LifeSmarts: Teens’ Health and Safety Information Destination – National Consumers League

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

As a child of the 1980’s I vividly remember looking forward to taking my daily “Flintstones” vitamin. It was such an ingrained part of my daily ritual that I can recall being disappointed when my mother shook an orange Barney — not my preferred purple Dino — out of the brightly-colored bottle at breakfast. Many of my fellow Generation X’ers tell me they did the exact same thing as children. Why? Because “common knowledge” was that kids should take their daily vitamins, a message reinforced by frequent marketing on children’s television shows.

As a 33-year old father of two today, I’m hypersensitive about my kids’ health. I compare labels on cereal boxes at the grocery store. I try to steer them towards healthy snacks instead of the rapidly dwindling supply of leftover Halloween candy. Instead of a daily Flintstones vitamin, I try to make sure they get servings of fresh fruits and vegetables at every meal.  Why?  Because “common knowledge” about kids nutrition has been replaced by a near-infinite supply of information online.  Instead of relying a word-of-mouth, marketing, and infrequent advice from a pediatrician, I can stay up to date on the latest developments in children’s nutrition at the touch of a button.

With a growing obesity epidemic in America, particularly among teens, the value of this information is greater than ever. This is why one of the five sections of NCL’s LifeSmarts curriculum is devoted to health and safety. LifeSmarts participants gain an understanding of the value of a healthy lifestyle and the tools to help them achieve it. Teens in the LifeSmarts program study a variety of topics in this part of the curriculum, including how to effectively compare nutrition labels, what to do in case of a food recall, and what kinds of foods are best for maintaining a healthy weight.

The goal of the LifeSmarts health and safety curriculum is to reach teens at a critical juncture in their young lives, when they are developing the consumer habits that they will likely maintain for a lifetime. This information is conveyed in a fun, competitive manner that helps teens stay focused on the topic areas and feel real accomplishment in their progress.

For more information on LifeSmarts’ health and safety curriculum and to learn how you can organize a LifeSmarts team in your own schools, please visit www.LifeSmarts.org.

 

LifeSmarts: Teens’ Personal Finance Information Destination – National Consumers League

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

If the recent economic meltdown taught consumers anything, it’s that “common knowledge” about personal finance topics shouldn’t be relied upon. For instance, the old axiom about real estate always being a safe investment is little comfort to the millions of consumers who have lost their homes to foreclosure.

Unfortunately, too many consumers today leave high school without the basic personal finance skills they need to avoid the tricks and traps that litter the marketplace. For example, students unable to balance their own checkbooks are very likely to incur significant overdraft fees from their banks. Young adults without a firm grasp of how a credit card works are likely to rack up big balances that can cripple them financially for years to come.  Recent graduates in the market for their first car may be lured in by unscrupulous dealers who trap them with a high-cost loan that they barely afford.

Perhaps now, more than ever, consumers understand the need for a solid education in the fundamentals of personal finance. For the thousands of teens that participate in NCL’s LifeSmarts competition every year, this component of their schooling gives them the tools they need to be an informed consumer.

Teens participating in LifeSmarts form teams with classmates under the direction of an adult coordinator. They use the LifeSmarts.org website to learn about a variety of topics, including personal finance. They take practice tests to sharpen their knowledge and eventually compete in online competitions.  The teams that score the highest move on to a live, “Jeopardy”-style state championship, with state winners heading to the LifeSmarts National Championship.

Given the impact of the real estate bust on the state, it is especially apt that this year’s LifeSmarts National Championship will be held in Los Angeles, California. With proper education in the fundamentals of personal finance, teens can learn to spot a good load from a bad one and avoid being put into a situation where they take on more home than they can afford. As we begin National Consumer Protection Week, the lessons of LifeSmarts are more valuable and necessary than ever. Consumers interested in getting a LifeSmarts team started at their local high schools and middle schools can visit LifeSmarts.org to get more information.

Medicine: a widespread culprit in ER visits – National Consumers League

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No one would argue that the point of taking medicine, both prescription and over-the-counter, is to stay healthy and prevent or treat illness. However, the opposite—in which patients become ill, or in extreme cases die, due to medicine related poisoning—is an all too common occurrence. According to a study published in *the March issue of The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, upwards of 700,000 Americans are taken to the emergency room each year after ingesting (both illegal and legal) drugs, totaling $1.4 billion in ER charges alone.

The problem of medicinal poisoning is widespread; the study is based on government data on 27 million visits to 970 emergency rooms in 27 states, yet some areas and age groups remain more at risk than others. The number of drug-related hospitalizations in rural areas is nearly three times that of more developed areas, and children younger than 6 experience more ER visits than any other age group.

Health-care workers and patient advocates point to a number of reasons for the last decade’s increase in medicinal related injuries. One is the growing prevalence of prescription opioid painkillers such as methadone, oxycodone, and hydrocodone which are being increasingly prescribed. In 2007, the year covered by the reports, pain medication and antidepressants were responsible for 44 percent of drug-related ER visits.

In the face of such unprecedented rates of injury, the issue of adherence, or the degree to which a patient correctly takes his or her medicine, is becoming an increasing hot topic in health and medicine safety circles. A recent New York Times article on adherence blamed Americans’ “alarmingly low” level of health literacy, or the ability to understand and use health information, as one of the most pervasive and under-recognized problems in medicine. The article referenced a 2006 study by the U.S. Department of Education that found that 90 million Americans can understand medical instructions only when written at a fifth-grade level or lower.

To address this growing issue, NCL, with planning funds from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), is organizing a groundbreaking, national multi-media campaign to improve public health by raising consumer awareness of the importance of good medication adherence. The campaign involves a broad cross-section of public and private stakeholders. 

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.

100 years later: The triangle shirtwaist fire’s continued legacy – National Consumers League

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The deadliest industrial disaster in New York City history was over in less than half an hour, and upon its 100th anniversary, historians and labor rights advocates are honoring the young workers lost to the tragedy and the changes in American labor law it sparked. This month, labor advocates are commemorating the anniversary of the fire and examining how life has changed for the American worker.

A Look Back & A Look Ahead: The status of worker health, safety & rights in the 100 years since the historic fire

In a matter of minutes, the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire of March 25th, 1911 claimed the lives of 146 garment workers, many of them immigrant, teenage girls.

The scene was truly horrifying: panicked workers fled to factory exits only to find them locked.  Surging crowds bottlenecked at narrow exit doors that only opened inward. Desperate to escape the flames, workers flung themselves out eighth and ninth story windows and down an empty elevator shaft. Many of those who made it to the flimsy, poorly designed fire escape were thrown to the ground when it melted from the heat and collapsed.

Today, the Triangle Factory disaster is remembered as a pivotal moment in American history that led to the transformation of New York’s labor legislation and served as a model for the entire nation. The incredible number of workers who died during the devastating fire was exceptional, but, at the turn of that century, dying at work was not an uncommon occurrence. By one estimate, more than 100 Americans died on the job every day during the hyper, unregulated industrial years of the early 20th century. However, unlike other workplace disasters that were followed by shock and outrage but quickly forgotten, the Triangle fire marked an important turning point in the way the way the country thought about a worker’s right to safety.

Following the fire, forward-thinking citizens, politicians, and organizations immediately began working for permanent changes in worker safety laws.

  • The National Women’s Trade Union League (NWTUL) was at the forefront of pushing legislative changes. The NWTUL sent out a questionnaire to factory workers that documented the deplorable conditions workers were forced to endure, and sent the results to local papers. The NWTUL formed the Citizen’s Committee for Public safety and urged the state legislature to form a Bureau of Fire Prevention
  • Facing pressure from the NWTUL and continued public outcry, the New York legislature created the New York State Factory Investigating Committee which passed legislation requiring that all doors open outwards, sprinkle systems be installed in certain factory buildings, no doors could be locked during working hours, and made fire drills mandatory for buildings without sprinklers
  • With the lessons learned from the Triangle fire, the New York City Fire Department was able to identify more than 200 factories with safety issues that could lead to a similar disaster
  • The American Society of Safety Engineers, committed to protecting people, property, and the environment, was created eight months after the fire.

Among those who worked tirelessly to prevent such a disaster from ever happening again was NCL Executive Secretary, Frances Perkins.  At the time of the fire, Perkins was having tea a few blocks away and reached the factory in time to witness garment workers jumping to their deaths. Perkins was instrumental in reforming working conditions, especially for women and children, as executive secretary to the Committee on Safety of New York. Perkins’ work after the fire marked the beginning of a lifetime dedicated to advocating for workers. In 1933, President Roosevelt appointed Perkins as his Secretary of Labor, making her the first woman in the United States to hold a Cabinet position—a position she held for 12 years.

A century later, the legacy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire remains as relevant as ever. While it may be tempting to look back at the shameful working conditions of the time as simply a thing of the past, in light of today’s recent oil and mining disasters, as well as the union busting going on across the country, how much progress has the worker truly made in the last 100 years?

‘Your Information Destination’: Test your LifeSmarts during National Consumer Protection Week – National Consumers League

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March 4, 2011

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

Washington, DC – With the focus of this year’s National Consumer Protection Week (March 6-12) highlighting access to quality consumer information for Americans from all walks of life, the National Consumers League is reminding consumers, especially the youngest ones, that it pays to be “LifeSmart.” NCL, an official partner of NCPW, along with federal government agencies and other consumer organizations, runs LifeSmarts (www.lifesmarts.org), a national program for high school and middle school youth that tests students in grades 7-12 with questions about real-life marketplace issues ranging from personal finance, health and safety, the environment, technology, and consumer rights and responsibilities. So far in this 2010-2011 season, the program has recorded the highest participation numbers ever in its 17-year history.

“What better time than National Consumer Protection Week for consumers to learn ways to manage their money wisely, protect themselves from scams, and be smart about credit,” said Lisa Hertzberg, program director of LifeSmarts. “We encourage consumers of all ages to visit the official NCPW Web site (www.ncpw.gov) —and to log on to www.lifesmarts.org to get involved in LifeSmarts.”

The LifeSmarts competition begins online at the state level, where young consumers form teams and compete for spots at state championships across the country. This year’s state champions will go on to attend the National LifeSmarts competition in Hollywood, CA, April 30 – May 3.

“The current marketplace is a challenge for adult consumers,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg. “But at younger and younger ages, children are having an influence on how their families spend money.  Our LifeSmarts program, and the many resources offered by NCPW partners this year, recognize that we need to start educating our consumers when they are young. NCL is delighted to be a part of the official NCPW Steering Committee.”

As an NCPW Steering Committee member, NCL works with its consumer protection colleagues to provide free resources to help people protect their privacy, manage money and debt, avoid identity theft, understand credit and mortgages, and steer clear of frauds and scams. This year, NCPW partners—which includes AARP, Better Business Bureau, Consumer Federation of America, and a broad array of federal government agencies and others—join with federal, state, and local government agencies to devote a week to raising awareness about today’s consumers’ issues. This year’s efforts include free online resources, which can help consumers protect their privacy, manage money and debt, avoid identity theft, understand credit and mortgages, and steer clear of frauds and scams.

To learn more about the LifeSmarts program, contact Hertzberg at the National Consumers League at (202) 835-3323 or lisah@nclnet.org or visit www.lifesmarts.org.

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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.

WI protests spotlighting importance of unions for workers AND employers – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

By now, most Americans are aware that state workers in Wisconsin and other states are protesting and striking to keep the right to collectively bargain with their public (state or localities) employers. Unions have taken a beating in the last three decades, and the rate of unionization of private sector workers is at its lowest point in decades: 6.9 percent. That’s actually lower than the 12 percent rate of unionization that existed in the United States before the Wagner Act of 1935 passed, giving workers the right to organize. The percent of public workers in unions is 36.2 percent, certainly far higher than their private counterparts.

The newly-elected Republican Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, has cleverly tried to shift the focus on state workers as the cause of his state’s budget deficits and wants state employees to give up their right to collective bargaining. The state workers in Wisconsin have already agreed to many of his demands for concessions on salary and health care. But Walker’s not satisfied. He wants them to give up collective bargaining too.

Here’s the problem: employers – even public employers like states and localities – need someone on the other side of the bargaining table representing the interests of workers. Worker issues include, of course, pay but they extend way beyond salaries to health care benefits, pensions, sick and vacation leave, and occupational health and safety. A union can bring together the interests of all the workers, talk to employers about what are their most pressing matters, and negotiate on their behalf. The striking workers in Wisconsin don’t want to give up that bargaining right, and they shouldn’t have to. Furthermore, public workers, it turns out, don’t do so much better than private sector workers and, in some cases, given their skill level, are actually undercompensated. These state workers are not getting rich; they are simply earning a decent, middle class income.

Shouldn’t we want a middle class that enjoys livable wages, decent benefits, and vacation and sick leave? A middle class that has money to spend on the basics, but also on leisure activities like taking the kids to Disneyland or to a National Park?

My favorite take on this current stand-off is in Monday’s Washington Post. Cartoonist Tom Toles has a plane in the air labeled “US Government” and a bubble from the cockpit that says “Until we solve the problem of people taking extra peanuts, we have no choice but to shut down the engines…”  That says it all: these government workers are asking for respect and fair treatment; they are not demanding huge benefit increases. Quite the contrary.

This is union busting, pure and simple. EJ Dionne, in a recent Washington Post column, says that Scott Walker’s agenda is more about power than budgets. Walker, it turns out, is pushing to end same-day registration for voting and trying to pass onerous voter ID laws that would especially burden those with lower incomes.

NCL supports the workers in states across the country who are standing up to the bullies in Governor’s offices trying to break the union. This is a turning point for unions that we’ll be watching carefully as the protests continue.

The protests in Madison: a first-hand view of the fight for labor – National Consumers League

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By Guest Blogger Jacob Markey, LifeSmarts intern Summer 2010

Throughout my time as a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I was told that this was an activist campus. While students here were at the forefront of protests against the Vietnam War, I generally thought that this activism was a thing of the past. I was certainly wrong. The turnout of thousands of students marching in solidarity with teachers, firefighters, and tens of thousands of other union workers to protest a proposed bill to eliminate the right of public workers to bargain collectively is heartwarming. To hear thousands of people to pack the Capitol Building, chanting slogans like “the people united will never be divided” and pledging solidarity, is just another reminder of the power of people. The opportunity to join in these protests is something I will never forget. My father is a substitute teacher in Milwaukee, and a union member, and I feel some connection to what we are fighting for.

Wisconsin has a strong streak of progressivism. We are the birthplace of AFSCME, and of course, the home of the legendary “Fighting Bob” La Follette. The state also has a long and storied history of worker rights. Public workers here were the first in the nation to earn the right to collectively bargain more than 50 years ago.

Public service workers here understand the tough financial situation the state is in, similar to governments across the country. They agree to the necessity of contributing to part of their pensions and paying a percentage of health care costs. Yet, the right to collective bargaining is something they are unwilling to give up. To lose this ability is to give up rights workers have had for more than half a century is simply unacceptable, and is the breaking point leading to these massive protests.

Many commentators are saying this fight sets a precedent for worker rights across the country. It may currently be a Wisconsin issue, but it will continue to show its face throughout the nation this year. As a longtime leader in worker rights, I am proud of my time spent at NCL, as well as the League’s continued support for workers fighting to maintain their rights, both in Wisconsin, and across the country.

Consumer-labor group calls bizarre Missouri Senate bill to reduce child labor protections something ‘out of Charles Dickens novel’ – National Consumers League

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February 24, 2011

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

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL), the organization which helped pass federal child labor laws in the United States more than 70 years ago, is calling a Missouri bill to bring back child labor “straight out of a Charles Dickens novel.” The 112-year-old NCL is condemning a bill introduced in the Missouri state Senate by Republican Jane Cunningham that would eliminate the prohibition on employment of children under age 14.

“Labor crusader Florence Kelley would be rolling over in her grave,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg. “This is a new low,” said Greenberg. “Those who are attacking labor and worker protections are now apparently willing to put children back into factories or coal mines.”

Florence Kelley led NCL as the organization’s first Executive Secretary from its founding in 1899 to her death in 1932 and helped draft and enact many of the child labor laws in the United States. The National Consumers League currently co-chairs the 26-member Child Labor Coalition (www.stopchildlabor.org), which works to maintain and improve standards and protections for children working both in the United States and abroad.

The Missouri legislation, SB 222:

  • removes the restrictions on the maxium number of hours and time of day during which a child may work;
  • repeals the requirement that a child ages 14 or 15 obtain a work certificate or work permit in order to be employed;
  • allows children under 16 to work in any capacity in a motel, resort, or hotel where sleeping accommodations are furnished; and,
  • removes the authority of the director of the Division of Labor Standards to inspect employers who employ children and to require them to keep certain records for children they employ. It also repeals the presumption that the presence of a child in a workplace is evidence of employment.

“The last provision would make it extremely difficult for state labor inspectors to detect child labor in the workplace,” said Reid Maki, coordinator of the CLC and NCL’s Director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Fair Labor Standards. “Senator Cunningham is portraying these changes as common sense and innocuous amendments to current law, but they are really a full-frontal assault on child labor protections. Cunningham believes that allowing children to work late into the night makes sense, but late-night hours would expose teens to a greater risk of robbery and assault as well as make it more difficult for the young workers to perform well in school the next morning.

“Americans support the bedrock principle that children should be in school and not in the workplace,” noted Greenberg, who serves as co-chair of the Child Labor Coalition. “NCL and other organizations fought for decades to achieve the protections we have today for young workers. We cannot and should not roll back the clock.”

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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.

Protecting Ticket Buyers in Connecticut – National Consumers League

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

Today, I am testifying in support of pro-consumer legislation up for debate in the Connecticut General Assembly.  The bill, H.B. No. 6298, would protect consumers’ ability to transfer and resell their event tickets.  Some of the major provisions of the bill include:

  • Prohibiting venue owners or ticket sellers from preventing the resale of tickets by season ticket or subscription package holders
  • Prohibiting the denial of entry to consumers holding a ticket bought on the secondary market
  • Requiring ticket sellers using paperless ticketing technology to give ticket buyers the option to receive a paper ticket
  • Prohibit venue owners from requiring ticket buyers to pick up tickets from a “will call” window at the venue
  • Prohibiting the holding back of more than 5% of available tickets from public sale, subject to certain exemptions
  • Prohibiting venue operators and primary ticketers from charging a service fee when consumers choose to pick up tickets from a box office

These provisions are common-sense consumer protections.  Given the increasingly consolidated nature of the live event marketplace, dominated by the “new” Ticketmaster (Live Nation Entertainment), it’s now easier than ever for this live event behemoth to abuse their near-monopoly.

One of the major ways that Ticketmaster is seeking to cut out competitors is through the proliferation of “paperless” ticketing.  At an event with paperless tickets, consumers do not receive a physical ticket that they present at the venue to gain entry. Instead, the consumer is typically required to present ID and swipe a credit card at the venue on the day of the event.

Ticketmaster advertises the convenience of a paperless system and certainly many consumers will find this more convenient.  Unfortunately, paperless-only events restrict consumers in a number of ways.  First, since the ticket buyer must be present to redeem the ticket, a consumer who wants to buy tickets for their children to attend a Miley Cyrus show would have to stand in line to redeem the ticket so that their kids can get in to the show, even if the parent does not plan to attend.  Paperless ticketing technology itself is still in development, as many attendees at a recent Justin Bieber show learned to their dismay while they waited in long lines to use malfunctioning ticket terminals.  Ultimately, many ticket buyers were prevented from seeing any of the show.

The second major problem with paperless-only events is that they make it difficult, if not impossible for consumers to resell their tickets on the secondary market.  Indeed, cracking down on the secondary market is a key reason that Ticketmaster and many artists, venue owners and event producers have embraced paperless ticketing.  NCL supports consumer access to the secondary market.  As opposed to previous decades, where the secondary market was synonymous with shady ticket scalpers, today’s online secondary market generally offers consumers a safe, secure venue for buying and selling event tickets.  While consumers do often pay a premium for tickets on the secondary market, research has shown that 23% of tickets sold on these markets are sold at face value and 17% are sold a below face value.  In addition, due to the rampant practice of holding back tickets for various credit card rewards programs, fan clubs, radio stations, sponsors or producers, the general public often has little opportunity to purchase tickets on the “on-sale” date.  For instance, at a 2009 Taylor Swift show in Nashville, less than 12% of the 13,300 available tickets were made available to the general public.  Similar incidents at Keith Urban and Hannah Montana shows suggest that this is not an isolated incident.

NCL believes that consumers should have a fair shot at buying an event ticket at a reasonable price.  Given the high service fees and rampant use of holdbacks on the primary market, we think that laws such as those envisioned in Connecticut would do much to preserve consumer access to a safe and competitive secondary market.  To help achieve this, NCL is playing an active role in the Fan Freedom Project, a coalition of consumer advocates, business groups and live event fans seeking to ensure fair access to live events and preserve a competitive, safe secondary ticket market.

To read my testimony from today’s hearing, click here.

Let them play – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

Football isn’t just a sport; it’s a very big and lucrative business in America, and it’s only getting bigger. The Super Bowl had the most viewers of any sporting event in the United States.  In 2010, each NFL game was watched by an average of 17.9 million viewers, up 13 percent from 2009’s 16.6 million. Even owners of teams with losing records, like Dan Snyder of the Washington Redskins, have more than doubled their investment.  Snyder bought the Redskins in 1999 for $750 mil and today the franchise is valued at 1.6 billion. That kind of success is true across the board for NFL franchises.

But despite these record profits, the National Football League owners are now threatening to lockout the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) unless the players agree to play 18 official games a season instead of 16, and reduce the share of revenue set aside for player salaries by 18 percent beginning next year.

Right now the players receive about 50 percent of the revenue of the NFL, which I think is about where it should be. After all, the players are doing all the work. We go to games not to see Dan Snyder: we want to see Donovan McNabb or Aaron Rodgers.

I confess that when I first heard about this I figured, sure, millionaires going up against billionaires – is this really a fight we need to get into?

Then I recently attended a press conference sponsored by the nonprofit organization American Rights at Work and the NFLPA, which changed my mind. The players there talked about the short working careers of most of their teammates – around 3 ½ years on average. It also takes 3 years of accredited play under current contracts to get only 5 years of post-career health care. Moreover, many players are in dire need of health care after playing professional football – after sustaining all manner of injuries from this very physical game, they often have joint and muscle problems, and have trouble walking and staying healthy after years of the rough and tumble of a football career. And new research is showing the terrible toll head injuries and concussions are having on player’s ability to live healthy and productive lives in their post-NFL careers.

The lockout the owners are threatening won’t just hurt the players and their families; such a lockout would have ancillary effects on workers and businesses across the country. Indeed, estimates are that every NFL city would lose an estimated $160 million, with over 115,000 jobs affected.

The players say they are satisfied with the current system and are willing to be totally transparent about the benefits and salaries they receive. They are asking the owners for the same openness. I think the benefit of the doubt goes to the players – they are the workers here, they are the one’s putting their physical and mental health at risk each day for our entertainment, and it’s their labor that has made millionaire owners into billionaires. The players’ slogan is “Let us Play” and they want to maintain the status quo, where everyone is benefitting from the profits football brings in. I agree with them, and I think we owe them our support.