Last week, the Washington Times ran an editorial by Senator Jim DeMint, a Republican Senator from South Carolina and chairman of the Republican Steering Committee, that contained misleading criticism of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a piece of legislation that would rightly restore the freedom of American workers to express their interest in unionizing.

NCL’s Reid Maki had a strong rebuttal for the Washington Times in a letter that ran today: “The senator portrayed EFCA as an attempt to undermine a worker’s ability to vote by secret ballot, but the truth is that corporations often use their vast economic might to undermine workers’ attempts to unionize with coercion and manipulative campaigns.”

As NCL and its labor allies know far too well, corporations often have the upper hand when it comes to the balance between workers’ interests and company policies. Unscrupulous companies are able to tip the scales in their favor by threatening to close factories, move overseas, or fire “problem” workers when the workforce shows an interest in unionizing.

It’s time for workers to regain their right to free speech, and that’s why NCL, which has a long history of supporting workers’ rights, supports the EFCA.

By John Breyault

When faced with spam text messages — also known as SMiShing – just delete the messages. That was the advice we gave to Nashville’s CBS Newschannel 5 in a story that ran on the issue earlier this week.  Click here to watch the full video.

While the estimated 1.5 billion spam text messages that will be sent in 2008 represent only a small fraction of the total amount of spam consumers receive, the problem is growing. Since 2006, the number of spam text messages sent has nearly doubled, likely driven by dramatic growth in text messaging use by American consumers. Even though most mobile phone consumers will receive very much, if any, text messaging spam, the cost of getting even a few is not insignificant. Given that U.S. consumers pay for text messages sent and received, combined with rising pay-as-you-go text messaging fees (currently at 20¢ per message on most carriers), the real costs of such spam can quickly add up.

The easiest way to avoid becoming a victim of SMiShing scams is to simply delete the messages. Do not call the number listed in the text message or surf to the Web address provided. You will likely be asked to provide sensitive financial information (bank or credit card account numbers) which the scammers will then use to defraud you. In particular, SMiShing scams seem to be targeting credit union, so be especially wary if you are one of their customers and receive these text messages. Other ways to cut down on SMiShing is to avoid listing cell phone numbers online (such as in online social networking site profiles), since scammers frequently use sophisticated harvesting software to comb the Internet for such numbers. If the problem is especially severe, cell phone carriers can block all SMS text messages to a consumer’s handset, though this will also block legitimate messages.

Consumers who suspect they’ve been a victim of SMiShing fraud should contact their financial institution and cell phone provider immediately. Also consider reporting the fraud to NCL’s Fraud Center, so that we can alert the FTC and federal and state law enforcement authorities.

by Reid Maki, Coordinator of NCL’s Child Labor Coalition

Americans tend to think that child labor is something that happens in poor, third world countries, but there’s plenty to worry about in our own back yard, according to the witnesses at a congressional hearing late last month before the House Education and Labor Committee’s Subcommittee on Workforce Protections.

National Consumers League Executive Director Sally Greenberg, who also serves as co-chair of the Child Labor Coalition, told the subcommittee that DOL needs more resources to enforce child labor laws. “Every 10 days in America, a young person is killed at work. Every day, more than 100 young workers under the age of 19 are seriously injured or become ill from their jobs,” she said, adding that the number of DOL child labor investigations “has declined drastically”—the number of investigations fell by nearly half from 2004 to 2006. “The number of child labor investigations conducted in 2006—1,344—was the lowest in the last ten years for which we have data, and may be lowest in many decades.”

With fewer than 750 labor investigators for the entire nation, DOL is conducting so little enforcement the department has become a “paper tiger,” said Greenberg.

Norma Flores, a former child farm worker, testified about her early years in America’s fields harvesting fruits and vegetables. She and her sisters began working long hours when they turned 12 “during our summers and any other school breaks we had,” Flores told subcommittee members. “Full-time work weeks now meant 70 hours— including weekends—for weeks at a time with no days off,” she explained.

Advocates estimate that 400,000 children help their impoverished migrant and seasonal farmworker families in the fields each year. Exemptions to U.S. labor law allow the youth to work at younger ages in agriculture than they could in any other industry.

“One of the most terrifying moments of my life was when an airplane accidently sprayed pesticides over the field my family and I were working in,” Flores recalled. The farm contractor told the panicked family to move to a different field and keep working, she said.

David Strauss, the executive director of the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, told Subcommittee Chair Lynn Woolsey (D.-Calif.) that federal law offers working children like Norma few protections. Strauss explained that the law’s only requirement is that the teen agricultural workers “not work during school hours when school is in session. That is virtually the only restriction in federal law, along with a prohibition against hazardous employment for children 15 and younger.”

“A 12-year-old kid can work 12 or more hours a day during the summer, on weekends, or during the school year as long as those hours are outside of school time,” Strauss added. “I have spoken with teenage children of migrant families who worked after school until midnight during a heavy harvest.”

Strauss noted that kids pay a heavy toll for their hard work. They often leave their homes and schools to begin seasonal work before the end of the school year, and they sometimes return after the school year has already begun. Falling behind, they quickly become discouraged and, according to estimates, as many as two out of three drop out of school.

“Without a diploma, without good job skills, they often end up continuing the cycle of poverty their parents hoped they could break,” said Strauss.

Strauss reminded subcommittee members that legislation by Rep. Louise Roybal-Allard—The Children’s Act for Responsible Employment— would address the issue of agricultural child labor and level the playing field so that child farmworkers are treated like other children. The legislation would keep kids under 14 out of the fields unless they are working on their own family’s farm (in which case they would be exempt). Kids 14 and 15 would only be allowed to work in the fields if the Secretary of Labor determined that the work is safe.

Alexander Passantino, the acting administrator of the Wage and Hour Division who represented DOL, claimed investigators always look for child labor even when they are investigated other labor violations.

NCL’s Greenberg made several recommendations, including asking Congress to double the number of labor inspectors. She urged passage of the CARE Act to protect children working in agriculture, and she called on DOL to revise the “hazardous orders” to prohibit teens from working in dangerous agricultural jobs. Greenberg asked DOL to conduct targeted child labor investigations of agriculture and meatpacking, two industries with high injury rates.

Since 1991, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has been defending consumers’ interests for an unprecedented five terms in office. Blumenthal’s aggressive law enforcement for consumer protection, environmental stewardship, labor rights and personal privacy, has helped reshape the role of state attorneys general nationwide, has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for Connecticut taxpayers and consumers each year — AND has earned him one of two 2008 Trumpeter Awards from the National Consumers League.

Like fellow recipient Barbara Ehrenreich, Richard Blumenthal is being honored with NCL’s highest award for his career-long dedication to guarding the interests of consumers and workers against harm. Blumenthal lead the national fight against Big Tobacco to stop deceptive marketing aimed at children and for reforms in the health insurance industry to ensure coverage and lower costs.

He has worked relentlessly to eradicate corruption in state government, make state contracting accountable, fair, honest and transparent, and to battle unfair utility rate charges, air pollution causing acid rain and other environmental wrongdoing, and scams and frauds victimizing consumers.

We will proudly present Blumenthal with the Trumpeter Award tonight in Washington, DC, before everybody tunes in to the first VP Debate. Check back soon for photos from the event!