We must remember…‘Invisible’ workers of 9/11 – National Consumers League

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

In a time when the union rights of public employees are under constant attack, when school teachers have to fight for their healthcare benefits and public works jobs are being slashed, we need to remember the time, sacrifice and importance of work these employees do. On the tenth anniversary of 9/11, we remember and honor the ones we lost, the ones who survived and the ones fighting to bring those responsible to justice. We also need to remember those ‘invisible’ workers who answered the call and did what they could on that awful day and the days following.

Greg Sargent, of the Washington Post’s Plum Line, wrote, “Dozens upon dozens of workers responded to the disaster with real grit and heroism, undertaking the grueling task of cleaning up the mess, digging through the rubble for the injured and the dead, sometimes searching for their own colleagues and friends, for days and days on end, under unspeakably stressful and wrenching conditions.”

AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, has created a video that highlights the work public employees did on that day at Ground Zero. It captures something fundamental about 9/11 that’s been mostly forgotten:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDVzSP1rQ0Q&feature=player_embedded]

“We were digging by hand,” recalls Patrick Bahnken, an emergency medical technician with the D.C. 37 Local 2507. “You’re talking 200 plus story buildings, and we’re digging it out by hand. And I knew that a large number of people that I’d be carrying out or looking for or trying to help, were people that I knew. And that made it very difficult. But again, you’re committed to going for those who would have come for you.”

“They wanted to do their job,” recalls Halloveen Brightly, a police communications specialist with the D.C. 37 Local 1549. “I mean, really wanted to go there and help those people. And you can hear it. I think we worked together really well that day. I hope that whatever they needed from me at that last time, I gave it to them. That’s all.”

According to AFSCME, some 343 firefighters and 60 police officers died as a result of 9/11 and many thousands more remain sick from respiratory ailments attributed to the disaster.

It’s time to stop the attacks on public employees. It’s time to start remembering and honoring the fundamental work these public employees do everyday.

Tweens and cell phones: What parents need to know during back-to-school season – National Consumers League

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September 8, 2011

Contact: NCL Communications, (202) 835-3323, media@nclnet.org

Washington, DC — With school back in session across the country and the flurry of purchases that often entails, many parents may be in the market for a cell phone for their teenager. However, the age that children are getting their first cell phones is trending earlier in recent years, with many pre-teens entering the cell phone market even before high school. Helping parents navigate the complex world of a tween’s first cell phone is the goal of a new consumer guide released today by the National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer organization.

The guide is available online at www.nclnet.org/technology.  It provides a range of tips to help parents choose between contract-based and prepaid services, manage data and texting costs, and set “rules of the road” for safe and smart tween phone use.

“Figuring out how to manage a child’s use of one of these high-tech gadgets can often require the skills of a seasoned diplomat, the steely nerve of a tightrope walker and the tech savvy of a Silicon Valley computer geek,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director. “Giving parents clear advice on how to handle a tween’s first phone is why we put this guide together.”

According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, only 5 percent of 16-year-olds say that they received their first cell phone at age 11 or before. Conversely, 57 percent of 12-year-olds report getting their first phone that young. According to a 2007 study by C&R Research, 46 percent of children ages 9-11 and 65 percent of 12- to 14-year-olds own a cell phone.

“Kids used to get their first phone as they were making the transition from middle school to high school,” said Greenberg. “But the market for first-time cell phones is trending younger, and we want to help parents understand and manage the unique challenges of providing their younger children with a cell phone strategy that makes sense for their family.”

NCL’s new guide is focused on helping tweens’ parents with easy-to-use tips that help them pre-plan for the shopping experience, set expectations with a tween before a phone is purchased, narrow down their cell phone choices, and manage their tweens’ usage once the phone is purchased.

Key tips include:

  • Texting is one of the biggest cost tweens’ parents should account for.  Consider a larger bucket of texts (or unlimited texts) to avoid costly pay-as-you-go texting rates.
  • However, consider limiting the tween’s allotment of text messages if you are concerned about inappropriate texting.  Recent research suggests that limiting texts messages relates to lower levels of inappropriate or dangerous texting behavior.
  • Take your tween with you when shopping so they can test different phones, but consider buying online to take advantage of online-only deals.
  • Make sure to set a monthly cell phone budget, and discuss acceptable use of the phone so that your tween knows who they can and can’t call or text.

NCL’s tween cell phone consumer guide was made possible thanks to an unrestricted educational grant from TracFone Wireless.

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League is America’s pioneering consumer organization, dedicated to promoting and protecting the rights of workers and consumers in American and abroad. To learn more, please visit www.nclnet.org.

Labor Day is too often a missed opportunity – National Consumers League

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By NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg

This weekend we celebrated Labor Day. This should be a time to look back on the struggles of the American worker to achieve the rights and protections that too many of us take for granted today – an 8 hour day, an expectation of safe working conditions, children in school and not at a work site, minimum wage law protections, pay for overtime work, workers compensation and unemployment insurance. Each one of those protections was hard-won.

I think all of us – including the labor movement – could do a far better job of using Labor Day Weekend as a “teaching moment.” What’s the history of the union movement in this country? Why do we need unions? How many workers died in violent confrontations with owners of factories, mills and coal mines? Conditions were dangerous and the pay was low. In 1907, one coal mining accident in West Virginia killed 361 miners.

How about the women who worked in laundries at the turn of the century, (see the case brought by NCL – Muller vs. Oregon against laundry owner Curt Muller limiting the hours women could be forced to work) standing all day with few breaks, lifting soaking wet towels and sheets whose weight caused back and joint injuries, some of them pregnant or suffering chronic illnesses? Or African Americans who stood for 12 to 14 hours a day, often next to their children in a foot of water at canneries? Child labor was scandalous, with children as young as five and six going to work in mills and mines in America only 100 years ago.

I heard Teamsters President James Hoffa speaking over the weekend on the importance of good jobs with good benefits bringing us a middle class in America that can enjoy the fruits of our labor. He called Apple – the company – unpatriotic because they ship jobs overseas and sell their products here to affluent Americans. I see his point.

And sadly today, the middle class jobs that labor union membership can bring have dwindled, as has union membership. Union busting – of the kind we’ve seen with Boeing moving its operations from Washington State –a union friendly place, to South Carolina – an anti-union state, and attacks on the National Labor Relations Board in Congress are at a fever pitch.

But sorry to say we heard precious little about why unions came about over the weekend. That should change – NCL and others must be leaders in having that conversation and continuing to push for good jobs, good benefits and keeping jobs in the hands of the most productive and well-educated workforce in the world – U.S. workers.

Helping the exploited students at the Hershey plant – National Consumers League

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

As the nation’s oldest consumer advocacy group, who’s been protecting and promoting social and economic justice for workers and consumers, we were disturbed to learn about the exploitation the J-1 visa students experienced at a Hershey packing facility.  Since then we’ve sent a letter to the Hershey Company, partnered with various unions and explored ways to ensure that these terrible acts of exploitation are never repeated.
The International Union of Food Workers wrote a wonderful letter detailing the work unions have been doing to help the J-1 students and offer solutions to the Hershey staffing problem. Click here to read it.

Resale Price Maintenance should be illegal – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

I recently  received a call from a staffer for Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA) who has been a leader in opposing a practice that organizations like ours regard as very anti-consumer: “Resale Price Maintenance (RPM).” RPM is the practice whereby a manufacturer and its distributors agree that the latter will sell the former’s product at certain prices (resale price maintenance), at or above a price floor  (minimum resale price maintenance) or at or below a price ceiling (maximum resale price maintenance). If a reseller refuses to maintain the price set by the retailer, either openly or covertly, the manufacturer may stop doing business with it.

In 2009 five groups – NCL, Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America, American Antitrust Institute and US PIRG – asked Congress to overturn the 2007 Supreme Court case, Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc vs. PSKS, Inc. that made RPM legal. RPM used to be “per se” illegal under the antitrust laws but this case overturned 100 years of precedent.

Resale price maintenance prevents resellers from competing too fiercely on price. According to Wikipedia, RPM exists because: “ resellers worry it could drive down profits for themselves as well as the manufacturer. Some argue that the manufacturer may do this because it wishes to keep resellers profitable, and thus keeping the manufacturer profitable. Others contend that minimum resale price maintenance, for instance, overcomes a failure in the market for distributional services by ensuring that distributors who invest in promoting the manufacturer’s product are able to recoup the additional costs of such promotion in the price they charge consumers. Some manufacturers also defend resale price maintenance by saying it ensures fair returns, both for manufacturer and reseller and that governments do not have the right to interfere with freedom to make contracts.”

The 2009 consumer letter to Congress said that “it is unequivocal that RPM agreements raise consumer prices, prevent efficient retailers from passing on the benefits of their lower costs to consumers, and tend to retard the development of new forms of retailing. At the same time, the purported benefits to consumers of RPM agreements are dubious and even if such benefits exist, they can be achieved by less restrictive business practices.”

These words are true today, as they were in 2009 when we wrote the original letter. We urge members of Congress to overturn this unfortunate Supreme Court decision and applaud Congressman Hank Johnson for renewing his efforts to make RPM illegal once again.

Comments of Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of National Consumers League, before the Food and Drug Administration panel on post-approval long-term breast implant studies – National Consumers League

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August 31, 2011

 

Contact: NCL Communications, (202) 835-3323, media@nclnet.org

Good Morning. My name is Sally Greenberg and I am Executive Director of the National Consumers League, an organization founded in 1899 dedicated to protecting the rights of consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. NCL has throughout its history been concerned about the welfare of women and their health.

I am here today because of our commitment to patient safety and our concern that the FDA sometimes relies on post-market studies to ensure safety and effectiveness of new medical products, but then does not make sure those post-market studies are completed appropriately.

I am not an expert on breast implants, but as a consumer advocate, I know that comprehensive and well-conducted scientific research is essential to ensure the safety of all implanted medical devices. If a researcher loses track of half of the patients, those findings are not useful for determining safety.

The Mentor large study lost track of 79 percent of their patients within just 3 years. In addition, Allergan lost track of almost half their augmentation patients after only two years. The Adjunct studies were even worse, with less than one-quarter of their patients still in the studies after 5 years. In their Core study, Mentor followed only 58 percent of their patients for 8 years.

None of those studies met the very reasonable standards that the FDA has set for competent research.  I understand that yesterday, several panel members asked if the FDA has ever threatened to rescind approval if a company does not complete post-market study requirements.  I think that is a good question, because if these companies have a track record of poor research, study after study, what incentive do they have to improve their procedures and processes  the next time a study is commissioned?

We want consumers to have safe choices, and that means that well designed and well-conducted studies are needed to provide bona fide informed consent for patients.  Patients cannot make safe choices on a long-term implanted device if there are no studies of long-term risks.

I was also amazed to learn that the patients in the breast implant studies apparently paid full price for their implants and all their medical care.  One of the major incentives for keeping patients in studies is to provide free medical exams.  They should have provided free MRIs so that FDA would have good data on breast implant breakage and leakage.

American patients should expect better from those who are commissioned to conduct studies. The FDA should expect better.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak.

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League is America’s pioneering consumer organization, dedicated to promoting and protecting the rights of workers and consumers in American and abroad. To learn more, please visit www.nclnet.org

Exploited student workers at Hershey – National Consumers League

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

Chocolate, sweets and indulgence—these are the things that come to mind when the Hershey Company is mentioned.  But now some might add irresponsible, exploitative and negligent.

On August 17th, 2011, hundreds of international exchange student workers (J-1 visa program participates) staged a sit-in at a Hershey packing facility and broke their silence on the exploitation they suffered at the hands of a Hershey contractor.

According to the State Department’s website, the J-1 visa program is designed to “provide an extremely valuable opportunity to experience the U.S. and our way of life, thereby developing lasting and meaningful relationships.”  Unfortunately, hundreds of students assigned to the Hershey Company got a different kind of experience.

According to the students, they paid between $3,000 and $6,000 to enter the J-1 visa program, hoping to learn about American culture and experience life in the US.  They ended up working as cheap labor to a contractor at a Hershey packing facility where, after suspicious paycheck deductions, they were making well below minimum wage.  The contractor assumed that, as foreign nationals, the students would never realize that they were the victims of wage theft and wouldn’t know whom to turn to for help.  Instead, the students organized themselves, got in touch with local unions, and brought their plight to the media.

It didn’t have to be this way.  I love exchange students, but if the contractor needed to staff the packing facility why didn’t they employ the thousands of unemployed workers in the area who would have loved to have a job with a living wage and decent benefits?  Is it because the contractor thought they could use cheap, below minimum wage student labor without getting caught?

In this case, there is plenty of blame to go around.  The Council for Educational Travel, who is supposed to be monitoring the student workers in the J-1 program; Hershey, who hired an unethical and possibly criminal contractor to staff and oversee their packing facility; and the contractor all share blame for these exploited foreign students.  Who is most at fault is not the question we should be asking but rather, what does that this say about American life?

To hear more about these brave students and their fight, please click here.

National Consumers League Statement on the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial – National Consumers League

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August 24, 2011

Contact: NCL Communications, (202) 835-3323, media@nclnet.org

Washington, DC — The National Consumers League released the following statement from Executive Director Sally Greenberg and Chair Jane King on the dedication of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial:

The National Consumers League staff and board of directors welcome the long-awaited, permanent tribute to the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that now stands alongside other memorials honoring our nation’s greatest leaders, who have stood for liberty and justice for all Americans through the generations. The King National Memorial honors a man of great courage, conviction and strength, a visionary who maintained his commitment to nonviolence as he demanded human dignity and opportunity for all. Florence Kelley, who was NCL’s first leader from the time of its founding in 1899 until 1932, served on the founding board of the NAACP. Kelley set the tone for the League’s work: to defend the rights of workers and consumers of all races and creeds to be treated with dignity and respect. She would have surely celebrated the memorial to a great a leader like Dr. King.

This new memorial on the national mall will create a richer experience for every person who walks there, and provide an opportunity to draw deeper meaning from the American experience and Dr. King’s role in advancing our country’s progression as  a nation that judges its citizens by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.

For NCL, the memorial will serve as an important source of inspiration, right here in our midst, to carry on with our work in securing the fulfillment of Dr. King’s dream of justice under the law, greater opportunity for all and an America that truly lives up to its historic promise.

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League is America’s pioneering consumer organization, dedicated to promoting and protecting the rights of workers and consumers in American and abroad. To learn more, please visit www.nclnet.org

From hurricanes to earthquakes: be prepared for anything – National Consumers League

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By Mimi Johnson, NCL Director of Health Policy

Nearly the entire eastern seaboard felt the quake on Tuesday, and nearly the entire eastern seaboard will feel the effects of Hurricane Irene later this week.  This is a great time to get your emergency plan in place, assemble an emergency kit, and stay informed.

Every home and business should have a disaster kit in place. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the following items be placed in an emergency kit in your home, office, car, and/or school:

  • Water—one gallon per person, per day (3­ day supply for evacuation, 2 ­week supply for home)
  • Food—non­perishable, easy-­to-­prepare items (again, 3­ day supply for evacuation, 2­ week supply for home)
  • Flashlight
  • Battery-powered or hand-­crank radio (NOAA Weather Radio, if possible)
  • Extra batteries
  • First aid kit
  • Medications (7­ day supply) and medical items
  • Multi­purpose tool
  • Sanitation and personal hygiene items
  • Copies of personal documents (medication list and pertinent medical information, proof of address, deed/lease to home, passports, birth certificates, insurance policies)
  • Cell phone with chargers
  • Family and emergency contact information
  • Extra cash
  • Emergency blanket
  • Map(s) of the area

Consider the needs of all family members and when gathering supplies for your kit. Suggested items to help meet additional needs include:

  • Medical supplies (hearing aids with extra batteries, glasses, contact lenses, syringes, cane)
  • Baby supplies (bottles, formula, baby food, diapers)
  • Games and activities for children
  • Pet supplies (collar, leash, ID, food, carrier, bowl)
  • Two­-way radios
  • Extra set of car keys and house keys
  • Manual can opener

Additional supplies to keep at home or in your kit based on the types of disasters common to your area:

  • Whistle
  • N95 or surgical masks
  • Matches
  • Rain gear
  • Towels
  • Work gloves
  • Tools/supplies for securing your home
  • Extra clothing, hat and sturdy shoes
  • Plastic sheeting
  • Duct tape
  • Scissors
  • Household liquid bleach
  • Entertainment items
  • Blankets or sleeping bags

It is especially important to keep your kit current, and if you have a chronic condition, PLEASE keep a supply of meds in the kit.  Dealing with a disaster and unknowns can be stressful and chaotic, which makes it all the more important to maintain your health and keep a clear head.  The CDC has great resources for specific chronic conditions and what kits should look like for different conditions. For more information on managing your chronic condition, visit www.scriptyourfuture.org

While the likelihood of another moderate earthquake hitting the East Coast anytime soon is slim, it was a good reminder that natural disasters and emergencies can strike at any time, and often without any warning.  If you would like to learn more about how to best to prepare for possible disasters in your community, contact your local public health department for more information.

Advice for parents: Manage children’s after-school use of technology – National Consumers League

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August 24, 2011

Contact: NCL Communications, (202) 835-3323, media@nclnet.org

Washington, DC—As millions of children across the country kick off a new school year this month, family schedules will return once again to classes, homework, and busy after-school routines. Many working parents may be concerned with how their kids will be using the TV, the Internet, or one of the many wireless devices at kids’ disposal. Costs, appropriate content, and privacy protections are just a few issues on parents’ minds when it comes to these devices and services. The National Consumers League (NCL) has developed new tools to help parents understand the resources at their disposal for monitoring and – where desired – restricting their children’s activities, even when they can’t be there in person.

American teens and tweens are using technology independently from their parents more than ever before, with some 75 percent of 12-17 year-olds now owning cell phones, and 93 percent of American teens using the Internet, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Research from the American Academy of Pediatrics, founds that kids between the ages of 3 and 5 are exposed to an average of 73 minutes of TV, video games, or DVD-watching every day. The AAP report also found that young children exposed to violent content are more likely to experience sleeping problems, and those with TVs in their rooms are even more at risk.

Too much screen-time and exposure to inappropriate content aren’t the only issues for parents. According to OTX and the Intelligence Group, 58 percent of teens make purchases online and the average teen spends $46 per month on such purchases. Given recession-strapped household budgets, it’s more important than ever for parents to help manage their children’s online shopping habits.

“Many parents are aware that there is plenty of adult content out there that they don’t want their children to get their hands on. What they may not know is that there are many tools available to monitor and restrict kids’ access to that content,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director. “NCL has surveyed what is available for parents looking to put in place reasonable restrictions, and posted the information on our Web site in an easy-to-use format for parents to better understand their options – many of which are free.”

NCL’s new tools are available at www.nclnet.org, and focus on the places children are most likely to access objectionable content—television, cable and satellite, wireless communications, and the Internet—and include tips both on how to access existing parental controls features and how to talk to children about appropriate limits.

NCL acknowledges Verizon for an unrestricted educational grant that made the consumer content possible.

“Raising consumer awareness about the availability and utility of parental control technologies is essential given the ubiquity of communications technologies,” said Kathy Brown, Verizon’s Senior Vice President for Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility. “Empowering consumers to take control of their families’ technology use is an important goal in today’s always-on, interconnected world.”

NCL’s advice for parents includes tips ranging from how to talk to children about what is acceptable to where the best place is to set up a family computer. Parents are encouraged to find out where they’re spending their time online, have open and honest dialogue, and to not let concerns about invading their children’s privacy stop them from doing your job as a parent.

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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.