Busy Time for NCL’s Telecom Work – National Consumers League

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

The past several days have seen two important developments for NCL’s work on behalf of telecommunications consumers.  First, we are proud to announce that the FCC has appointed the National Consumers League to its Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC).  Representing NCL on the CAC will be NCL Board member Debra Berlyn, who will be continuing in her role as CAC Chair.  Debbie had previously represented the DTV Transition Coalition at the CAC.  The FCC’s official notice of the appointment is available *here.

The Consumer Advisory Committee was originally chartered by the FCC in 2000 (then known as the “Consumer/Disability Telecommunications Advisory Committee”) to provide advice to the Commission on issues pertaining to access for people with disabilities to telecommunications technologies, consumer education and protection, and improving consumer participation in the FCC’s rulemaking processes.  Now in its fifth term, the CAC continues to provide advice to the FCC on a range of consumer issues.  We are extremely pleased that the Commission has appointed NCL to the CAC and grateful to Debbie for agreeing to represent NCL at the CAC meetings.

The second important development in NCL’s telecom work was our filing of *comments in the FCC’s *Notice of Inquiry for the Commission’s national broadband plan.  The Notice was issued in response to requirements in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA — the much-ballyhooed “stimulus” bill), which directed the FCC to submit a national broadband plan to Congress by February 2010.  This effort will effectively frame the FCC’s policy with regards to the nation’s broadband infrastructure for years to come.  As such, hundreds of interest groups from the private sector, organized labor, government, and non-profit communities filed comments.   The main points in our comments include:

  • The National Broadband Plan should encourage robust competition – The one-constant in broadband going forward is that consumers will want more of it, at faster speeds, and accessible on a variety of devices.
  • Broadband access should be affordable – Universal access is insufficient if that access is unaffordable.  Broadband is as essential to life in the 21st century as electricity was in the 20th.  The national broadband plan should seek to keep rates affordable for low-income consumers.
  • Broadband should help create jobs – The ARRA places great emphasis on the job-creation potential of broadband and associated programs such as broadband mapping.  Special emphasis should be placed on innovative public-private partnerships that help to create jobs.
  • Innovative solutions that reduce the Digital Divide should be encouraged – Broadband solutions that help connect difficult-to-reach audiences should be encouraged.  In particular wireless broadband solutions (including Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and 3G cellular technology) connecting low-income consumers should be explored.  Tele-health programs should include strict measures of quality to ensure low-income users benefit.
  • Basic consumer protections should be safeguarded – Consumers should have greater control over the information they share online.  Anti-competitive business practices such as mandatory binding arbitration clauses should be restricted and anti-fraud provisions should be strengthened.

To read NCL’s full comments, *click here.

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

Much-Needed Sick Leave Protections for Workers – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

The New Deal laws that were developed and enacted during the administration of President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) represent the framework of the social safety net that protects so many Americans today: minimum wage requirements and limits on hours workers can forced to toil; unemployment insurance for workers laid off through no fault of their own; Social Security benefits for older Americans that keep many from poverty or starvation. The New Deal accomplished so much, and yet, the women who ran the National Consumers League and their allies – like FDR and Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins – were frustrated that they could not achieve universal health coverage for all Americans.

Surely they would have been staunch proponents of providing minimal protections for working Americans to have access to paid sick leave. There’s a renewed campaign afoot to provide this basic protection for working Americans. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, almost half of full-time, private-sector workers have no sick days at all. Government data also shows a *national trend toward a reduction in paid sick days. Research from The Project on Global Working Families at Harvard University found 139 nations provide paid days for short or long-term illnesses.

57 million Americans – nearly 50 percent of all private-sector workers in the United States – don’t have paid sick days. According to an ACORN survey conducted in March 2007, 50 of the largest retailers, more than don’t provide sick leave to their hourly employees. Workers need about seven sick days each year to manage their own health care. But for almost half of U.S. employees, the absence of sick pay is likely to cause them loss of income, a job or advancement, says the National Partnership for Women & Families.

So what happens when workers don’t get sick days? They go to work when they are ill, and they expose their customers and co-workers to their germs. Or they miss work and risk losing their jobs, and even if they don’t get fired, they lose a day’s (or more) pay. The consequences of a lack of paid sick days include health effects, workplace contagion, reduced productivity, turnover costs, poor recovery from illness and surgery, and increased use of healthcare resources.

ACORN, which is leading the charge for paid sick days, says almost half of working women say they must miss work when a child becomes ill, and almost half of those lose pay. Statistics show that children who lack a parent to stay home with them during their illness take longer to recover.

There are currently no federal protections to cover workers who need to take sick leave. The U.S. Family & Medical Leave Act enacted in 1993 provides only unpaid days for serious illness. There is currently no federal law guaranteeing a single day of paid sick leave to workers.

Economists estimate that “Presenteeism,” or employees who come to work sick, costs employers an average of $255 per employee per year and that American businesses lose $180 billion per year in productivity due to sickness in the workplace.

Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) have introduced the Healthy Families Act to address the need to provide a minimum of sick leave days for American workers.

The Healthy Families Act would require employers with 15 or more employees to provide seven paid sick days to care for their own and their families medical needs, benefiting 66 million Americans: 46 million would gain access to paid sick days; 19 million would gain paid sick days for leave for doctors visits and family care; and 1 million Americans would gain additional paid sick days.

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research estimates that the Healthy Families Act would result in a net savings, after covering costs of paid leave, of $8 billion per year.  Such savings are generated by reducing presenteeism, reducing employee turnover and preventing the spread of the flu.

The Healthy Families Act, HR 2460 in the House, has 105 co-sponsors. The early leaders of the NCL, who fought so hard for wage and hours protections for workers, surely would have supported this common-sense bill, and we at NCL today do as well. Workers who are ill shouldn’t have to decide whether to take their illness into the workplace or to stay home and risk losing their job – and a day’s pay. We call on members of Congress to support the Health Families Act and take a stand both for worker protections and for the health of America’s families.

Both *NPWF and ACORN are taking a lead in Congress on sick pay legislation.  In addition, the Center for Economic and Policy Research has a great deal of useful research and information on this important issue.

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

Health Reform – For the Health of the People and the Economy – National Consumers League

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by Mimi Johnson, NCL Health Policy Associate

All signs point to health reform happening in time for Congress to take their August recess.   It will be a busy two months in this town, but everyone agrees that SOMETHING has to happen … if only we could figure out what that something will look like.

In a *paper released last week, Obama’s economic advisors outlined a few of the main ways in which health care costs link to the economy, and how fixing the health care system can help fix the economy.

The Administration outlines just how our broken health care system hurts our workforce; we currently burden small employers with skyrocketing costs for covering their employees, lock workers to jobs for fear of losing health benefits, and have a workforce unable to be as productive as possible because of their health.

We were also excited to see that the President is supportive of efforts to engage and educate consumers.  The National Consumers League is committed to educating consumers about their health and the tools available to help manage it.  There is increasing evidence of the cost savings and improved health outcomes when a consumer is educated and engaged in their health care.

Because there are so many players vested in the outcome, there are a lot of competing ideas about how best to approach reform.  In fact, even those on the same side cannot always agree.  Yesterday, President Obama hosted Senators Kennedy (chair of the Senate’s HELP – Health, Education, Labor and Pensions – Committee) and Baucus (chair of the Senate’s Finance Committee) to try to find some common ground.  As follow-up to the meeting, President Obama released a letter to Senators Kennedy and Baucus reiterating his commitment to reform, including:

  • ensuring quality and affordable health care for all Americans – offering choices, an insurance exchange, and a public plan
  • managing chronic care
  • promoting best practices
  • sharing responsibility – including for the cost of coverage
  • working towards a more effective, efficient, and quality-driven system

We’re pounding the marble on the Hill, trying to get our voice heard.  If you can’t make it to Washington, here are some other good ways to stay informed and be heard:

Stay tuned throughout the summer for additional updates!

 

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

School May Be out, But LifeSmarts Lessons Are Always in Session – National Consumers League

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by Lisa Hertzberg, LifeSmarts Program Director

Students across the country are sprinting toward the school year finish line. We feel confident that the consumer smarts that LifeSmarts participants gained this year will stay with them, and won’t get thrown in the dumpster along with their biology notes on the last day of school.

While participating in LifeSmarts, students learned about their rights as workers, which will help ensure that they are treated fairly at their summer jobs this year. For a quick refresher, check this out. LifeSmarts students also know that some jobs are inherently dangerous, and before accepting a summer job they will check out which jobs to avoid at NCL’s “*Five Worst Summer Jobs.”

When they get their first paycheck, LifeSmarts students they will pay themselves by putting some earnings directly into savings. This will help them work toward goals they’ve established, such as purchasing a car, saving for prom, or saving for post-secondary education. To learn, visit the LifeSmarts Financial Literacy Pilot.

Summer is the time to get more activity in their lives, and LifeSmarts students will follow the advice of sites like *this one. While staying active outdoors, they will be sure to wear the appropriate sunscreen (for a quick review here), and follow the *Consumer Product Safety Commission’s tips to keep themselves and others safe.

Summer is certainly a welcome time to shift gears, and we want to wish everyone a safe and fun summer!

The LifeSmarts Spring Training site remains open through June 15, but then LifeSmarts also goes on a summer schedule. Summer is our opportunity to refresh the LifeSmarts Web site, retire questions, update the questions in the online competition and practice areas, and get new materials ready for educators and students to use when they check us out again in August or September. (Coaches and students can register again beginning August 1, and students may compete beginning September 14, 2009.)

To everyone involved with LifeSmarts this year – thank you for another wonderful year!

 

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

NCL calls for investigation of KeyBank – National Consumers League

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June 3, 2009

Citing excessive fees, predatory lending, outsourcing jobs to India and other anti-worker practices by TARP recipient

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

Washington, D.C. — The National Consumers League, in coalition with Consumer Action, National Association of Consumer Advocates and the Consumer Federation of California, have written a letter to the Treasury’s TARP Inspector General, Mr. Neil Barofsky, and to the TARP’s Congressional Oversight Panel, Chaired by Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren, calling for an investigation of KeyBank’s current business practices and implementation of a remedial process for harm done to consumers, workers and their communities.

In the letter, the groups told officials that KeyBank has a history of engaging in predatory student lending and exposing its customers to excessive fees, and that loans to the bank will serve to undermine the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

Since receiving TARP funds, KeyBank’s behavior towards customers persists as a recent complaint makes amply clear. One customer has written: “Opening an account with KeyBank has been a costly mistake. I have paid overcharge fees and drafts due to the bank’s mistakes! They charge fees for everything, and have no empathy for the customer. They should be ashamed of themselves considering the economy today.”

KeyBank stands out among banks, many of whom also charge excessive fees.

“The National Consumers League and our colleagues find the practices of KeyBank toward students, consumers and workers to be totally out of sync with what the government intended when it provided bailout funds.” said Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of the National Consumers League. “We are distressed to learn that KeyBank is receiving taxpayer funded monies and believe that this is wrong.”

In addition to being involved in shady student loans and excessive customer fees, Key Bank has also engaged in anti-worker behavior, such as providing financing for a company engaged in extensive workers rights abuses, and outsourcing many of its information technology jobs to India. This acts against the interests of the very communities these funds are supposed to be helping.

“We implore the Federal authorities to review their decisions to provide funds to KeyBank, and ensure that the bank’s practices are consistent with the public interest,” said Ira Rheingold, Executive Director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates.

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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.

Downey’s Perkins Bio a Must-Read – National Consumers League

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by Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

It’s rare for me to read a work of nonfiction that is a page turner, but I’m reading such a book right now. It’s the new biography of nation’s first female cabinet member and Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins. The author is the former Washington Post business reporter Kirsten Downey, and she has produced a riveting biographical sketch of Perkins, who changed her name from Fannie to Frances because she thought the latter was more dignified. I didn’t want the book to end; I pored over each chapter as though I was reading a work of great suspense, eager for the next chapter.

The book title is “Woman Behind the New Deal – The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of  Labor and His Moral Conscience,” and it’s written with clarity and filled with valuable nuggets of information, has a feminist perspective, and includes a unique perspective that is not found in the usual accounts of this New Deal era.

The National Consumers League figures large in the life of Frances Perkins. Florence Kelley, the League’s first leader, spoke at Perkins’ college, Mt. Holyoke, in 1902, and Perkins was captivated by this powerful orator. Kelley spoke about her new organization, the National Consumers League, and its efforts to eradicate child labor and eliminate sweatshops. Kelley was fiery, energetic, and filled with idealism. Perkins, after graduating from college, ran the League’s New York chapter, focusing on four areas: poor conditions in cellar bakeries, long hours and poor wages for children, child labor, and workplace fire hazards.

Shopgirls suffered some of the worst conditions working for Bloomingdales, Altman’s  and Macy’s: they worked very long hours (14-16 hours) for very low pay. While lobbying for the League, Perkins developed a friendship with Former President Teddy Roosevelt, who endorsed the NCL’s efforts to restrict child labor in a letter he allowed Perkins’ to circulate widely.

Again, while lobbying for the League in Albany, Perkins became acquainted with Franklin Delano Roosevelt. When he was elected president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt asked Perkins to be his Secretary of Labor. Perkins went on to serve all of FDR’s four terms – the last was cut short by his untimely death – but FDR so relied on and trusted Perkins he rejected her offers to resign as Labor Secretary. All the while, her fellow cabinet members – all male – mocked her style of speaking and were jealous of her close relationship to FDR.

Perkins is responsible for so much more than any of us probably realize. That is why Downey’s book title is so apt. As labor secretary, Perkins worked to pass unemployment insurance, Social Security, and the law setting wage and hour restrictions known as the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In an interesting historical twist, Downey suggests that Perkins was probably also responsible, indirectly, for the election of Harry Truman as president, once he ran on his own after serving out FDR’s aborted final term. Perkins persuaded Eleanor Roosevelt to endorse Truman, something she had been reluctant to do because she was unhappy that the new president had let Perkins go as Labor Secretary in his new cabinet. Eleanor thought it was important to have a woman in the cabinet.

But Perkins prevailed on Eleanor, who was a highly respected democrat in 1948 whose voice carried a lot of weight, to make a strong appeal to democrats to support Truman for President. As history reminds us, this was a very close race between Truman and Thomas Dewey, so much so that newspapers called the election for Dewey. Eleanor’s voice probably turned the tide of history and resulted in Truman’s ultimate victory.

Downey brings out aspects of Perkins’ life (her husband was bi-polar, couldn’t work for much of his life, spending many years in an institution, and her daughter suffered from mental illness as well) and career that have been missing in other biographies of the first female labor secretary. Perkins soldiered on, never allowing prejudices to hold her back.

Today we have another female labor secretary, Hilda Solis, who works at DOL in the federal building named for Frances Perkins and is supportive of the needs and concerns of working men and women. This book is a timely and invaluable contribution to our understanding of the New Deal and programs intended to provide that social safety net that made America a model for the rest of the world.

NCL releases top 10 frauds of 2008 – National Consumers League

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June 2, 2009

With economy in shambles, group warns consumers are at increased risk of falling for scams

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

WASHINGTON, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL) has released its annual ranking of the top telemarketing and Internet scams plaguing consumers in 2008, with Fake Check Scams, Internet Merchandise Scams, and Prizes/Sweepstakes/Free Gift Scams topping the list. NCL’s Fraud Center, which collects reports directly from consumers, tracks emerging scams and trends, and relays complaints to relevant law enforcement and consumer agencies in the United States and Canada, is reminding consumers today that, no matter how pinched they are feeling in the pocketbooks, they must keep a level head in this shaky economy.

2008 Top Overall Scams (read full report)

  1. Fake Check Scams
  1. Internet: Gen Merchandise
  1. Prizes/Sweepstakes/Free Gifts
  1. Phishing/Spoofing
  1. Nigerian Money Offers (not prizes)
  1. Internet: Auctions
  1. Advance Fee Loans, Credit Arrangers
  1. Lotteries/Lottery Ticket Buying Clubs
  1. Friendship & Sweetheart Swindles
  1. Magazines

“Consumers are losing money to scams by the billions, and in this economic environment, they really can’t afford the losses,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director, the nonprofit consumer group that has operated the national Fraud Center since 1992. “The consumer marketplace is challenging enough without the unscrupulous tactics of scam artists thrown into the mix. We’re issuing this reminder today to consumers to keep a level head about offers that seem to be ‘can’t lose’ or ‘no risk’ situations and be on their guard for fraud.”

New noteworthy trends among fraud complaints in 2008 include an increase in the use of the Internet (36.3 percent) and postal mail (25.5 percent) as the method of initial contact by scammers. The two methods replaced email (25.4 percent) which had been the most common method of contact in previous years. In telemarketing scams, fake check fraud continued to dominate, accounting for more than three-fifths (61.2 percent) of all telemarketing fraud complaints logged by consumers. Among scams perpetrated online, Internet merchandise-related complaints (in which consumers lose money on goods purchases at Internet Web sites other than online auctions) bumped fake check schemes from the number one spot on the Internet frauds list.

“Complaints to our Fraud Center tell a variety of stories about consumers being victimized by telemarketing and Internet scams, but there’s a common thread throughout,” said John Breyault, Director of NCL’s Fraud Center and Vice President for Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud. “The con artists making a living perpetrating these scams are, needless to say, good at what they do. Fraud can happen to anyone, of any age, at every level of education. No one is immune from scams. It’s more important than ever that fraud victims come forward to share their stories, help prevent other consumers from falling victim, and bring scammers to justice.”

The nonprofit NCL’s Fraud Center, unique among consumer organizations, was created in 1992 to combat the economic menace of telemarketing fraud, and in 1996, expanded its fraud-fighting efforts to include scams in cyberspace. The Fraud Center’s www.fraud.org. Web site is a consumer resource with information on the most common telemarketing and Internet scams. Consumers can report suspected fraud using the online complaint form. The Fraud Center transmits reports to the appropriate agencies among more than 190 law enforcement and consumer protection authorities in the U.S. and Canada that participate in the Fraud Center’s “early warning” system. These reports alert agencies to emerging scams and help put them in touch with victims, while providing the necessary ammunition to investigate and shut down fraudulent operations. To learn more about the top Internet and telemarketing frauds of 2008, visit www.fraud.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.

This Week in Consumer Policy – National Consumers League

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

Recent weeks have been historic ones for consumers from a public policy perspective.  On Wednesday, June 20, President Obama signed in to law two pieces of legislation designed to protect consumers from predatory lending in the housing market – the Helping Families Save their Home Act and the *Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act.   Scarcely 48 hours later, the President signed an even more far-reaching piece of pro-consumer legislation, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (CARD Act).  NCL was *at the White House to witness history and celebrate these hard-won victories.   After nearly a decade of playing defense on consumer protection in Washington, it seems like the pendulum is finally swinging back in consumers’ favor.

As the nation’s oldest consumer organization, we’ve seen our fair share of the daily back-and-forth that characterizes the way that public policy is crafted in Washington.  To outsiders, the process can often seem mind-numbingly confusing in its complexity.  To address this issue, we’d like to occasionally highlight the most important consumer issues bubbling up here in Washington and attempt to explain how they can affect consumers.

The legislation noted above is hugely significant, making consumers better off than they were before these laws went into effect.  However, there is much work to be done.  This week, Congress returns from its Memorial Day recess to face a host of consumer issues.   Highlights include:

  • FTC Business Opportunity Rule Workshop – Monday, June 1, 9:00 AM – The day-long public workshop will explore proposed changes to the FTC’s Business Opportunity Rule, requiring that companies selling business opportunities (such as franchises)  provide a one-page Business Opportunity Disclosure Form to prospective purchasers.   Information to help consumers and businesses avoid business opportunity fraud is available from the FTC by clicking here.
  • Legislative hearing on the discussion draft of the Food Safety and Enhancement Act of 2009 – Wednesday, June 3 , 10:00 AM –  Coming on the heels of the a rash of food safety scare involving salmonella in peanut products, melamine in milk, and E coli in spinach, this bill would increase the oversight authority of the Food and Drug Administration and give the agency additional resources to carry out this increased oversight role (*click here for a bill summary and click here for additional analysis from The Washington Post).  Health Subcommittee of House Energy and Commerce Committee, 2123 Rayburn House Office Building.
  • *FCC Open Commission Meeting Focuses on DTV Transition – Wednesday, June 3, 9:30 AM – The FCC’s meeting will include presentations by the agency, industry, and consumer groups involved in the DTV transition.  In February, NCL supported the DTV Delay Act, which moved the deadline for analog-broadcast shutoff to June 12.  NCL is a member of the DTV Transition Coalition.
  • Senate Commerce Committee Hearing: “GM And Chrysler Dealership Closures: Protecting Dealers And Consumers” – Wednesday, June 3, 2:30 PM – The announced closure of more than 4,300 Chrylser and GM dealerships over the next two years will have a big impact on local communities, jobs, and broadcast and print journalism (dealers are among the largest local advertisers).  In addition, millions of Chrysler and GM cars currently on the road will continue to need to be serviced.  These closures will have an impact on consumers looking to these dealerships for that service. Click here for additional information.

As you can see, this week is shaping up to be a busy one for consumer advocates!  If you know of an event that we missed, please feel free to email me at johnb@nclnet.org.

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

NCL to teens: avoid these five worst summer jobs – National Consumers League

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May 29, 2009

One teen American worker dies from a workplace injury every ten days; advocacy group warns parents and teens to be smart this summer and protect themselves from workplace hazards

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

WASHINGTON, DC – With summer just around the corner, and many teens competing with out-of-work adults for summer employment, the National Consumers League has issued its annual report for 2009 on the Five Worst Teen Jobs, with work in agriculture again topping this year’s list for the third year running. Based on statistics from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), a teen American worker dies from a workplace injury every ten days, and an estimated 158,000 youth sustain work-related injuries and illnesses each year.

The National Consumers League (NCL), which coordinates the Child Labor Coalition, has issued this year’s Five Worst Teen Jobs report to remind teens and parents that while it’s never too late to focus on safety when considering a summer job, it’s often difficult to see the hidden dangers in many jobs that are legal for teens to perform.

“Seeing the dangers in summer work isn’t always easy. Jobs like construction are obviously dangerous, but others like retail work can pose hidden dangers when teens are asked to work alone at night and may be vulnerable to robberies and assaults,” said Reid Maki, NCL’s Director for Social Responsibility and Coordinator of the Child Labor Coalition. “And at times, young workers performing seemingly safe jobs are asked to do very unsafe things, such as using trash compactors, something the law specifically prohibits them from doing because it is too dangerous. Choosing a summer job can be very difficult, even for those parents and teens who are mindful of safety concerns.”

In 2007—the last year for which there are complete records—an estimated 2.6 million adolescents aged 16 to 17 years worked in the United States, and that figure does not include the 400,000 children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers who work at ages younger than 16 because of loopholes in our child labor laws.

“Each year, the National Consumers League issues our Five Worst Teen Jobs report to remind teens and their parents to choose summer jobs wisely,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director and co-chair of the NCL-coordinated Child Labor Coalition. “Summer jobs can contribute a lot to a child’s development and maturity, and teach new skills and responsibilities, but the safety of each job must be a consideration. If you think employers, even good-intentioned ones, and federal child labor laws can protect our young workers from dangerous tasks, think again.”

NCL’s Five Worst Teen Jobs of 2009 (read full report)

  1. Agriculture: Harvesting Crops
  1. Construction and Height Work
  1. Driver/Operator: Forklifts, Tractors, and ATV’s
  1. Traveling Youth Sales Crews
  1. Outside Helper: Landscaping, Groundskeeping and Lawn Service

The Five Worst Jobs of 2009 report focuses on jobs that are legal for teens to perform despite placing young workers in potentially dangerous environments, according to NCL. Despite urging by advocates for Congress and the Department of Labor to prohibit the jobs known as the “most dangerous forms of child labor,” most of the activities on the list remain legally permitted work for teens, including work at heights, poultry catching and processing, driving tractors and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), operating chain saws (prohibited for only use on wood) and working on traveling youth crews that sell magazines or other products.

In this year’s report, NCL has also highlighted illegal work in meat packing plants as a “Bonus Worst Job” in addition to the legal worst five jobs. Although workers must be 18 years old to legally work in these plants, recent federal immigration raids have found children as young as age 15 working in meat packing. Reports that 50 teens may have been working in the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa and the more than 9,000 child labor violations alleged against the plant by the State of Iowa have raised great alarm among child labor and child welfare advocates.

“Meat processing work, which involves repetitive use of very sharp knives, is extremely dangerous—for youth and adults. In a visit to Postville, Iowa last summer, we met a young worker who cut himself processing meat when he was only 16 years old,” said Maki. “The truth is that even laws that are meant to protect our young workers are not being obeyed, and teens are at great risk.”

NCL compiles the Five Worst Teen Jobs each year using government statistics and reports, including monitoring reports from state labor officials and news accounts of injuries and deaths. Statistics and examples of injuries for each job on the list are detailed in a report available here.

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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.

White House Welcomes Consumer Groups for Historic Bill Signings – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

On two occasions this week, consumer groups were invited to the White House to witness President Barack Obama’s historic signing of legislation intended to protect the interests of consumers and homeowners. I was lucky enough to attend both events. On Wednesday, the President signed the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act and *The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act. These bills are intended to crack down on those who seek to take advantage of homeowners through fraud and other abuses. On Friday, the President signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act, a new law that will rein in some of the worst abuses of the credit card industry and help to restore the balance between consumers using their credit cards responsibly and the credit card industry’s obligation to treat their customers fairly, and not hiking up rates without notice, backdating interest on old balances, or changing terms, in the words on your credit card contract, “anytime for any reason.” I have lived and worked as a consumer advocate in Washington for more than a decade and had never been to a White House bill signing.

It wasn’t for lack of trying. Several years ago consumer and safety advocates worked hard to persuade the Bush Administration to celebrate the signing into law of the *Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act, which will protect toddlers especially from being backed over and killed when they run behind their parents’ car and cannot be seen because of blind areas behind the vehicle. The act sets a standard for rearward visibility in all cars. Unfortunately, we couldn’t manage to get a public signing at the White House for the many parents whose children had died or been injured, and who would have welcomed the opportunity to celebrate passage of this bill.

But the Obama Administration has reached out to consumer advocates in a new and important way that we hope will benefit the millions of consumers whose interests we try hard to protect each day. About a month ago, nine or so consumer organizations met with White House staff to discuss a range of issues, from product safety, to credit card legislation, homeowner protections, energy prices, access to the courts, and important appointments to agencies that provide consumer protection and enforce health and safety laws. We brought with us our platform of six issues that the groups had issued last December.

Attending an event at the White House is a heady experience. As my 91-year-old father pointed out recently, having the chance to be part of an event with a standing president is a significant honor. Yet there we were, mixing on Wednesday in the East Room with Senators, Representatives, cabinet secretaries, the President’s own staff, and discussing the important protections these bills would provide for homeowners and on Friday, in the Rose Garden, ten or so consumer representatives – who had fought for these provisions for a number of years, and brought with them individual consumers who had endured terrible experiences with credit cards – one woman’s son had committed suicide when faced with mounting debt on his credit cards. I watched the President listen to her story and give her a hug afterwards.

The President on Wednesday spoke eloquently about both the trials that homeowners face when confronted with the possibility of losing their homes – and the fraud thousands have faced at the hands of unscrupulous businesses, and on Friday talked with compassion about those consumers who never expected to confront mounting debt on the credit cards but had lost a job or faced a health care crisis. The bill will provide, in the President’s words, “common-sense reforms designed to protect consumers.”

Under the new law: *credit card issuers will be required to tell card holders how long it will take to pay off a balance and what it will cost in interest if they only make the minimum monthly payments; retroactive rate hikes that appear on a bill “suddenly with no rhyme or reason” will be barred, Obama said; companies will have to post their agreements online; consumers will have to mail statements 21 days before payment is due, instead of 14; shifting payment dates will be prohibited; and 45 days’ notice will be required for changes in terms and conditions.

Some estimates say that the average household debt by credit cardholders who carry a balance is around $17,000. The White House said that every year, Americans pay around $15 billion in penalty fees. Nearly 80 percent of American families have a credit card, and 44 percent of families carry a balance on their credit cards. President Obama also pointed out that this bill is a good balance, and said the changes were not intended to encourage reckless spending. For the White House Fact Sheet on the bill, click *here.

Consumer advocates hope that this week is a watershed, opening the way to a new era in which Congress and the White House are, after a long dry spell and a painful economic downturn, feeling the pain that the average American is experiencing and are trying at last to level the playing field so that the average consumer gets a fair shake. We at the National Consumers League welcome this new way of doing business.

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