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Sequestration Gets Blind Workers Fired
In one of the more dramatic examples of budget cuts affecting the most vulnerable in society, non-profit groups that employ the visually impaired have begun to lay off workers as a result of sequestration.
The Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired announced on Thursday that it would be letting 28 of its 65-member staff go with sales orders from the federal government drying up. The group works predominantly with the General Services Administration to produce tape products.
“As a result of sequestration federal agencies across the boards have had their budgets cut,” said John Mitchell, executive director of the organization. “Many have pursued an automatic reduction and stymying of ordering of products they normally would be using. And as a result, they have stopped placing orders with us about three weeks ago.”
The move by Mitchell to reduce staff in absence of continued contracts is one of the more drastic examples to date of the sequester’s indiscriminate ripple effects. Other groups that provide employment for the visually impaired have felt the pinch of budget cuts but have, so far, managed to weather them.
Greensboro’s Industries for the Blind, which gets 98 percent of its business from the federal government, recently laid off 40 workers because of a slowdown in contracts with the Department of Defense. But the president of the group, David LoPresti, told The Huffington Post that he expects to bring those workers back on board. He has secured several additional contracts, mostly for t-shirts and other military garments, since he made the announcement.
“These people will be coming back. We will call them back starting in about three weeks. It will depend on how fast the material comes in,” said LoPresti. Because of budget cuts, he added, “the military is ordering smaller and more cautiously. But, hey, they need underwear. Eventually they run out of underwear.” MOREHERE
