Companies amassing cash instead of investing in workers – National Consumers League

By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

While visiting family in Minneapolis, I read an article in the Star Tribune about Minnesota companies piling up the cash and not spending it on hiring new workers or buying new equipment. This is written as the United States faces 10 percent unemployment. The piece was written with a cool remove – just reporting the facts. But there were numerous references to the impact of these policies – with an emphasis on how much the companies care about investors and paying dividends and such – with little or no concern about workers. On the list were Hormel ($288+million), Medtronic (nearly $4 billion), 3M (nearly $5 billion), and United Health Group ($11 billion)

And how did these companies amass the cash? In 3M’s case, it slashed 4,000 jobs, got rid of free lunches for employees, and banned merit increases. What did they do with all the money they saved? They’ve acquired three new companies for $2 billion. The biggest concern in making these investments is expanding the company – and ensuring rewards to investors. The article notes that “cash-rich United Health Group upped its annual dividend this year to 50 cents a share,” and “Target hiked its quarterly dividend to 25 cents a share.”

Yes, that’s important. But equally important is making sure that the workers in these companies aren’t summarily laid off or deprived of basic benefits like health care or decent 401k contributions, and that these companies realize that those who go to work each day for them, their loyal employees, are the capital that allows the company to amass its billions in reserves. And yet you don’t hear about the things the company is doing to shore up its workforce, boost morale, or reward performance that has lead to greater productivity. There’s something wrong with this picture, in my view, when investors become more important than the folks that keep the company going day to day. But I guess I’m naïve – clearly the authors of this article think the emphasis on paying bigger dividends and acquiring more companies is more important.

NCL Statement on FCC “Bill Shock” Initiative – National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, the nation’s pioneering consumer organization, today reaffirmed its support for robust action by the Federal Communications Commission to address the problem of “bill shock.” The following statement may be attributed to Sally Greenberg, executive director of the National Consumer League:

“Wireless phone bills have become a source of confusion for consumers in recent years. Increasingly data-hungry applications, high rates for data, voice and text-messaging overages and a shift away from paper bills and towards automatic bill pay have all combined to put consumers at the mercy of wireless companies’ billing systems. While many carriers have instituted usage control technologies, they typically rely on proactive user engagement and often require a fee to take advantage of the most useful features. Action by the FCC is needed to give consumers, regardless of carrier, the necessary disclosures and warnings before they experience “bill shock.”  We applaud Chairman Genachowski for his pro-consumer position on this issue.”

Know your medicine, know your pharmacist – National Consumers League

October is Pharmacists’ Month!  Whether you fill your script regularly or you interact with a pharmacist for that once-a-year bug you get, chances are, you underestimate their ability to help you improve and manage your health!

In our changing society, chances are you – as a health care consumer – have several choices when deciding how and where to fill your prescription.  We can choose between the local mom-and-pop shop, the chain with multiple locations, or the mail order pharmacy.

Still, do you know what your pharmacist can do for you? Pharmacists are medicine experts, and we as consumers need to make better use of this skill.  We continue to take more and more medicines (not to mention supplements like vitamins), and we often don’t understand what they’re for, how they work, and how they interact with one another. That’s where the pharmacist can help! The pharmacist can help up manage our medicines and provide information about the medications we take. By talking to the pharmacist – we can often learn interesting things about our medication regimen (we’re taking two of the same thing, one pill we’re taking makes another work funny, etc.).

Check in with your pharmacist to see what they’re doing to celebrate this month. Maybe you’ll find an interesting health screening, get your flu vaccine, or learn about a new service they can provide. The pharmacist is one more member of your health care team working to help you achieve your greatest level of health.

2010 Trumpeter a success – National Consumers League

 

National Consumers League Trumpeter Awards recipients and presenters at the 2010 event on Thursday, Oct. 7. NCL honored Surgeon General Regina Benjamin and Compensation Czar Kenneth Feinberg with the 2010 Trumpeter Award. CFA's Jean Ann Fox, lifelong consumer advocate, received the Florence Kelley Consumer Leadership Award.

 

‘Compensation Czar’, Surgeon General to be honored with NCL Trumpeter Award – National Consumers League

October 7, 2010

Contact: 202-835-3323, media@nclnet.org

Washington, D.C.—The National Consumers League will honor ‘Compensation Czar’ Kenneth Feinberg, the Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation and administrator of the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster Victim Compensation Unit and United States Surgeon General Vice Admiral Regina Benjamin, M.D. with its highest honor, the Trumpeter Award, today in Washington DC. The event will bring together a diverse group of representatives of the labor unions, advocates, legislators, organizations, and industries touched by the two advocates’ esteemed careers.

“The Trumpeter Award is NCL’s highest honor, given to leaders who are not afraid to speak out for social justice and for the rights of consumers. No one fits that description better than Kenneth Feinberg and Dr. Regina Benjamin,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg. “Their dedication to improving the quality of life for workers and consumers in the United States has earned them this year’s Trumpeter Award.”

NCL will also be honoring Jean Ann Fox, Director of Financial Services at Consumer Federation of America, with the Florence Kelley Consumer Leadership Award, named for NCL’s early leader and awarded to grassroots consumer advocates.

The event will feature a reception, dinner, and speaking appearances by the two honorees, as well as:

The Honorable Chuck Hagel, Distinguished Professor, Georgetown University; Co-Chair, President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and Chairman of The Altantic Council

Dr. Winston Price, President, National African American Drug Policy Coalition

Teresa Schwartz, Professor at George Washington University Law School and Chair of the Consumers Union Board of Directors

Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

Jane King, NCL Board of Directors, Chair

Pastor Herrera, Jr., NCL Board of Directors, Vice Chair

What: National Consumers League’s 2010 Trumpeter Awards Dinner

When: Thursday, October 7, 2010 | 6 p.m. Reception | 7 p.m. Dinner and Presentation of Awards

Where: Capital Hilton, 1001 16th Street NW, Washington, DC

Questions or to RSVP: Larry Bostian, National Consumers League 202-835-3323

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

Wake up, America – National Consumers League

By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

Last week a new coalition of consumer and labor groups affiliated with Retirement USA launched a campaign called “Wake Up America” to highlight the crisis facing Americans, and not just those considering retirement. I’ve blogged about Retirement USA’s principles for reform, and the coalition’s work to ensure that consumers have a secure and adequate retirement.

Leaders of the coalition include the Economic Policy Institute, the Pension Rights Center, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, and the Service Employees International Union, which holds a seat on the NCL Board of Directors. Retirement USA’s goal is to get widespread agreement on a series of principles that move Americans toward a far more sound retirement system than what exists today. But Wake Up America’s program is a renewed effort to be just that – a wake up call for policy makers on American’s lack of readiness for retirement security. We face a $6.6 trillion deficit in retirement income.

The facts about Americans entering retirement are grim:

  • Only half of full-time private sector employees participate in a retirement system
  • The participation rate drops to 45 percent if part-time employees are included
  • Only 20 percent of American private sector workers participate in traditional pension plans that provide guaranteed, lifetime benefits
  • 30 percent of American private sector workers rely entirely on 401(k) plans to supplement Social Security
  • 2/3 of 401(k) plan investments are in stock, and stocks have lost more than half their value since 2007
  • ½ of all workers with 401(k) type plans had less than $25,000 in their accounts – before the stock market meltdown – and the median 401(k) balance for workers over 55 was only $40,000
  • 64 percent of older Americans depend on Social Security for more than half of their income, and one of five receive all of their income from Social Security
  • Social Security benefits for the average retiree are now $13,863, just barely more than the minimum wage
  • Half of people age 65 and over receive income of less than $17,382 a year from all sources

Wake Up America and Retirement USA has laid out a series of important principles that would – if adopted – help to secure adequate retirement for all workers:

  • Universal coverage – every worker should be covered be a retirement plan in addition to social security
  • Secure retirement – Retirement shouldn’t be a gamble – workers should be able to count on a steady lifetime stream of retirement income to supplement Social Security
  • Adequate Income – everyone should have an adequate retirement income after a lifetime of work
  • Shared responsibility – employers, employees and the government should share this responsibility
  • Required contributions – employees and employers should be required to contribute a specified percent of pay; government should subsidize lower-income workers
  • Contributions to the system should be pooled and professionally managed to minimize risk
  • Payouts should only be permitted before retirement except for permanent disability
  • Benefits should be paid out over lifetime of retirees and not given in a lump sum
  • Benefits should be portable when workers change jobs
  • Voluntary contributions should be permitted
  • Efficient and transparent administration of benefits by a government agency or a private nonprofit
  • There ought to be effective oversight of the new system by a single government regulator dedicated solely to promoting retirement security

The National Consumers League supports these principles, especially in light of the dire economic reality most American workers face when they retire. The League’s early leaders were strong supporters of Social Security, which is a lifeline to older Americans, but was never intended to be their sole support. Retirement USA has laid out the blueprint for reform. Now it is time for consumer groups, unions, and others to make that blueprint a reality.

Longoria, Colbert highlight farmworker plight – National Consumers League

By Reid Maki, Coordinator of the Child Labor Coalition and Director of Social Responsibility and Fair Labor Standards

America’s farmworkers are mostly invisible these days. The men, women, and children who pick our fruit and vegetables go largely ignored by the public and Congress, which has failed to update the Fair Labor Standards Act leaving farmworkers mostly unprotected from workplace abuses. This September, however, two celebrities—Eva Longoria and Stephen Colbert—traveled to Capitol Hill in an effort to shine a much-needed spotlight on the plight of farmworkers.

On September 15, Longoria, a cast member from the television hit “Desperate Housewives,” appeared at an informal briefing in the Rayburn House Office Building to promote “The Harvest”, a documentary she is producing about child labor in agriculture. Longoria and filmmaker Robin Romano showed clips of child workers featured in the film, which will premier at the Sundance Film Festival. The Harvest follows kids as they migrate and perform back-breaking work that many adults will not do because it is too hard and the pay is too low.

Despite being “a long time advocate for farmworkers,” Longoria said she was unaware that hundreds of thousands of children toiled in America’s fields because of loopholes in our country’s child labor laws. She noted that the educational impact on farmworker kids is profound: two out of three migrant students do not graduate high school. The high drop out rate, she added, contributes to a cycle of poverty that grips the farmworker community. Children are faced with the dilemma of providing needed family income or pursuing their educational needs. “No child should have to make that decision,” Longoria said, urging the briefing attendees to support H.R. 3564, the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment or CARE, legislation that would extend labor protections to farmworker kids.

The bill’s author, Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.), told attendees that passing CARE “would be a great step forward in protecting children.”

On September 24th, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship & Border Security’s hearing on “Protecting America’s Harvest,” addressed attempts to ensure that there are enough workers to harvest crops. TV humorist Stephen Colbert was one of the “expert” witnesses based on his recent experience as a farmworker. His testimony was pure satire that would have made H.L. Mencken smile: “Congresswoman Lofgren has asked me to share my vast experience spending one day as a migrant farmworker.”

“I’m happy to use my celebrity to draw attention to this important, complicated issue and I certainly hope that my star power can bump this hearing all the way up to CSPAN 1,” Colbert told a crowded hearing room.

“As you’ve heard this morning, America’s farms are far too dependent upon immigrant labor to pick its fruits and vegetables. Now, the obvious answer is for all of us to stop eating fruits and vegetables. And if you look at recent obesity statistics you can see that many Americans have already started.”

“I reject this idea that farm work is among the semi-mythical jobs that Americans won’t do…Really, no Americans? I did, as part of my ongoing series—“Stephen Colbert’s Fall Back Position” — where I try other jobs and realize that mine is way better. I participated in the UFW’s “Take Our Jobs” campaign. One of only 16 people in Americans to take up the challenge, although that number may increase in the near future as I understand many democrats may be looking for work come November,” quipped Colbert.

“I’ll admit I started my work day with preconceived notions of migrant labor, but after working with these men and women, picking beans, packing corn for hours on end, side by side in the unforgiving sun, I’d have to say—and I do mean this sincerely—please don’t make me do this again. It is really, really hard.”

“For one thing, when you’re picking beans you have to spend all day bending over. It turns out—and I did not know this— most soil is at ground level. If we can put a man on the moon why can’t we make the earth waist high?” asked Colbert in exaggerated mock pain.

The subcommittee also heard testimony from Arturo Rodriguez, the president of the United Farm Workers, who told members of Congress that “most of the food on your table has been harvested and cared for by unauthorized workers.”

“There’s another indisputable fact. The life of a U.S. farmworker in 2010 is not an easy one: most farmworkers live in poverty, endure poor working conditions, and receive no government assistance,” said Rodriguez.

“Undocumented farmworkers take jobs that other Americans won’t do, for pay that other Americans won’t accept, and under conditions other American won’t tolerate,” said Rodriguez, who urged Congress to support the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act, or “AgJOBS” bill, which would allow undocumented farmworkers already here in the U.S. to earn legal status by continuing to work in agriculture. “It is time to acknowledge the dignity of the current farm labor workforce and ensure the safety and abundance of America’s food supply by passing the AgJOBS bill. A failure to do so would be both a human and economic tragedy,” said Rodriguez.

Congress should take action, Colbert suggested. “This brief experience gave me some small understanding of why so few Americans are clamoring to begin a career as seasonal migrant field worker. So what’s the answer?” he asked. “I’m a free market guy. Normally I would leave this to the invisible hand of the market but the invisible hand of the market has already moved over 84,000 acres of production and over 22,000 farm jobs to Mexico and shut down over a million acres of U.S. farm land due to lack available labor because apparently even the invisible hand doesn’t want to pick beans.”

“Maybe this AgJOBS bill would help. I don’t know. Like most members of Congress I haven’t read it,” quipped Colbert, who suggested that offering more visas to immigrant laborers might help. “This improved legal status might allow immigrants recourse if they are abused.”

“It just stands to reason to me,” explained Colbert, “that if your coworker can’t be exploited then you’re less likely to be exploited yourself, and that itself might improve pay and working conditions on these farms and eventually Americans may consider taking these jobs again.”

“The point is we have to do something, because I am not going back out there,” said a horrified Colbert. “At this point, I break into a cold sweat at the sight of a salad bar.”

Colbert couldn’t help giving Congress one last tweak as he ended his testimony: “I trust that following my testimony both sides will work together on this issue in the best interest of the American people as you always do.” The packed hearing room laughed loudly at Colbert’s reference to the increasing lack of bipartisanship in the current Congress.

Not everyone seemed amused by having a humorist on a congressional panel. The Subcommittee’s ranking minority member Steve King (R-Iowa) sat unsmiling through the satiric Colbert testimony and during questioning suggested that film footage of Colbert working on a farm was “staged.” King later said it was insulting to suggest that American workers do not want to do farm work.

Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the chair of the full Judiciary Committee, suggested that Colbert leave the hearing during the Q and A so that members could get down to business. He was politely “overruled” by Subcommittee chair Zoe Lofgren (D- Calif.), who said that Americans are interested in Colbert’s views.

Subcommittee members asked Colbert questions about the conditions he encountered in his brief time in the fields. “It was very hot,” said Colbert. “It was hotter than I like to be….It’s not a job I want to do and not a lot of people took Mr. Rodriguez up on his offer….[statistics] seems to say that Americans don’t want to take these jobs, but I don’t want to say definitively that they won’t.

Colbert turned a bit serious when Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) asked him why he chose to take a stand on the working conditions endured by farmworkers when there are so many issues to weigh in on. “I like talking about people who don’t have any power and this seems like one of the least powerful people in the United States—our migrant workers who come and do our work but who don’t have any rights…Yet we still invite them to come here and at the same time ask them to leave. That’s an interesting contradiction to me.”

View all of Colbert’s testimony on YouTube here and here.

Eating out traps – National Consumers League

Today, Americans spend nearly half their food dollars on meals and snacks eaten outside the home. And meals that restaurants serve up tend to contain more calories, fat, saturated fat, and sodium than the ones consumers prepare for themselves at home. Even for those who eat out less often than the average American, the extra calories can add up quickly.

To further complicate matters, a number of “eating out traps” can thwart even the most well-intentioned diner looking to order a healthful restaurant meal.  Knowing where to look for those hidden calories, however, is half the battle; read on to steer clear of some of the biggest calorie culprits:

Oversized portions and value meals

Over the past two decades, restaurants portion sizes have significantly increased. And studies show that when individuals are served larger portions, they tend to eat more in a given sitting than when they are served smaller meals. Unless you’re careful, when dining at a restaurant you can easily consume two or three times the amount of food you might serve yourself at home. The “value meal” only exacerbates this problem. Economically, spending only pennies more for a larger portion makes sense; given that “supersize” options tend to be available only for cheap, unhealthy foods (such as French fries and soda), however, they can be a diet landmine. To keep your portions in check, try the following tips:

  • Split an entrée with a family member or friend, and order a side salad or extra veggies to round out your meal
  • Save half of your meal for lunch or dinner the next day (ask for a box at the beginning of the meal and put away your “second portion” if you doubt your ability to leave half on the plate)
  • Just say “no” to supersizing – in fact…
  • Order a kid’s meal at a fast food restaurant, and pay less to eat less

To determine whether you’ve been served one meal or three, remember these estimates:

  • 3 ounces of meat = a deck of cards
  • 1 cup of potatoes, rice, or pasta = a tennis ball
  • 1 slice of bread = audiocassette tape
  • 1 ounce of cheese = pair of dice
  • 1 tsp butter, margarine = tip of a thumb
  • ½ cup of ice cream = half of a baseball

Sneaky salads

In theory, a salad should be a great choice when dining out. In practice, too many tasty toppers often send salad calorie counts soaring. Many chain restaurant salads pack in well over 1,000 calories, more than other menu options that seem less healthy. Luckily, you can easily transform these less-than-healthy offerings into a nutritious – and still delicious – meal with a few tweaks:

  • Keep fried items off of salads, bypass the tortilla bowl, and request that anything “crispy,” “crunchy,” or “crusted” not be served on your salad
  • Cheese, nuts, bacon, and avocado are fine on top of healthy greens, colorful vegetables, and lean protein – but not all together; pick one or two, and request that the kitchen keep the rest
  • Order dressing on the side, and use creamy dressings sparingly; if you like your salad more heavily dressed, order a low-cal dressing option and remember that an appropriate serving is still only two tablespoons, rather than a small bowl

Bottomless bread baskets

There’s nothing wrong with a little bread and butter to start or finish your meal. It can be far too easy, however, to pack away half a loaf – or more! – while waiting to order or for your meal to arrive, particularly with free and frequent refills. Try to limit yourself to a piece or two, and if you can’t stop there, kindly request that your server remove the bread basket.

Creamy sauces and hidden fats

At restaurants, it’s often the meal components that you can’t see that turn seemingly healthy dishes into diet disasters. Sautéed proteins and vegetables may contain far more oil than you would ever use at home, and everything from lean steak to broccoli is fair game, when it comes to an unexpected pat of butter. To avoid unhealthy cooking methods, ask your server how dishes are prepared and request a style of preparation that works for you.

  • Healthy preparation styles include the following: broiling, roasting, baking, steaming, poaching, blackening, grilling (grilled veggies may contain a lot of oil, so ask before ordering)
  • Less healthy preparation styles: fried, pan-fried, deep-fried, sautéed, battered, breaded, crispy

When it comes to sauces and sides, terminology can also help lead you towards healthier options and away from fat-traps:

  • Opt for: broth-based soups, tomato-based pasta sauces, plain baked potatoes, whole grains
  • Avoid (or consume with caution): au gratin, buttered, cheesy, béarnaise, creamy, hollandaise, alfredo

If you don’t want to pass up your favorite high-fat sauce, order it on the side and use it sparingly.

Salt, salt, salt!

While not a “calorie culprit,” salt nevertheless deserves its own section when it comes to eating out traps, due to its overabundance in American restaurant and packaged foods as well as the health risks that come with excessive consumption. To decrease your intake of sodium while dining out, follow these tips:

  • Choose made-to-order meals over buffet-style dining or fast food, and request that your meal is prepared without added sodium
  • Ask your server for low-sodium menu suggestions
  • Avoid (or sparingly consume) the following items
    • Soy sauce
    • Smoked, cured, and salted meat, fish, and poultry
    • Ham, bacon, hot dogs, and lunch meats
    • Pickles and olives
    • Ketchup
    • Processed tomato sauce
    • Canned vegetables
  • Eat low-sodium, non-processed foods the rest of the day when dining out, in order to keep your daily sodium intake within reason

October personal finance month at LifeSmarts.org – National Consumers League

By Jacob Markey, LifeSmarts intern

It’s October, a month where the leaves begin to change in northern climates and the weather begins to turn. Football season is also up and running. For my beloved Green Bay Packers and Wisconsin Badgers, I continue to hope for great success. And LifeSmarts competitors are already at work studying hard to qualify for their state competitions!

This month’s LifeSmarts topic area is Personal Finance. A significant part of personal finance is money management, something immensely important to everyone. The average credit card debt per US household with credit card debt is over $15,000, and even the federal government is trillions of dollars in debt. With these numbers in mind, becoming aware of how you manage your money is truly important. Here are some great tips to look at to learn how to better handle your finances:

  • Make a budget. Listing your revenue and expenses will help you determine your current financial state and allow you to better grasp any potential changes you may need to make to your lifestyle. It is a great habit to develop is useful for the rest of your life.
  • Ask questions before you buy and avoid impulse purchases. Will that new shirt or TV be less expensive somewhere else? Do I really even need it? Will I need the money for something else I want? By asking these types of questions, you can become a smarter consumer and help separate things you want from things you really need.
  • Set financial goals. Whether you really want to buy a new TV or car, or pay back a loan, by setting goals you can better understand how much you will need to save, and for what period of time, in order to accomplish your goals.
  • Teens especially should learn about the different types of credit. By knowing the difference between a credit and a debit card and the pros and cons of using plastic instead of cash, you can be aware of whether a card is right for you at this point in your life.

Some teens may think they do not need to learn about money management at their age. They are sorely mistaken. With college or full-time jobs waiting within the next few years and having to pay for tuition, rent and other expenses, the importance of keeping track of your finances will become apparent very soon. Smart money management at an early age will help throughout the rest of your life. By learning how to manage your finances, you will be in better financial shape for the future.