NCL statement on liquidation of Hostess Brands, Inc. – National Consumers League

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November 16, 2012

Contact: Carol McKay, NCL Communications, carolm@nclnet.org, (412) 945-3242

Washington, DC—Upon today’s announcement that Hostess Brands, Inc. has shut down operations and will liquidate assets, the National Consumers League continues to stand with the striking members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM).

The following statement may be attributed to National Consumers League Executive Director Sally Greenberg:

“Today is a sad day in America, and not just because of the demise of a brand that has produced iconic, well-loved treats and goods for generations, but  because of the scapegoating taking place by corporate executives who are blaming brave union workers for the company’s collapse rather than taking responsibility themselves. It is years of poor management – not the reasonable demands to improve working conditions of the BCTGM – that led to the company’s demise. What a terrible time of year to take away the livelihood of 18,500 workers and the dozens of communities with factories that will be shuttered. Today’s announcement is a sad commentary on corporate America. The Hostess Brand’s executives put profits before people, paying large bonuses to executives while forcing the workers to give up benefits and pensions, once again putting Wall Street investors and themselves before the interests of the workers who build the brand.”

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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.

NCL symposium examines consumer issues and the next Congress – National Consumers League

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By John Breyault, NCL Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud

The freshman class of the 113th Congress will feature 12 new Senators and 67 new Representatives. For consumer advocates, this is an opportunity to introduce ourselves to these new lawmakers and develop relationships that can help promote our economic and social justice mission on the Hill. Freshman like Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren have long been heroes to the consumer movement, but others such as Senator-elect Heidi Heitkamp and Members-elect Kevin Cramer, Joseph Kennedy III, and George Holding all have experience in regulatory agencies and in the legal system where consumer issues arise.

The incoming members of the 113th Congress will have a full agenda when it comes to consumer issues. Even before the next Congress, the Lame Duck session of the current 112th Congress is tackling the so-called “fiscal cliff” of tax increases and spending cuts mandated by the Budget Control Act of 2011.

It is in this context that NCL convened our inaugural Consumer Issues Symposium on Wednesday, November 14 to examine the future of three important consumer issues in the lame duck session and the coming 113th Congress. We chose to focus the event on three issues near and dear to NCL’s heart – food safety, sequestration and privacy. The goal of the event was to examine not only the future prospects for consumer-focused legislation in Congress, but also to highlight the real-world impact of these policy areas on consumers.

For example, the sequestration cuts envisioned as part of the “fiscal cliff” will require numerous federal agencies to significantly scale back their activities. When the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is projected to take an $86 million haircut, what does that mean for the safety of America’s food supply? Likewise, in a scenario where the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program is on track to take a $285 million budget hit, how will consumers living through the cold winter months adjust?

The event, organized in partnership with the law firm of Kelley Drye, was a great success. (Historical note: One of Kelley Drye’s name partners was Nicholas Kelley, son of Florence Kelley, the first General Secretary of NCL). It featured more than a dozen expert speakers from Executive Branch, Congress and advocacy organizations, including FTC Commissioner Julie Brill, FDA Deputy Commissioner Michael Taylor and former Congresswoman and CPSC Commissioner Anne Northup. Photos from the event are currently viewable on NCL’s Facebook page.

National Consumers League applauds House Energy and Commerce Committee for holding hearing on meningitis outbreak – National Consumers League

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November 14, 2012

Contact: Carol McKay, (412) 945-3242, carolm@nclnet.org

Washington, DC–The National Consumers League (NCL) today commends the House Energy and Commerce Committee for holding a hearing on the outbreak of fungal meningitis caused by contaminated injectable steroids made and distributed by the New England Compounding Center (NECC).  NECC has a long history of dodging effective regulation and engaging in shoddy drug compounding practices. Those practices ultimately led to the deaths this year of 32 patients and 438 sickened by the injectable pain medications.

NCL supports legislation, HR 6854, the Verifying Authority and Legality in Drug (VALID) Compounding Act. The bill will close loopholes that allowed the contaminated drug to get into the marketplace and be administered to 14,000 innocent patients. The bill’s sponsor, Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA), is a longstanding and distinguished member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

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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.

NCL lends support for Hostess Brand worker strike – National Consumers League

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November 13, 2012

Contact: NCL Communications, Carol McKay, (412) 945-3242

Washington, DC–The National Consumers League supports the hardworking members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers (BCTGM) International Union and the workers of the Hostess Brand factories in their strike to protect wages, benefits, and fair treatment of workers. Hostess Brand has unfortunately failed to make contributions to employee pension plans as agreed upon in collective bargaining agreements and has drastically cut health benefits and imposed an 8 percent wage decrease.

Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of the National Consumers League, said, “We are proud to support the Hostess Brand workers who are only fighting for their rightful wages and benefits as negotiated through the collective bargaining agreement.”

With Hostess’s first bankruptcy declaration in 2004, Hostess workers, in the spirit of sharing reduced revenues and profits, took dramatic cuts in wages and benefits. The closing of 21 factories left thousands of workers without jobs. Hostess employees say they were shocked to learn of the second bankruptcy and watched helplessly as money that was supposed to go towards the rebuilding of production facilities, plant development, and new equipment flowed instead to support executive bonuses and payouts to hedge funds.

Hostess Brand workers, many of whom have spent decades as loyal employees of the company, deserve better than the current situation, in which thousands of workers are unemployed, communities left vulnerable, and families decimated. Sadly, it appears that Hostess has put the interests of Wall Street investors before their loyal employees.

The National Consumers League stands with the striking BCTGM union members and Hostess workers, and urges Hostess Brand to put the interests of their employees before those of fat-cat executives and Wall Street investors.

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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.

National Consumer Organizations Warn Consumers: Beware of Flood Vehicles in Hurricane Sandy Aftermath Tips for avoiding hazardous, contaminated flood cars – National Consumers League

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November 13, 2012

Contact: Sally Greenberg, Executive Director, National Consumers League 202-835-3323×830
Rosemary Shahan, President, CARS 530-759-9440

Washington, DC–As tens of thousands of flood-damaged cars change hands, two national consumer organizations, Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (CARS) and National Consumers League (NCL), warned car buyers today to beware of new and used cars that suffered flood damage from Hurricane Sandy.

“Flood cars are ticking automotive timebombs,” said Rosemary Shahan, President of CARS. ”Flood cars are inherently unsafe, particularly since all the electronic systems that control the engine, brakes, air bags, and other vital safety systems are hopelessly contaminated and will inevitably fail.”

Even consumers buying cars far away from where Sandy hit should be on the lookout for flood cars. “Flood damaged vehicles can be shipped across the country in a matter of days,” said Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of NCL. “Consumers throughout the US need to take specific steps to protect themselves from inadvertently buying these hazardous vehicles.”

CARS and NCL offered these tips for used car buyers — BEFORE you agree to buy:

  • Check the vehicle history, entering the unique Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) (found on the driver’s side under the windshield) at the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS), established by the US Department of Justice, at www.vehiclehistory.gov. This is the ONLY database where ALL auto insurers, salvage pools that auction off totaled cars, junkyards, recyclers, and self-insured entities such as rental car companies in ALL 50 states are required by law to report total loss vehicles within 30 days. Many are reporting daily. Vehicle histories can be obtained for between $3 and $13.
  • ALWAYS get the vehicle you are considering inspected by your own independent, reliable, trustworthy auto technician prior to purchase — including when buying from a car dealer, an individual, or over the internet. A good place to find a good auto technician is Car Talk’s Mechanics files, at: https://www.cartalk.com/mechanics-search
  • ALWAYS insist on seeing the title to the car before you buy, and check to see if it has been branded as “flood,” “junk,” “salvage” “rebuilt” ” reconstructed” or another brand indicating it was severely damaged. But beware: a “clean” title does not prove the car is OK — the title may have been “laundered” across state lines or altered to conceal the brand. One dealer reportedly used a hole punch to remove the “flood” brand on the title.
  • If you buy over the internet — NEVER send money to someone over the Internet in exchange for a motor vehicle. Some sellers masquerade as the owners, when in fact they don’t even have proper title to the car. The car may even be stolen — so you could lose both your money and the car, and may be subject to arrest for receiving stolen property. Instead, insist on meeting the seller at your state’s motor vehicle department to do the title transfer, or if you belong to AAA, you may be able to do the title transfer there.

In addition, be on the lookout for both new and used cars with tell-tale signs of having been submerged. Watch out for:

  • Musty or “over-perfumed” smell or signs of mold or mildew
  • Silt or residue in places like under carpeting, in the well where the spare is stored, or in the dashboard dials
  • Title or registration histories indicating the car was in the flood area
  • Car hesitates, runs rough, or shows signs of premature rust or corrosion in places where you wouldn’t expect to see rust
  • New cars or “certified” used cars where the manufacturer refuses to honor the warranty — check with the manufacturer if you’re suspicious, and insist on getting a commitment in writing from the manufacturer itself that it will honor the warranty

“Shady car dealers and other unscrupulous people are salivating over the new bumper crop of flood cars. Don’t fall prey to their scams.” said Shahan.

Links:

NMVTIS https://www.vehiclehistory.gov/

CARS website https://www.carconsumers.org

National Consumers League website: https://nclnet.org/personal-finance/64-fraud/488-carshopping-

avoid-scams

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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.

Good night for low-wage workers – National Consumers League

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By Michell K. McIntyre, Director of NCL’s Special Project on Wage Theft

Last week’s election was the culmination of a long and often grueling campaign season that saw voters in three cities give low-wage workers a much-needed raise. San Jose, California and Albuquerque, New Mexico passed increases to the city’s minimum wage while Long Beach, California passed a living wage law for hotel workers.

San Jose’s increase to the city’s minimum wage was born out of a sociology class at San Jose State University. Low-wage workers in San Jose will enjoy a two-dollar increase that takes the minimum wage from $8 an hour to $10 an hour. Albuquerque not only increased their minimum wage by a dollar making it $8.50 but tied it to inflation and increased the tipped minimum wage to 60 percent of the regular minimum wage – making it $5.10 an hour.

In Long Beach, hotels with more than 100 rooms now have to choose between paying workers a livable wage – pay workers $13 an hour, give full-time employees five paid sick days a year and give employees an annual automatic 2 percent raise – or agree to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with employees. Either way you slice it, low-wage workers came out ahead in three cities.

Thanks to Hurricane Sandy rescue workers – National Consumers League

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By Michell K. McIntyre, Director of NCL’s Special Project on Wage Theft

Politicians, and in some cases the public, too often take potshots at public employees especially union members, we are once again reminded of the incredibly important work they do for our health and safety. Hurricane Sandy has highlighted the significant role that union members play in our lives.

Many union members are also first responders – police officers, firefighters, and EMTs. Along with their everyday heroics of keeping our cities, families, and friends safe, disasters such as Hurricane Sandy show them once again marching into danger and risking their lives to rescue those stranded and in need of help. Firefighters battle fire after fire from broken gas lines that have destroyed entire blocks and conduct search and rescue operations to find victims of the hurricane.

Besides the police officers, firefighters, and EMTs who make up the first responders, other union members such as the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) are working to restore power and fix infrastructure up and down the Eastern Seaboard. Teamster members are clearing trees, repairing rail tracks and cleaning flood damage from the streets. Sanitation workers are working long hours removing debris from roadways, breaking up tree limbs, and removing hazardous obstructions for the public’s safety. Nurses in many of the affected areas stayed and watched over the sick as the storm raged and in some cases helped evacuate patients when hospitals lost power and their generators failed. Transportation workers including New York City bus drivers transported patients to hospitals.

Pulling together in tough times and helping fellow Americans is what many of these union members do in times of crisis. In addition, nearly 2,000 utility workers from around the country are making their way to the affected states.

The difference in federal disaster relief in presidential administrations is also striking. FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, during Hurricane Katrina, was hopelessly ineffectual and weak in responding. During Hurricane Sandy, we see a very different agency. More than 500 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services workers have provided emergency medical care and public health assistance. The Pentagon is said to have mobilized and deployed 10,000 National Guard troops in 13 states including 10 Blackhawk helicopters, sent 100 pumps to New York to siphon water from tunnels, and they have also sent 120 medical personnel and 573 vehicles to storm revenged areas.

We owe a large and heartfelt thank you to our public employees and union members for running into the face of danger, rescuing our fellow citizens in times of crisis, and helping to put communities back together in the wake of natural disasters, fires, terrorist attacks and accidents. That is why the NCL finds the tendency – among some elected officials and in the media – to malign public workers because they negotiate well-deserved wages and benefits for their members – so offensive.

The right to know is a winning proposition – National Consumers League

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By Teresa Green, Linda Golodner Food Safety & Nutrition Fellow

One of my colleagues votes in California and so, along with her ballot, she received a booklet entitled “Official Voter Information Guide.”  This booklet includes arguments for and against each ballot initiative. The initiative we are most interested in here at NCL is Proposition 37, an initiative that would require genetically engineered foods be labeled.

NCL is a proud member of a group called “Just Label It,” which argues that consumers have the right to know whether the foods they eat contain genetically engineered foods or not.

Why is the California ballot initiative so important?  The reason is that if Proposition 37 passes in California, it is likely to have a nationwide impact.  This is because food companies are unlikely to produce one label for California and another for the rest of the country.  Instead, they are more likely to produce one label which meets the California law and thus provides more information to consumers across the country.

The ballot initiative has gotten both sides of the issue energized.  Unfortunately for proponents of the measure, the food industry, Proposition 37’s major opponents, has vastly outspent pro-labeling advocates.  Total spending by food companies has been around $45 million.  This infusion of cash into the state has paid off; while polls earlier in the year indicated popular support for the measure, more recent polls show that support has dropped by 17 percentage points since September alone.

Whether the measure passes or not, labeling of GMOs will continue to be an important issue and one that we predict will not be tabled even if Proposition 37 is defeated in California this election.

Meningitis outbreak: how could it have happened? – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

It’s hard to accept that 29 patients have now died and 338 are sick across 18 states from meningitis because the injectable steroid medications they were administered for pain were contaminated with fungus. The drugs were prepared by the New England Compounding Center (NECC) and shipped across the United States. After the outbreak, an FDA investigation showed in the first nine months of the year, NECC’s so-called “internal monitoring program” showed mold or bacterial contamination at more than 80 locations, including numerous places in its “clean rooms” where sterile drugs are made. In more than half the cases, the company’s own testing showed bacteria and mold above its “action” limits, but NECC took no action.

It gets worse. After the steroid was recalled, the FDA also found that 83 vials from one lot of the tainted steroid contained “greenish black foreign matter.’’ Another 17 vials had white material floating in them. Further testing found that another 50 out of 50 vials from the same lot had “viable microbial growth.”

A lot of people are asking how this could have happened. Indeed, the outbreak raises many difficult questions – how could the system of regulation and oversight patients have come to rely on have broken down so completely?  How could patients have been injected with obviously contaminated drugs? What happened to the internal oversight at NECC? Why didn’t someone on staff at NECC blow the whistle before these drugs were shipped?  Why wasn’t the Board of Pharmacy in Massachusetts conducting the oversight needed to make sure a compounding pharmacy like NECC was maintaining safe practices? Why didn’t the FDA have jurisdiction to oversee what was clearly drug manufacturing, not simply drug compounding?

NCL’s concern is with the 14,000 patients who received the injectable drugs, those who are sick from meningitis and the families of those who have died from the outbreak. We issued a fact sheet and press release in the last week asking these questions, providing information for patients, and calling for legislation to ensure proper regulation of compounding pharmacies.

We’ve learned a lot about the compounding pharmacy industry. NECC is part of the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists (IACP), the industry’s Texas-based trade association, which until this disastrous NECC outbreak, has argued that existing regulations are more than adequate to protect patients.

The FDA in 2001 testified before at a US Senate hearing that the agency surveyed drugs from 12 compounding pharmacies, including hormones, antibiotics, steroids and drugs to treat glaucoma, asthma and erectile dysfunction and ten of the 29 drugs failed one or more quality tests, including nine that failed potency testing, some with less than 70 percent of their declared potency. By contrast, in its analyses of more than 3,000 samples from drug manufacturers, who are subject to FDA oversight, only four had quality problems.

Even after the FDA testified about its findings, Congress killed legislation to give the agency oversight on pharmacy compounding. It was the first in a series of failures to regulate a clearly problematic industry, one that had managed to fight its way out of effective regulation through lobbying and political donations.

In a recent article, one patient group provided this quote about IACP: “They mobilize their members, they scare patients and parents, and they flood Capitol Hill,” said Sandra Fusco Walker, director of patient advocacy at Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics. “They are dedicated to making sure they never have FDA oversight.”

In the coming months, NCL will be on the front lines on behalf of patients to see that what happened in the shipping and administration of contaminated drugs is never allowed to take place again. We are working with Congressman Edward Markey (D-MA), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the FDA and health issues generally. The Congressman, a longstanding champion of consumers and patients, has introduced a bill to close the gaping hole in regulation of compounding pharmacies.

Consumer group applauds USDA for rejection of questionable food labeling system – National Consumers League

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November 2, 2012

Contact: Carol McKay, (412) 945-3242, carolm@nclnet.org

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s oldest consumer advocacy organization, today sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture commending the agency for its decision to deny efforts by NuVal LLC to place its rating system on the label of meat products. “This decision illustrates both the USDA’s leadership in labeling and the problems inherent to the NuVal system,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL’s Executive Director.

NuVal is a nutrition rating system, placed in 1,600 grocery stores in 31 states, which rates the “health” of products on a scale of 1 to 100 using a secret algorithm. NCL has raised concerns about the system’s use of the proprietary algorithm, which produces inconsistent and illogical scores. For example, Ghirardelli Caramel Turtle Chocolate Brownie Mix scores a 22 while Dole Mandarin Oranges in Light Syrup only scores a 7. NCL has written to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urging the agency to develop an improved, universal front-of-package labeling scheme that would be more helpful to consumers.

“It’s a wild west out there currently,” said Greenberg. “There are many competing rating systems, a state of play that can leave consumers feeling even more confused than they were in the first place. It is important that the federal government step up and develop a consistent system of front-of-package labeling.”

NCL became aware of USDA’s decision to deny a request to place NuVal scores on the labels of meat products through a Freedom of Information Act request. Documents, including internal USDA emails, revealed that the agency had denied the request.

“We applaud USDA for taking a leadership role on labeling,” said Greenberg. “We would urge FDA, which has jurisdiction over around 80 percent of food products in this country, to follow the lead of their sister agency. If it’s not good enough for USDA, it shouldn’t be good enough for FDA,” said Greenberg. “Consumers must have access to an objective, government-run front-of-package labeling scheme to get the clear and consistent information they need to make healthy dietary choices for their families.”

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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.