MARGINALLY to provide humane wages to these people. Considering that indentured servants in third world countries make more than some of these Goodwill folks, I think only the ethically bankrupt can just causally pretend that Goodwill isn't in the wrong. Furthermore, you act like the law provides guidelines and declares absolutely that these workers shall be underpaid. When the law instead provides a system to determine the absolute minimum. If you think we as a people should ignore the social cost of company lack of ethical decisions, while the government takes forever to change the minimum that the company cold easily exceed with little blowback, than I would assert that you are not interested in living in a just society.
Ming Chen The matter of huge bonuses is a completely different matter altogether and has nothing to do with the wage rates. The purpose of operating a business is not to employ people. Nobody credible says to themselves, "I'm not sure what I want in life, but I want to at least go into the employing-people business and employ lots of people." That's not even a sound business plan. Goodwill is making great strides toward employing handicapped people by employing them when few others will. That is not ethical bankruptcy. Ethical bankruptcy would be more like offering a double-tap service to parents who must take care of handicapped relatives, rather that employing them in a market where few other businesses would employ them. The legal minimum is what absolutely must be done, at the least. If you want to legislate ethics, then you must create the legal minimum or maximum. It cannot be said that Goodwill is being unethical by following the legal minimum, as it is legislated to BE ETHICAL to do so. Following the law is ethical. Boycotting or demanding that someone do more than the law suggests is not ethical. Since "ethical" much in the same way as "handsome" is not something that can be determined legally per se, standards must be in place that prevent a business from abuse or straying into unethical practice. Until there is a legal situation that alters the way businesses are required to pay handicapped workers, then doing so as it is done today is ethical. You may have much higher personal standards about what is ethical and should be done if you were in charge. I would challenge you to become one of those people in charge to make those changes personally.
Many of their employees are paid way less then minimum wage. Also, they sell all of there good stuff online, so you never have a chance to even see it. What is sold in the stores, is usually damaged.
This is something that touches on a very personal nerve for me as I grew up in a sheltered workshop environment that would tell a VERY different story than what they report of the one example known as Goodwill. My mom worked at a local sheltered workshop that has been facing shutdown since it began due to lack of funds. The thrift store part of it works in a similar fashion to that of Goodwill, but doesn't see the numbers they do. There is NO way, NO way, these local workshops can EVER be expected and forced to pay minimum wage. When my mom worked there, they bussed the clients to work and home every day. Now, some of them live in the workshop apartment complex. The board members are local business men and women who don't make any kind of amount of money talked about in that report. Dealing with Goodwill maybe one thing, but throwing in the sheltered workshop institution in an all inclusive manner like that is irresponsible, mis leading, and could potentially, and effectively end the lives of many mentally handicapped and disabled people in communities across the United States. Typical of NBC's self righteousness to point something out (where are these super well paid "journalists" entering these people's lives to help them work in a world where their disabilities make it hard for them to work at all?) so they can feel better about themselves and ignore the damage it could be doing to the over all area they are attacking. The level of one sided big government angle that is shoving onto people who couldn't possibly exist under their self righteous standards is, to me and the live I've lived and seen lived by people that have broken my heart my entire life, quite frankly disgusting. Why didn't they spend the same amount of time presenting the facts of what the proposed all sweeping legislations would do to all the small operations out there? I'd really like to hear their answers to that question.
too many to list, not only the company execs, but every sales manager, of every single Goodwill district (and there are MANY) and it's really not the fault of the sales managers, it's the company's fault for implementing this...what's really, truly shameful is that the CEO is legally blind himself...shame on him!
I'd like to see the percentages of how they improved the company and maybe even the community. If both quality and profits were increased, perhaps the CEOs deserve what they make. My experience is that Goodwill overcharges for worn-out clothes. I prefer to shop at Salvation Army if give a choice.
The only catch is if they are forced to raise the hourly rate, most likely many of these workers will not be employed there any longer. They will hire fewer more productive workers for these positions.
They will not be FORCED to. Goodwill is a non-profit and therefore pays no taxes. In addition, they are paying MILLIONS of dollars every year to their executives when they could easily pay half that and still attract high quality leadership that is there for the mission as opposed to getting wealthy. Goodwill prides itself on hiring disabled workers, and so would be a big PR nightmare for them to end that practice. As a mission-driven non-profit, they could absorb this cost for sure and still have money for their mission. All that being said, there is some validity to idea that many disabled workers will find tremendous value just having these opportunities, but if not “minimum” wage, certainly at least half minimum ought to be the base, simply to avoid the most egregious exploitation.
"The experience is more important than the pay they get." Oh okay... So they'll get experience for the one. and possibly only, job they'll ever have. It's okay if they can't pay for food, electric, etc., though. Makes total sense.
The alternative could be a group home where they may get abused by staff and other residents. Boredom can lead to violent outbursts in ANY person of any intellect.
@@genkiferal7178 Wow, this is an old post. Obviously, that should not be the alternative either. Disabled people can work just as hard, if not harder, than any "normal" person. They should be paid appropriately. The point of this video is to show that Goodwill could legally pay disabled people less than minimum wage six years ago. I have no idea what they do now, although I wouldn't be surprised if they still go through loopholes like this. At the end of the day, it isn't fair to EMPLOY someone for mere cents per hour.
He's fucking bullshit. I mean some of these people yes in fact do work harder than someone who slacks off on their phone all day and you don't see those people getting docked below minimum. I call complete discrimination on this. They should have a right to earn as much money as everyone else but this little asshole just like all the other greedy CEOs depicted in this story are just in it for their own greed. This feels less about productivity and more of an excuse to pay people as low as they can. Shame on Goodwill.
Strange how they omit the fact that these disabled workers all draw a disability check from the government. There are sheltered workshops all over the country that provide a place for the disabled to work. The pay scale is subject to their abilities but you must also factor in that many live in "group home" residences where they are taken care of by state monies.
Yes I do Dale. I worked for a non profit they provided group home residences and a sheltered work shop. The people that we served were all drawing a disability check. They were limited to how much money they could earn because of it. They would never be able to pay rent or take care of expenses without it. Many lived in a group home setting that provided 24 hour care and supervision. Some worked at our sheltered work shop and a few worked at goodwill. None worked full time anywhere, they were incapable of it. All of our clients could survive quite well on their disability income alone. They worked because it provided them with a sense of accomplishment and raised their self esteem. You can't have it both ways. Would you rather cut their disability, raise their pay, and require they work a forty hour week? They are on disability for a reason, it's because they are disabled.
+Dale Bergeron im sorry but be grateful you get that. some people born normal who worked all there lives don't make much more. atleast you can survive. also there are jobs for crippled people as long as there smart enough.
I worked for Goodwill from 2008 until 2011. I first started in a call center and then ended up in one of the manufacturing facilities. In 2011 I was going through a rather major health concern, and wasn’t physically or emotionally well. As a result, my performance and mood started to suffer. Fast forward to December of 2021, and by this time I’ve gotten it together as far as health is concerned. I find that there are two positions in my old department, so I apply for both of them. We’re now to the end of January of 2022, and I finally hear back from my former supervisor, and she focused exclusively on my last few months of employment where my world was turned upside down, and I have emphasized over the years and on this phone call that in terms of health I am in a whole different spot. Never the less, I am told that I am not a good match. As a side note, there were times that someone was timing my work with a stopwatch and a few of those times were near the end of my time there. The supervisor also forgot that for the first year in her department I did well, even though I had to take time off every few weeks to turn in my earnings to Social Security to determine my monthly SSI, I was doing well. I am at a loss for words on what I’ve been reading and watching.
How low can that CEO be to exploit these people for his own elite lifestyle. He should have everything he has,, houses bank accounts, cars seized and given to those he exploited then throw him in jail!
Fifty years ago my good friend took a job with Goodwill right out of college. (She is very bright, not disabled in any way.) She left after a short time, saying she felt that the workers were exploited, that many of them could have succeeded in a normal workplace but were not encouraged to do so. Unfortunately, this is not a new story.
I share this story like hot bread. As a customer, I have seen many things at Goodwill like high rise prices, they get all there merchandise for free and they see them like they were diamonds in the sky! What's with these managers and CEO' stating that they sell good items when in fact, you go to an auction and their carts are full of bololiness crap! UNBELIEVABLE! Plus they won't take any donation. Clothes must be in good condition!!! Excuse me? Like you should be accepting of everything. I would recommend to rather put your stuff bat a garage sale and donate what you wish for at your local charity. At least at that you will make some cash and help others...
People NEED to be able to work for themselves and their livelihood. It's coded in our DNA that we want to be useful, productive, and needed. These people have a right to fit into whatever niche they can to give themselves what they need...they deserve a living wage for doing it.
I worked at a Goodwill for 5 yrs.they don't pay their regular ,non handicap employees enough and NO raises unless you're a manager, assistance manager,or a lead.
They could easily fire them and hire people that can work at full speed. It's messed up but they are disabled and not really as valuable as a fully capable person in most situations. What i dint understand is how could someone sleep at night knowing that they are paying people pennies an hour? They cant even afford lunch.
I worked in the Tallahassee Goodwill on Mabry Drive & my finger was crushed in a weight machine.I had to fight for worker's comp. After I couldn't do the job for a week as I recovered (under doctors orders) I was fired. They ran a horrible operation. Back-stabbing and petty to their employees and their customers. In another comment I revealed how there was so much snitching of quality goods that went to the upper execs.They thieved the best while slaves labored for next to nothing.It's Badwill.
I rarely see a disabled person but they deserve more. Selena and Laura were able to video tape what they thought was exciting to go in the place where they put the good stuff on eBay. It backfired because we the viewers were pissed off.
I worked at cici's pizza when i was 16. I was paid 4.25 an hour for 3 months, and then they fired me because you can legally pay 'training wage' for the first 90 days to someone under 18. Nobody cared :(
Goodwill is one of the few companies that employ people with disabilities. However, they don't know how to treat them. If you are a hanger/sorter, you are expected to hang 1200 pieces of clothing each shift. You have seconds to check pockets, look for stains, tears, missing buttons, on each piece of clothing. If you work the donation door, you are understaffed and have to deal with abusive customers. Managers get the bonuses, the employee gets a $25 gift card. Corporate always backs the managers. My son worked 11 years at 2 different Goodwills and was never offered training of any kind, even though you hear about the programs offered to them while shopping.
My neighborhood Goodwill does have disabled employees and they are a pleasure. One confided in me that Goodwill would only employee part timers so they are deprived of full time benefits such as vacations and sick time. It hardly seems fair when Goodwill receives free goods and sells them for profit.
I will no longer be shopping there. I thought when I did, it was benefiting those that worked there, and others. But these people are literally making as low as 22 cents an hour while the Goodwill CEOs are making $400,000 to $1 Million a year. And the CEO calls those angry about it 'elitists'????
What happens to all the workers with disabilities who can physically only work at a fraction of the pace of a "normal" worker? Goodwill can't afford to pay them minimum wage - who will? The problem is not with employers like Goodwill, the problem is the extreme lack of funding to support people to find meaningful, well paying jobs.
Goodwill can dip into their massive pool of unearned 501(c)3 donations to pay their workers an equal wage. Or the millions of dollars of government grants they receive. For instance, a single Goodwill unit in Florida (Goodwill Industries of South Florida, Inc.) received $737,672 in government grants, but gave just under half of that ($316,685) to local CEO Dennis Pastrana. (watchdog.org/56129/fl-florida-goodwill-six-figures-for-ceos-less-than-minimum-wage-for-some-employees/) If you're a charity funded by others to help the less fortunate, you give the money to the less fortunate. The "dignity of work instead of wages" excuse runs perilously close to the retro-historical belief that black slaves preferred a life of slavery, and the affordability excuse was similarly used by plantation owners to deny abolition. Slavery is always slavery, and it's always wrong.
oinonio Its not that simple. Money doesnt fall out of the sky. If Goodwill pays them minimum wage when their productivity is worthless, Goodwill will go bankrupt. You think theyre gonna pay them more than what theyre worth just to be nice?
GuyVelella If what you say were true, then Goodwill ought to go bankrupt. But it isn't and it won't. Payment isn't about being "nice", that's as empty a statement as them saying it gives the people "self-meaning." You can't buy food or pay rent with "self-meaning." And by saying "You think theyre gonna pay them more than what theyre worth just to be nice?" do you mean that those workers are in some way worth less? Michael Verona's point above is valid; that an organization that receives such funding from the government shouldn't be paying its CEO six-figure wages, while denying its employees a living wage. It goes against the very name of the organization and rings of moral bankruptcy.
I never knew this. I am disgusted. Everyone deserves at least the minimum wage. No exceptions. Even old law makers made mistakes and these should be fixed.
$.22 per hour?! Wow... I've never donated to Goodwill and never will. All my donations go to battered and homeless shelters where they do not have to and should not have to pay for items they may need but cannot afford.
So disappointed to know that my donations and shopping at Goodwill throughout the years has resulted in such unfair treatment of disabled workers. So wrong. How dare they. I AM NOW BOYCOTTING GOODWILL STORES: 9/25/22
The president of all of this really does disgust me with his answers. I would like to see how he feels making that kind of money that they are. This is horrible and I know some of the people love that they are helping others with what I thought of as a good company since they helped our family once upon a time but they deserve much better pay and are being used horribly to do this work while the rich get richer. God help them all!
it's not just goodwill, in Canada many employers are paying people with disabilities less than min wage. I been fighting for our rights for over 20 years, it's legally legislated that we have to get paid at least minimum wage but employers are getting away with it with the help of disability agencies.
I worked at Goodwill once. It wasn't a terrible place to work but it did have flaws. One thing that I think is really shitty is that the managers (aka team leaders) only got paid like, I think they said 13 or 14 bucks an hour? Also Goodwill's really stingy with raises in my experience. I once knew someone who worked there for around 2 or 3 years and their pay never changed. Nowadays Goodwill does pay people more than minimum wage but it's still not great. When I worked there it was like 9.25 an hour. This might've just been the case with the Goodwill I worked at but still, that's my experience with the place.
This is very disappointing and sad. I currently work there, and like everything about it except the low wages. For the CEO to defend the slave wages by saying people shouldn't try to define other people's success is ridiculous. Like the privilege of working at Goodwill is enough to compensate for what amounts to working for free. What bullshit.
It's a NON-PROFIT. They would not go out of business, the profits and bonuses (some equaling 6-figures) would get affected... then I guess they would have to go back to the old business model of actually selling donated goods... Unlike the brand new buildings they just built (to hide profits and create tax breaks) where they are now selling new retail merchandise. Goodwill is slowly turning into the new WalMart
I feel for these people I recently gave my limitations report from the Dr and I began to be harassed as well as put in a position I had to struggle to do now I am on administration leave and cannot go into the building until this is over which means I will be fired but they pressured a coworker to make a statement and one to lie that I got someone to shop for me they are trying to cover why tg r y are going to try to fire me I believe this video because I know for a fact they disabled people are treated like second had people and they don't care about people that's why people call it greed will not goodwill most stores make at least 80 thousand a month they are only worried about how much money can they make if you need something don't call goodwill go to salvation army or another co. That really cares about people don't walk in there to ask for food or clothes cause they won't give take nothing but you can in salvation army and get both what does that say someone donated a turkey it was taken home they were told to bring it back procedure said send it to the food bank in little Rock that was before than I thanksgiving 2018 well it's may 2019 guess where the turkey is yep still in the freezer well guess ya can't make any money off that but God forbid someone could have eaten that that's why they need to be renamed dirty slimy scumbag greedwill
People here in Los Angeles sometimes do their community service at Goodwill. If you cannot pay a fine for a violation, you do community service. My step-daughter had to do time at a Goodwill in Sunland/Tujunga.
I used to work at goodwill. The place is corrupt as hell
Ken9284 just quit. Awful. Pay everyone like crap and the upper managers make bank
That's. Why. I. Hate. It.
I work at a goodwill store and I didn’t know they do this. they preach about helping people and creating jobs (im not disabled in any way) i took the job to help people as much as i can and cashiers only make 7.50 an hour with no pay increase! I took the job as soon as i got out of high school but the store on average where i am makes on average 30,000 a month
Tell me about it I work at one and it's like hell they just juice you up and they just want you come to work while your sick people please dont think it's nice working there when it's not I won't recommend it
@@brandonshebester9574 At the Goodwill I worked at even the managers didn't have great pay. Only like a few extra bucks an hour than the regular employees, plus they were required to work full time and basically do everything. It's really lile, the big wigs/ company owners who make bank off of Goodwill. They don't even treat the managers well.
Unbelievable! No wonder people can't afford to shop at Goodwill, because the prices reflect the high cost of the executives $100,000s worth of salaries. Yet they stiff the handicapped!
Prices at goodwill have risen. I hope they have risen at our local goodwill because they are paying fair wages. Worth investigating.
they do not have to
come there, but the news media found one that is not happy. Most are.
***** No. If companies can get away with paying sub par wages, than everyone would be working for pennies. Imagine working 8-10 hrs a day (or more), 5 or 6 days a week, and needing 1 or 2 other jobs just the make ends meet. No time for family, friends, etc. A lot of corporations see nothing wrong with this. These same companies want to give their employees very few if any benefits.
DO NOT GIVE TO Goodwill! Give it to a church or a homeless shelter.
I. Donated. Some. Stuffed. Toys. And. The. We're. Thone. Out.
Many Churches are fraud unfortunately
I. Hate. The. Stupid. Good. Will
So. Did. I. And. My. Donations. Were. Tossed. Out.
God. Damn. Ohio
Plus their prices have gone up so high that they're sometimes higher than the prices at retail stores.
get a life
Trust me, you might as well go to a garage sale and buy from any vender or even a swap meet.
It is higher than a 99 cents store....
Robert P
I have.
Dale Bergeron What is ridiculous is someone sitting here accusing them of ethics violations when they are obeying the law. If the law were changed, then they pay would be different. *Obeying the law is ethical*. If you disagree with it, then the law itself is the unethical bit.
ablestmage Are you serious! Even if it is law, it is a minimum standard, and the Goodwill can do much better than an 88cent minimum wage, you can argue about loopholes in the law all you want, but in my mind, its still unethical and the goodwill has the money and tax breaks to be ethical
Simply heartbreaking! Those with Disabilities should be protected at all cost from any exploration or unfair treatment.
Blame the founders of 1938 14c. They made the mistake in the first place and now we NEED to fix this
Contact your member of Congress
This is insane! If the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, then these people should be making *at least* $7.25 per hour. Period.
why? if they aren't producing or getting the work done as fast or as much as others why should they be an exception? because you feel the need to make an exception for them because they are disabled? Nope I say they get paid for their production. NO hand outs... I get tired of all these people wanting all for nothing..... Yes they are disabled, yes I understand that they cant function like other ppl yes i understand they need to be accommodated. However, that doesnt necessarily mean that they have to make the same amount of money if they aren't productive
Merry Bow
What do you mean, "why should they be an exception?" Your statement makes no rational sense. Exception to what? Did you even watch the video? They are working a job that pays them slave wages, hell, far less than slave wages. *ALL* people require money in order to *survive*. I'm not even talking about *thriving*, just basic survival, i.e. housing, clothing, food, water. Could *you* survive anywhere in the United States making 0.22, (that's 22 cents) per hour (or $1.76 for an 8 hour day, if that makes it any easier for you to comprehend)? Most people in the United States can't even survive making $7.25 per hour, let alone 22 cents per hour! Your lack of compassion for the suffering of others and obvious contempt astounds me! You need to search your heart and try putting yourself in the shoes of others before making ignorant comments like these.
Merry Bow How do you suggest they make a living? I sure hope you or your family never has any disabled children. You're totally wrong here. You sound so careless and its sad that there are people like you in this world.
jaydee are $7.25 an hour wil not make you a living. These people are on disability meaning the government pays them already. They could be fired and replace with people that don't have disabilities but they don't want to. It's people like you that try to help but always seem to make things worse.
John Dillinger
While I agree that "$7.25 an hour wil[l] not make you a living," the point *is* that they should be paid a *fair* wage for the work they *are* doing; and they are not even being paid the minimum wage.
I think everyone should watch this.
***** Fuck you Martin, lil bitch.
Kyle Andersen i agree. fuck him. can't believe people.
Goodwill is trying to cover up anything that is negative against them. They're making it hard for people to find these kind of videos ):
People don't really care about the disabled and that is very sorrowful
This is a travesty I had no Idea this was going on in the Goodwill industry sad😔😔
I worked at Goodwill for nearly 5 years, hanging clothes and, later on, as a cashier. As someone with Asperger's Syndrome, the more I fought to get a job more suited to my abilities, while still trying to get better pay, the more they decided to put me into the positions that would stress me out more and more.I was forced to quit, because of an increasingly corrupt operation, starting with store managers, and going up. Seriously, find better places to donate your things.
They just want all that money for themselves. How else do you explain the CEO salaries.
I have a severely autistic brother and i agree that all disabled people should be paid fair wages. I think my brother and the others he works with at the providence center work harder then most normal functioning people i know. And the sad truth to it is that social security would probably not be given to them anymore if we as a group fight for the rights that we as normal functioning people have. As it stands now my neither worked two weeks and was only paid a whole $2.83 that's it for two weeks. Since i have been in the warehouse and seen what companies are profiting from this i can tell you i will not be indulging in doing certain things...ringling brothers circus which has been a thing I've always done with my child...now not anymore. Anything Disney nope...i won't even watch it in my house. These companies pay these hard working people Pennies and reap the profits and don't even offer any benefits to them..Smh since when is it right to treat other humans that are differently abled so wrong and inhumane?
"You know what that means when someone pays you minimum wage? You know what your boss was trying to say? It's like, "Hey if I could pay you less, I would, but it's against the law." ~ Chris Rock
I'm not disabled but I've worked at Goodwill as a cashier and in production. Everything comes down to making the quota and they will exploit their workers in any and every way possible to make the quota. They make a huge profit on stuff they get for free. All the good items go directly to online sales and all the middling stuff goes out on the floor for big prices. Goodwill is a racket.
Quota on used donations?
I used to work for Goodwill. I got pregnant about a year ago and I let them know. I ended up missing some days of work because of severe morning sickness, but I would always call ahead to let them know. I ended up having to go to the hospital once because I was so sick. Apparently not being able to control being sick wasn't acceptable to them because they fired me.
Hire a lawyer immediately.
Awful!!! Even the disabled get the mim wage in UK which works out as 10-29 in US dollars .
When I don't want stuff anymore I first take it to a consignment store and then I get paid for it. I made 37 bucks at Once Upon a Child for a box of kids clothes and shoes and they didn't even take it all. What they don't take I will give away to friends before giving it to Goodwill. We have a private charity thrift store where I live so I'm going to start taking stuff there instead if nobody I know wants it.
Private charity, as opposed to public charity? Which isn't a thing. Charities aren't traded on the stockmarket, here. Perhaps you meant local, as opposed to national. I'm not sure why that should matter, though, when Goodwill impacts the areas where their services are located. In that sense, it is still local. I'm also not sure why you would donate things to your friends sooner than to someone in need. If your friends happen to be in need, then fair enough. But want is not need, and you are doing no charitable service by redistributing wealth among the wealthy.
Yea that's what I meant...local charity. The one here has a homeless shelter too so a lot of the clothes are given to homeless people. If you give your clothes to your friends they use it and then they can either give it to someone else when they are done or donate it. Once the Goodwill here had so much stuff that they were throwing tons and tons of things in the trash. Good things. So yea I'd rather give it to my friends who can actually use it. I'm not wealthy...I'm a single mom. My friends who I give stuff to are not wealthy either.
I’m the same way will not give a dime nor spend money at their stores.
This is why I donate and give my time to the Salvation Army. they also hire the disabled to do the same work at a normal wage, $30,000 annually on average.Todd Bassett The Salvation Army's Commissioner receives a salary of only $13,000 per year. I can't see how Goodwill can say they are a not for profit charity.
Check out Corporate Casket, they ain’t clean either.
That blind exec should have way more empathy than he does. He needs to go. His heart is blind, not only his eyes.
He is related to a high paying exec I'm guessing.
I worked for Goodwill 20 yrs ago, I know for a fact that they pay their sales execs a very high salary, give them trips and bonuses for good performance, and pay their managers a bonus for meeting weekly or monthly quotas. They have also implemented ways to make more money, like online auctions of finer goods, so-called "boutique" items, that no matter what shape they're in, because of a name brand, they are marked way higher. They also sell new goods, purchased at a very low rate as close-outs from stores like Target and JC Penney, which they mark up twice as much and resell. It's ridiculous how much their prices have risen, you can do better shopping the clearance racks of stores...I really love shopping there, but I recently have actually bought a pair of shoes, on clearance at Target, for $5 cheaper than they were marked at Goodwill! Shame on Goodwill, for taking advantage of the very people who are supposed to be their mission focus! There are child-labor laws, there should be laws to protect the disabled as well!
I'm impressed! If they are that innovative and successful, their executives deserve to be well compensated. Thank you for making the case. Now compare that to the bozos at NBC losing market share for years while drawing 7 figure compensation. Or the pea brains wallowing in our misery at Obamacare.
Goodwill, just another charity pimping organization.
FALSE! I Work At Goodwill And We Are A Great Store! Everyone (Including Me) Takes Pride And Joy And Love With There Work. We Welcome Everyone With Open Arms And A Loving Heart And We Are Blessed To Do That.
Boss talks bull-shit, despite swimming in money hes STEALING from these people.
***** you are crazy if you think they all make .22. per hour.
Sometimes they made .03 cents per good piece of clothing depending on how many good clothes they can hang... it's a damp shame I'm glad they changed the law and now they get minimum wage!
I worked at a Goodwill in a lower management capacity.Even we who were not disabled were treated poorly.The upper management had deals worked out with the drivers who brought in donations.They ALWAYS scooped the best merchandise before it entered the floor for pricing or for sale.The administrators/directors had gold & diamond jewelry dripping from their bodies.None of the "good stuff" ever made it to the floor for retail.
Meanwhile the workers in the back labored in 95 degree warehouses.Frauds.
I worked at Badwill's Colorado corporate offices & I worked with people who had been there for years without a pay raise [one person was only getting $9.50 hr. after 5 yrs. of working for them]. Badwill IS a dead end job of last resort. Jim Gibbons, Pres. & CEO (who is himself blind) has the temerity to defend Badwill's despicable, exploitative & in my opinion, discriminatory policies. The man should be ashamed of himself. He's more than happy to rake in the 💰 on the backs of other disabled people while actively participating in keeping them down. He is a traitor to them & forgets his own past. So much for human empathy. Look at his face in this video, he looks very much like a well fed 🐷. He was very evasive with his answers & has the nerve to accuse critics of being "elitist". Frankly, I'm surprised he didn't try yo turn the tables & accuse these very same critics of some sort of "disability bias" as a way to deflect attention away from himself & his dishohourable actions. Look at his body language & the way he speaks and behaves when answering (or not) the interviewer's questions. He & all the other regional Ceo's are stealing from the poor to give to themselves. I guess crime really DOES pay afterall, especially when it's sanctioned & the pay loophole exploited so vigorously by a FOR PROFIT corporation. They use these "skill tests" as an excuse to not pay these people a fair wage.
Another policy the individual stores practice is having employee parties in the break room (potlucks, pizza delivery, etc.) & pointedly excluding volunteers & others who are not paid employees from being allowed to participate. The manager of the Broadway & Archer store in Denver, Co. (Maria), went so far as to put a sign on the break room door ordering ALL non-paid workers to stay out for at least an hour. After the lunch party was over, sealed containers of food were still on the table with a sign saying non-paid workers were not allowed to touch the food.
In Denver, food stamp recipients are often required to do community service at Badwill retail stores in order to continue receiving benefits. One time, I witnessed the store manager, Maria, threaten a food stamp recipient, one of her store volunteers. She threatened to contact the volunteers' case worker & have their F/S benefits cut off.
I have witnessed a LOT of very questionable practices & behaviours at Badwill.
So, go ahead & continue to patronize Badwill if you want. Virtually none of your hard-spent 💸 will go into the pockets of those who hard-earn their $1.66 per hour, but you CAN bet it will most likely end up in the pockets of Jim 🐖 Gibbons & his exploitative, sub-minimum wage buddies.
Sleep well. 😘
He will one day get whats coming to him as karma bites him in the ass. States are already banning the practice
Nobody should be receiving anything less than minimum wage if they're working, especially not the disabled. They probably need more money than the rest of us just to compensate for whatever different kind of lifestyles they have. And nobody (in reference to the CEO millionaires) actually needs to make a million bucks in a year while their employees barely make enough in a day to buy a McChicken off the dollar menu. This is heartbreaking.
Your pay is not proportional to your need. It correlates to your ability.
Troy B So if you are ability means your pay is not proportional to what you need, then you should learn to live with malnutrition?
That makes no sense.
I'm glad that one of my contacts Facebooked this to me. This has to be one of the most despicable situations possible, in Disability-Rights.
That's horrible... And the CEO sat there and justified it! Like the all mighty dollar is more important than a human being. Might as well put up an auction block and sell some of your cheap labor disabled people to other pieces of crap companies that would do such a thing. I'm sure they are out there.
I worked for the Salvation Army in Australia and they didn't give us a red cent for our help. In fact, they pushed us around like we were paid employees. One of their 28 year old officers, had an 85 year old volunteer in tears. Yes good one Salvos
Complete scam. As someone who worked at the top. Helping people huh? They count anyone who comes in to use a computer as helping the community and inflate their numbers. Salaries range from 72k and up for those who manage a few stores. The truth is awful.
We were waiting in line to donate in Queen Creek, AZ. We listened to an empliyee berate and harrass a mentally handicapped employee! He wasn't moving fast enough, hurry up slow poke! Stop goofing off! All the while, just standing around, doing nothing! We had a heavy furniture piece. No one came to help this young man, so my son and husband got out to help. They were told "this is his job. Please get back in your vehical." My husband replied " Son, get out of my way, if you know what's good for you." 2 other men got out of their cars to help. Seeing this, I hope he didn't get fired or his pay cut. I emailed corporate and recieved a call from the store manager. They acted very surprised and told me I must have misunderstood because Larry, the employee in question, was treated very well and they had never had any issues with the way he was being treated. I told her but I couldn't have misunderstood the words idiot, lazy, slowpoke, and hurry up. And neither could the four people in the car with me. She said she would have to look into it further. That was two years ago. Never heard back.
No they blew it off. I'm autistic and I was working at goodwill and it was hell every day And constant bullying and harassment... They don't care.
My dad has always said "An honest wage for an honest day's work." There are people who spend all the working day on FB and texting (when they should be doing what they were contracted for) and they get paid more than people putting in honest work who happen to have a disability they DID NOT REQUEST.
Many sociological and psychological studies have shown that a bad job is worse than no job. No one asked to be born blind/deaf, with palsy, with downs, with limbs missing. We just get on with it.
These managers pay makes me sick
OMG this Breaks my heart!!! Thank you for bringing this to light!!!
The solution is not to avoid Goodwill, but to write your reps and congresschumps about altering the fair labor standards act provisions, to see whether one sob story news article is enough to change the policy, or whether the policy actually makes better sense with science involved in the issue.
why not both? Goodwill should take a hit for this.
Ming Chen Because they are following the letter of the law. The Fair Standards act lists specifically what to do when hiring handicapped workers, and they do exactly that. There are no loopholes being used -- they are following the law. That's like saying people who drive 45mph in a 45mph zone should take a hit for their actions. There's no deception going on at all. The labor standards are clearly defined about what to do with handicapped worker pay rates.
No, it is a false equivalence to compare this to merely driving 45 mph in a 45mph, there is no ethical issue there.
The fact of the matter is, there are plenty of laws on the books and following some exactly doesn't remove the ethical context of the situation. To advocate that they get a free ethical pass merely because they are following an arbitrary law is precisely to advocate for a loophole of a different order. When a company moves a bunch of money to their account in Ireland and then posts a loss here, getting a huge tax write off despite the fact that they actually had huge profits, in a strict technical sense, is NOT a loophole, this has nothing to do with the fact that it is still unethical. A company in both situations should be penalized while there is work to change the law. Especially considering how slow laws are to change, companies don't just get to neglect their social responsibility during this time.
It also isn't a matter of Goodwill competitive pricing or losing market share, this isn't like outsourcing, where if they don't do it, their competitors will and in effect their company will likely go under. Their corporate teams take away huge bonuses that could even be reduced MARGINALLY to provide humane wages to these people. Considering that indentured servants in third world countries make more than some of these Goodwill folks, I think only the ethically bankrupt can just causally pretend that Goodwill isn't in the wrong.
Furthermore, you act like the law provides guidelines and declares absolutely that these workers shall be underpaid. When the law instead provides a system to determine the absolute minimum. If you think we as a people should ignore the social cost of company lack of ethical decisions, while the government takes forever to change the minimum that the company cold easily exceed with little blowback, than I would assert that you are not interested in living in a just society.
Ming Chen The matter of huge bonuses is a completely different matter altogether and has nothing to do with the wage rates. The purpose of operating a business is not to employ people. Nobody credible says to themselves, "I'm not sure what I want in life, but I want to at least go into the employing-people business and employ lots of people." That's not even a sound business plan.
Goodwill is making great strides toward employing handicapped people by employing them when few others will. That is not ethical bankruptcy. Ethical bankruptcy would be more like offering a double-tap service to parents who must take care of handicapped relatives, rather that employing them in a market where few other businesses would employ them.
The legal minimum is what absolutely must be done, at the least. If you want to legislate ethics, then you must create the legal minimum or maximum. It cannot be said that Goodwill is being unethical by following the legal minimum, as it is legislated to BE ETHICAL to do so. Following the law is ethical. Boycotting or demanding that someone do more than the law suggests is not ethical. Since "ethical" much in the same way as "handsome" is not something that can be determined legally per se, standards must be in place that prevent a business from abuse or straying into unethical practice. Until there is a legal situation that alters the way businesses are required to pay handicapped workers, then doing so as it is done today is ethical. You may have much higher personal standards about what is ethical and should be done if you were in charge. I would challenge you to become one of those people in charge to make those changes personally.
ablestmage Following a law is ethical only if the law is ethical.
unacceptable
Many of their employees are paid way less then minimum wage. Also, they sell all of there good stuff online, so you never have a chance to even see it. What is sold in the stores, is usually damaged.
This is something that touches on a very personal nerve for me as I grew up in a sheltered workshop environment that would tell a VERY different story than what they report of the one example known as Goodwill. My mom worked at a local sheltered workshop that has been facing shutdown since it began due to lack of funds. The thrift store part of it works in a similar fashion to that of Goodwill, but doesn't see the numbers they do. There is NO way, NO way, these local workshops can EVER be expected and forced to pay minimum wage. When my mom worked there, they bussed the clients to work and home every day. Now, some of them live in the workshop apartment complex. The board members are local business men and women who don't make any kind of amount of money talked about in that report.
Dealing with Goodwill maybe one thing, but throwing in the sheltered workshop institution in an all inclusive manner like that is irresponsible, mis leading, and could potentially, and effectively end the lives of many mentally handicapped and disabled people in communities across the United States. Typical of NBC's self righteousness to point something out (where are these super well paid "journalists" entering these people's lives to help them work in a world where their disabilities make it hard for them to work at all?) so they can feel better about themselves and ignore the damage it could be doing to the over all area they are attacking.
The level of one sided big government angle that is shoving onto people who couldn't possibly exist under their self righteous standards is, to me and the live I've lived and seen lived by people that have broken my heart my entire life, quite frankly disgusting. Why didn't they spend the same amount of time presenting the facts of what the proposed all sweeping legislations would do to all the small operations out there? I'd really like to hear their answers to that question.
And I am sick to death of picking up items that came from Dollar Tree for 1.25, and seeing a Goodwill tag reading 3.99. We need to SHUT Goodwill down.
Unbelievable! I will never give to "Good" will again!!
I will be sharing this info with everyone who will listen.
Give names of the people who are making the large salaries. I'd like to know who they are and who they vote for.
too many to list, not only the company execs, but every sales manager, of every single Goodwill district (and there are MANY) and it's really not the fault of the sales managers, it's the company's fault for implementing this...what's really, truly shameful is that the CEO is legally blind himself...shame on him!
Guess it shows that a handicap (being blind) doesn't rule out greed.
Billy Barton I know a lot of disabled people that huge dicks
Billy Barton boy do you have that backwards.. it's not the disabled who are greedy in this story at all.. it's their employers.
I'd like to see the percentages of how they improved the company and maybe even the community. If both quality and profits were increased, perhaps the CEOs deserve what they make. My experience is that Goodwill overcharges for worn-out clothes. I prefer to shop at Salvation Army if give a choice.
The only catch is if they are forced to raise the hourly rate, most likely many of these workers will not be employed there any longer. They will hire fewer more productive workers for these positions.
They will not be FORCED to. Goodwill is a non-profit and therefore pays no taxes. In addition, they are paying MILLIONS of dollars every year to their executives when they could easily pay half that and still attract high quality leadership that is there for the mission as opposed to getting wealthy.
Goodwill prides itself on hiring disabled workers, and so would be a big PR nightmare for them to end that practice.
As a mission-driven non-profit, they could absorb this cost for sure and still have money for their mission.
All that being said, there is some validity to idea that many disabled workers will find tremendous value just having these opportunities, but if not “minimum” wage, certainly at least half minimum ought to be the base, simply to avoid the most egregious exploitation.
"The experience is more important than the pay they get."
Oh okay... So they'll get experience for the one. and possibly only, job they'll ever have. It's okay if they can't pay for food, electric, etc., though. Makes total sense.
The alternative could be a group home where they may get abused by staff and other residents. Boredom can lead to violent outbursts in ANY person of any intellect.
@@genkiferal7178 Wow, this is an old post. Obviously, that should not be the alternative either. Disabled people can work just as hard, if not harder, than any "normal" person. They should be paid appropriately. The point of this video is to show that Goodwill could legally pay disabled people less than minimum wage six years ago. I have no idea what they do now, although I wouldn't be surprised if they still go through loopholes like this. At the end of the day, it isn't fair to EMPLOY someone for mere cents per hour.
@@taylorspoula certainly they should get at least $3 an hour, but how much they are able to accomplish does matter - not just how hard they work.
He's fucking bullshit. I mean some of these people yes in fact do work harder than someone who slacks off on their phone all day and you don't see those people getting docked below minimum. I call complete discrimination on this. They should have a right to earn as much money as everyone else but this little asshole just like all the other greedy CEOs depicted in this story are just in it for their own greed. This feels less about productivity and more of an excuse to pay people as low as they can. Shame on Goodwill.
Strange how they omit the fact that these disabled workers all draw a disability check from the government. There are sheltered workshops all over the country that provide a place for the disabled to work. The pay scale is subject to their abilities but you must also factor in that many live in "group home" residences where they are taken care of by state monies.
Yes I do Dale. I worked for a non profit they provided group home residences and a sheltered work shop. The people that we served were all drawing a disability check. They were limited to how much money they could earn because of it. They would never be able to pay rent or take care of expenses without it. Many lived in a group home setting that provided 24 hour care and supervision. Some worked at our sheltered work shop and a few worked at goodwill. None worked full time anywhere, they were incapable of it. All of our clients could survive quite well on their disability income alone. They worked because it provided them with a sense of accomplishment and raised their self esteem. You can't have it both ways. Would you rather cut their disability, raise their pay, and require they work a forty hour week? They are on disability for a reason, it's because they are disabled.
+Tick Bryan don't fight with this guy dale he is a liberal who lacks logic
+Dale Bergeron im sorry but be grateful you get that. some people born normal who worked all there lives don't make much more. atleast you can survive. also there are jobs for crippled people as long as there smart enough.
I worked for Goodwill from 2008 until 2011. I first started in a call center and then ended up in one of the manufacturing facilities. In 2011 I was going through a rather major health concern, and wasn’t physically or emotionally well. As a result, my performance and mood started to suffer. Fast forward to December of 2021, and by this time I’ve gotten it together as far as health is concerned. I find that there are two positions in my old department, so I apply for both of them. We’re now to the end of January of 2022, and I finally hear back from my former supervisor, and she focused exclusively on my last few months of employment where my world was turned upside down, and I have emphasized over the years and on this phone call that in terms of health I am in a whole different spot. Never the less, I am told that I am not a good match. As a side note, there were times that someone was timing my work with a stopwatch and a few of those times were near the end of my time there. The supervisor also forgot that for the first year in her department I did well, even though I had to take time off every few weeks to turn in my earnings to Social Security to determine my monthly SSI, I was doing well. I am at a loss for words on what I’ve been reading and watching.
How low can that CEO be to exploit these people for his own elite lifestyle. He should have everything he has,, houses bank accounts, cars seized and given to those he exploited then throw him in jail!
When this CEO is blind, and he lets his other fello blind workers down by paying them just pennies. I don’t know how he sleeps at night!
That and a class action lawsuit
They don't pay for the clothes. Why can't they pay the minimum wage?
Wow , no wonder all you find is junk at Goodwill . The auction off anything of worth .
just what you would expect a sweat shop owner to say about a plant in Bangladesh....
Fifty years ago my good friend took a job with Goodwill right out of college. (She is very bright, not disabled in any way.) She left after a short time, saying she felt that the workers were exploited, that many of them could have succeeded in a normal workplace but were not encouraged to do so.
Unfortunately, this is not a new story.
Please call the Labor boards and complain about this! Get the Government involved!
I share this story like hot bread. As a customer, I have seen many things at Goodwill like high rise prices, they get all there merchandise for free and they see them like they were diamonds in the sky! What's with these managers and CEO' stating that they sell good items when in fact, you go to an auction and their carts are full of bololiness crap! UNBELIEVABLE! Plus they won't take any donation. Clothes must be in good condition!!! Excuse me? Like you should be accepting of everything.
I would recommend to rather put your stuff bat a garage sale and donate what you wish for at your local charity. At least at that you will make some cash and help others...
That is so unfair.... Hate them
To the people who are saying they won't shop at Goodwill any longer.. You realize that would cause these people to lose their jobs...
What jobs?
@@rider3364 - Good point.
People NEED to be able to work for themselves and their livelihood. It's coded in our DNA that we want to be useful, productive, and needed. These people have a right to fit into whatever niche they can to give themselves what they need...they deserve a living wage for doing it.
And the reason we can't fix the loophole ? Congress is brought for .
Minimum wage should be no lower than subsistence level. NO EXCEPTIONS.
Minimum wage should not exist at all.
Phil H
fukkk you
Marcus Unitis
Go learn economics.
Phil H
Where? At a Libertarian Rally?
Marcus Unitis
That would be a lot better than wherever the hell you're learning them from.
America at it's best.
That is absolutely scandalous!
I worked at a Goodwill for 5 yrs.they don't pay their regular ,non handicap employees enough and NO raises unless you're a manager, assistance manager,or a lead.
This is sicking I work for Goodwill I'm in the south jersey Philly region. lucky my wage is better but it still is not enough for my living
They could easily fire them and hire people that can work at full speed. It's messed up but they are disabled and not really as valuable as a fully capable person in most situations. What i dint understand is how could someone sleep at night knowing that they are paying people pennies an hour? They cant even afford lunch.
I worked in the Tallahassee Goodwill on Mabry Drive & my finger was crushed in a weight machine.I had to fight for worker's comp. After I couldn't do the job for a week as I recovered (under doctors orders) I was fired. They ran a horrible operation. Back-stabbing and petty to their employees and their customers.
In another comment I revealed how there was so much snitching of quality goods that went to the upper execs.They thieved the best while slaves labored for next to nothing.It's Badwill.
I do not recommend this job, they can't see the value of their hard working employees
I rarely see a disabled person but they deserve more. Selena and Laura were able to video tape what they thought was exciting to go in the place where they put the good stuff on eBay. It backfired because we the viewers were pissed off.
I will never shop there again. Come on pay them what their worth. 22 cents a hour forget about it!! Never again will I step foot in another store !!
I worked at cici's pizza when i was 16. I was paid 4.25 an hour for 3 months, and then they fired me because you can legally pay 'training wage' for the first 90 days to someone under 18. Nobody cared :(
$4.25 was the minimum wage when I started working =P
how about shut the fuck up
Give me head I give you $6
Corruption at it's best for these slave drivers!
Amen
I would not know about this evil going on, Thank you very much for informing me :)
Goodwill is one of the few companies that employ people with disabilities. However, they don't know how to treat them. If you are a hanger/sorter, you are expected to hang 1200 pieces of clothing each shift. You have seconds to check pockets, look for stains, tears, missing buttons, on each piece of clothing. If you work the donation door, you are understaffed and have to deal with abusive customers. Managers get the bonuses, the employee gets a $25 gift card. Corporate always backs the managers. My son worked 11 years at 2 different Goodwills and was never offered training of any kind, even though you hear about the programs offered to them while shopping.
It's unbelievable how they get away with this in America!
And bs working conditions
My neighborhood Goodwill does have disabled employees and they are a pleasure. One confided in me that Goodwill would only employee part timers so they are deprived of full time benefits such as vacations and sick time. It hardly seems fair when Goodwill receives free goods and sells them for profit.
I will no longer be shopping there. I thought when I did, it was benefiting those that worked there, and others. But these people are literally making as low as 22 cents an hour while the Goodwill CEOs are making $400,000 to $1 Million a year. And the CEO calls those angry about it 'elitists'????
Someone will bite him in the ass one day
I apply for goodwill for a job and I haven't heard from them yet!!
I remember when I heard of this I stopped shopping at goodwill and not donate to them.
CEO and owner Mark Curran profits 2.3 million dollars a year instead of going to the actual people that really need it thanx to your donations
I am filing a public complaint on them
I rather trash my unwanted items than donate to goodwill
Seriously? We're saying just working gives "self-meaning" which overrides minimum wage?! Bullshit! pay these folks a Living Wage!
Well said! No one is equal until all are equal.
What happens to all the workers with disabilities who can physically only work at a fraction of the pace of a "normal" worker? Goodwill can't afford to pay them minimum wage - who will? The problem is not with employers like Goodwill, the problem is the extreme lack of funding to support people to find meaningful, well paying jobs.
Goodwill can dip into their massive pool of unearned 501(c)3 donations to pay their workers an equal wage. Or the millions of dollars of government grants they receive. For instance, a single Goodwill unit in Florida (Goodwill Industries of South Florida, Inc.) received $737,672 in government grants, but gave just under half of that ($316,685) to local CEO Dennis Pastrana. (watchdog.org/56129/fl-florida-goodwill-six-figures-for-ceos-less-than-minimum-wage-for-some-employees/)
If you're a charity funded by others to help the less fortunate, you give the money to the less fortunate. The "dignity of work instead of wages" excuse runs perilously close to the retro-historical belief that black slaves preferred a life of slavery, and the affordability excuse was similarly used by plantation owners to deny abolition.
Slavery is always slavery, and it's always wrong.
oinonio Its not that simple. Money doesnt fall out of the sky. If Goodwill pays them minimum wage when their productivity is worthless, Goodwill will go bankrupt. You think theyre gonna pay them more than what theyre worth just to be nice?
GuyVelella If what you say were true, then Goodwill ought to go bankrupt. But it isn't and it won't. Payment isn't about being "nice", that's as empty a statement as them saying it gives the people "self-meaning." You can't buy food or pay rent with "self-meaning." And by saying "You think theyre gonna pay them more than what theyre worth just to be nice?" do you mean that those workers are in some way worth less? Michael Verona's point above is valid; that an organization that receives such funding from the government shouldn't be paying its CEO six-figure wages, while denying its employees a living wage. It goes against the very name of the organization and rings of moral bankruptcy.
I never knew this. I am disgusted. Everyone deserves at least the minimum wage. No exceptions. Even old law makers made mistakes and these should be fixed.
OK internet, you know what to do. Start spamming all social media with this.
......He looks like the corrupt sheriff from the Disney cartoon Robin Hood.
$.22 per hour?! Wow... I've never donated to Goodwill and never will. All my donations go to battered and homeless shelters where they do not have to and should not have to pay for items they may need but cannot afford.
So disappointed to know that my donations and shopping at Goodwill throughout the years has resulted in such unfair treatment of disabled workers. So wrong. How dare they. I AM NOW BOYCOTTING GOODWILL STORES: 9/25/22
"typically not about their livelihood" what if they goodwill guy was paid $0.50?
Exactly. Lets see how they like it. Hypocrites
I will NEVER AGAIN donate to Goodwill or shop there.
This is a shame, hope they get rid of these people. These heads should be investigated how in a charity someone is making a half a million dollars.
They need to stop. They are just taking advantage of these people and half of them don't have the mental capacity to process it.
Goodwill SUCKS!
Sad to say that Jeremy Davidson passed away a few years ago. My condolences to his family and loved ones.
They are also treated badly by the managers because they know they’ll have a hard time finding another job.
The president of all of this really does disgust me with his answers. I would like to see how he feels making that kind of money that they are. This is horrible and I know some of the people love that they are helping others with what I thought of as a good company since they helped our family once upon a time but they deserve much better pay and are being used horribly to do this work while the rich get richer. God help them all!
I don’t understand how this isn’t on anyone’s radar. Wow. Disgusting.
it's not just goodwill, in Canada many employers are paying people with disabilities less than min wage. I been fighting for our rights for over 20 years, it's legally legislated that we have to get paid at least minimum wage but employers are getting away with it with the help of disability agencies.
I worked at Goodwill once. It wasn't a terrible place to work but it did have flaws. One thing that I think is really shitty is that the managers (aka team leaders) only got paid like, I think they said 13 or 14 bucks an hour? Also Goodwill's really stingy with raises in my experience. I once knew someone who worked there for around 2 or 3 years and their pay never changed. Nowadays Goodwill does pay people more than minimum wage but it's still not great. When I worked there it was like 9.25 an hour. This might've just been the case with the Goodwill I worked at but still, that's my experience with the place.
This is very disappointing and sad. I currently work there, and like everything about it except the low wages. For the CEO to defend the slave wages by saying people shouldn't try to define other people's success is ridiculous. Like the privilege of working at Goodwill is enough to compensate for what amounts to working for free. What bullshit.
Excuses man.
Wow. So they chose the blind executive making 500,000 per year to go do damage control. This is pitiful and i hope everyone stops donating to goodwill
It's a NON-PROFIT. They would not go out of business, the profits and bonuses (some equaling 6-figures) would get affected... then I guess they would have to go back to the old business model of actually selling donated goods... Unlike the brand new buildings they just built (to hide profits and create tax breaks) where they are now selling new retail merchandise.
Goodwill is slowly turning into the new WalMart
And Inventory is acquired FREE!!!!!
What a hypocrisy of a company!!! Shame on Goodwill!!!
I feel for these people I recently gave my limitations report from the Dr and I began to be harassed as well as put in a position I had to struggle to do now I am on administration leave and cannot go into the building until this is over which means I will be fired but they pressured a coworker to make a statement and one to lie that I got someone to shop for me they are trying to cover why tg r y are going to try to fire me I believe this video because I know for a fact they disabled people are treated like second had people and they don't care about people that's why people call it greed will not goodwill most stores make at least 80 thousand a month they are only worried about how much money can they make if you need something don't call goodwill go to salvation army or another co. That really cares about people don't walk in there to ask for food or clothes cause they won't give take nothing but you can in salvation army and get both what does that say someone donated a turkey it was taken home they were told to bring it back procedure said send it to the food bank in little Rock that was before than I thanksgiving 2018 well it's may 2019 guess where the turkey is yep still in the freezer well guess ya can't make any money off that but God forbid someone could have eaten that that's why they need to be renamed dirty slimy scumbag greedwill
People here in Los Angeles sometimes do their community service at Goodwill. If you cannot pay a fine for a violation, you do community service. My step-daughter had to do time at a Goodwill in Sunland/Tujunga.
*Ive heard as low as 2 cents an hour!*