WORKSHOP SUPERVISORS PROTEST PAY

PERRYVILLE -- Protesting low wages paid to handicapped workers, a number of supervisors and a manager at a sheltered workshop in Perryville didn't show up for work Monday, said Hillary Schmittzehe, president of VIP Industries.

A representative of the group who left a phone message with Schmittzehe's secretary on Friday cited pay that averages $2 an hour for assembly work, Schmittzehe said.

"They still haven't talked with me directly, and I have yet to speak with any of them," said Schmittzehe, who manages sheltered workshops in the region.

Schmittzehe said he didn't understand the supervisors' issue, since nearly all of the handicapped workers live either in group homes or with supportive family members and receive federal and state subsidies.

The supervisors' resignations were communicated after they had taken handicapped employees home on Friday, Schmittzehe said. "If they really cared about the handicapped, why didn't they stay?" he asked.

The state's sheltered workshop program is governed by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and local boards exercise control. Area board members could not be reached by telephone Monday.

Comments made by the supervisors suggested they wanted to create their own advisory board, Schmittzehe said.

At the 91 sheltered workshops in Missouri, wages average approximately one-third of what is paid to non-handicapped workers performing similar jobs, said Jim Morris, director of communications for the state Department of Education. "Although it's less than minimum wage, it gives them a place to work," Morris said.

Wages are seldom an issue at the workshops, said Larry Young, sheltered workshop director for the Department of Education. "Our goal is to provide meaningful employment to people," Young said.

During the six-hour workday in Perryville, VIP Industries' workers assemble plastic parts for car interiors from TG USA as well as brooms and other products for the QVC Home Shopping network, Schmittzehe said.

Measures of productivity are taken every six months, and pay moves up or down depending on the average number of units produced, Young said.

Young recalled a couple from a workshop he managed in Springfield where the man earned minimum wage while his wife's pay fell just below. With support from supplemental Social Security income and Medicaid waiver money, they lived normal, independent lives, he said.

Although the workshops pay employees from money received through contract work, the state offers wage subsidies at nearly 15 percent, Young said. This amounts to an average of $9 extra for a six-hour workday, he said.

Schmittzehe visited the Perryville workshop Monday, where attendance was down about 5 percent. Some handicapped employees expressed fear about their jobs, he said.

"I promised them that we would be open tomorrow," he said.