Amidst a flurry of economic theories about the minimum wage, personal struggles tell the story – National Consumers League

/in imported/by

By Michell K. McIntyre, Outreach Director, Labor and Worker Rights

These days, issues of economic security are finally getting their due. Cities and states – and in some cases counties – have decided to strike it out on their own and take matters into their own hands. Thirteen states and a few cities and counties have increased their minimum wages in the past year. Still, the federal government lags behind.

A few weeks ago, the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee held its first hearing on the Senate Fair Minimum Wage Act (S.460 & H.R. 1010) that would increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour, increase the tipped minimum wage from a paltry $2.13 an hour to 70% of the ‘regular’ minimum wage ($7.07), and index both to the rate of inflation – thus stopping this vital wage from being used as a political football.

The hearing witness list included the usual heavyweights: the U.S. Department of Labor‘s (DOL) Secretary Tom Perez and the Director of the Congressional Budget Office Douglas Elmendorf as well as Dr. Heather Boushey, the Executive Director and Chief Economist of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, Sister Simone Campbell, Executive Director of the NETWORK, but most importantly, Alicia McCrary – a mother of four trying to make ends meet as a fast food worker on a minimum wage salary.

Alicia McCrary’s voice brought the discussion out of the battling economic studies, partisan posturing, and election year sound bites and back to reality. McCrary simply told her truth and the truth of many families. She spoke of how she moved her four boys out of Chicago after leaving an abusive relationship and shared with the Committee the routine of deciding each month which of her four sons would be the lucky one to get a haircut because she can’t afford for them all to have haircuts in the same month.

Alicia is a good example of what life is like for millions of American families struggling on the minimum wage. Besides demands from work, these working parents face many hurdles at home from finding affordable housing and childcare to feeding their growing children and providing them with health care. With the federal minimum wage stuck at $7.25 an hour, a single mother that works full time and has one child, lives in poverty at $15,080 (before taxes) a year. This qualifies them for food stamps because without it, they would have little left after paying rent, utilities, transportation, and health care.

The New York Times and the Economic Policy Institute have both released minimum wage calculators/budgets that demonstrate just how far a minimum wage paycheck goes. They highlight the many costs faced by families and just how unlivable the current minimum wage is. Not surprisingly, the numbers show the writing on the wall that families across the country already know. With the recent cuts to the federal food stamp program, low-wage workers are seeing their budgets get stretched even farther. In many metropolitan areas affordable housing is a myth – in a recently published report Out of Reach

from the National Low Income Housing Coalition – in no state can a full-time minimum wage worker afford a one-bedroom or a two-bedroom rental unit at Fair Market Rent. In Washington D.C., where a District minimum wage earner makes $8.50 an hour – more than the federal minimum wage, it would take that same worker 137 hours per week to afford rent. How many hours would a minimum wage earner need to work in your state to afford rent?

If raised to $10.10 an hour, as those in both houses of Congress and worker advocates are calling for, then 30.3 million workers would get a raise. American families need a break – we need to raise the minimum wage!

Advocates call for FTC action to address data insecurity – National Consumers League

/in imported/by

March 25, 2014

Contact: NCL Communications, Ben Klein, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC – A coalition of consumer and privacy organizations today called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to convene a forum examining the ongoing impact of data insecurity on America’s consumers. In a letter to FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez, the groups cited the increased consumer awareness of the threat of data breaches and other cybersecurity risks in the wake of data thefts at Target, Michaels, Snapchat, and other businesses.

“The Target breach should serve as a wake-up call that more must be done to address the looming data insecurity disaster,” noted the groups. “This is no longer an issue that can be limited to discussion among cybersecurity experts. It is now a threat to the entire economy.”

Statistics cited by the organizations included:

  • Since 2005, there have been more than 4,000 disclosed data breaches, a rate of more than one per day for nine straight years, according to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.
  • According to Javelin Strategy & Research, 13.1 million consumers suffered identity fraud in 2013, the second highest level on record. Total annual identity fraud losses were $18 billion.
  • Since 2004, more than 1.1 billion consumer records have been exposed to unauthorized parties, according to Verizon.

Past FTC workshops have examined pressing data security challenges surrounding the “Internet of Things,” mobile devices, and tax-related identity theft, among other issues. These forums provide an important opportunity for policymakers to convene experts and discuss ongoing consumer protection issues facing the Commission.

Organizations listed on the letter included Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, National Consumers League (NCL) and Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

“The threat to consumers and the economy from data breaches is very real and growing,” said John Breyault, NCL Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud. “Given the vast amounts of personal information that consumers are being asked to provide, it is imperative that the data be better protected from hackers and other malicious actors. As the nation’s leading consumer protection agency, the FTC is the right organization to lead a national conversation on this issue.”

Read the groups’ letter here.

###

About the National Consumers League 

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Its 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.

Recent high profile stories about GM and Toyota reveal the flaws of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – National Consumers League

/in imported/by

In the shadow of the General Motors and Toyota stories about widespread safety issues that went largely ignored, is the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)’s lax performance. This agency is the consumer’s guardian to ensure that industry designs and manufactures cars and trucks safely. The federal agency failed at this assignment. As a New York Times editorial noted, recent events “show[s] glaring deficiencies in enforcement of auto safety regulations.”

Consumers reported from 2009-2010 sudden acceleration problems with their cars.   When Toyota denied it had problems with the phenomenon of sudden unexpected acceleration (SUA), NHTSA agreed, issuing a report in 2011 essentially denying consumers’ experience with this very dangerous defect: it sends a car hurtling down the road, unable to stop. An off duty policeman and three members of his family were killed when his brakes failed to override the throttle mechanism. NHTSA’s report claimed “driver error”.  The agency was wrong, and a recent $1.2 billion settlement reached between Toyota and the Department of Justice shows: Toyota admitted it failed to report defects and worse, denied there was ever a problem.

General Motors recalled 1.6 million cars after admitting it had failed to report faulty ignition switches it knew were defective.  But NHTSA had reports from consumers for years that it failed to act on. The ignition key would slip out of place and freeze up the steering wheel. A dozen innocent people were killed in accidents related to this defect.

The New York Times notes that NHTSA’s $10 million budget for investigations has barely increased over the past decade and the agency lacks criminal power to levy criminal sanctions. There are many good people who work at NHTSA that are dedicated to protecting consumers and improving car safety, but that’s no excuse for NHTSA’s lapses.

I spent a decade working on auto safety for Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports. We couldn’t get NHTSA to act on some glaring safety problems – like SUVs and pickup trucks rolling over at much higher numbers than cars. We had to go to Congress – Senator Ed Markey led the charge when he was in the House of Representatives, getting legislation passed mandating that NHTSA develop a test for vehicle stability.

I’m sorry to say the GM and Toyota examples tell me that not much has changed. Federal safety agencies should never forget they hold the lives of consumers in their hands The agency needs to be far more responsive to reports from consumers of vehicle defects. Consumers’ lives depend on it. If that takes a changes of leadership and culture, so be it.

“There is no question that in these cases, the automakers failed the public,” the Times rightly concluded, “federal regulators – and the Congress that has denied them the weapons they need – are complicit in that failure.”

National Consumers League statement on Murthy nomination for Surgeon General – National Consumers League

/in imported/by

March 19, 2014

Contact: NCL Communications, Ben Klein, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC – The following statement is attributable to Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of the National Consumers League.

As the nation’s pioneering consumer organization and one concerned throughout our 115-year history about the health and well-being of Americans, the National Consumers League (NCL) finds it troubling that the current nominee for Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, is facing criticism for supporting basic measures to improve our nation’s health. Murthy, a great public health champion, is a strong advocate for the Affordable Care Act and, like the majority of Americans, for including reasonable gun policies as part of our nation’s health agenda. If confirmed, he plans to make combating America’s obesity epidemic a top priority. These issues are exactly what a Surgeon General should include in his or her agenda. 

Because of Murthy’s mentioning guns as a health matter, some members of Congress have indicated they would not vote to confirm him. We think this is unfortunate and shortsighted . Gun violence does affect the health of Americans:  on average, eight young people under the age of 20 are killed by guns every day. American children die by guns 11 times as often as children in other high-income countries. On average, 32 Americans are murdered with guns every day, and 140 seek emergency room treatment for gun assaults.

NCL has enjoyed strong relationships with past U.S. Surgeons General. In 2000, NCL honored Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher with its highest honor, the Trumpeter Award. Most recently, the 18th Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, also a Trumpeter Award recipient, worked with the League to support and promote our medication adherence campaign, Script Your Future.

President Obama’s Surgeon General nominee is widely respected as a physician and a public health expert. He has degrees from Harvard and Yale, and is an eminently qualified physician. We think he is moderate and thoughtful in his positions, and brings impeccable credentials to the post.  The National Consumers League calls upon the Senate to confirm Vivek Murthy to the post of Surgeon General of the United States.

 

###

About the National Consumers League 

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Its mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

NCL commends President Obama for regs on overtime and updating other labor laws – National Consumers League

/in imported/by

March 14, 2014

Contact: NCL Communications, Ben Klein, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL) applauds President Obama for directing the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to revise and update outdated, Depression-era overtime laws and tighten the loopholes in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). NCL, the nation’s pioneering worker and consumer advocacy organization, commends the President for using his executive power to call for this positive step forward for millions of American workers.

“President Obama’s directive is a giant step for the millions of Americans who work full time and yet still struggle to make ends meet,” said Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of NCL. “With Congress conflicted on these issues, an executive order will require businesses to pay workers what they earn for any additional hours they work.”

Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, who had previously served as NCL secretary, crafted the FLSA, which was signed into law in 1938. It was created to give Americans basic workplace rights including a federal minimum wage, overtime protections, bans against child labor, and record-keeping mandates to keep businesses honest about the number of hours employees worked.

When originally constructed, the overtime statute in the FLSA included a pay threshold and three job classification exemptions: executive, professional, and administrative. Today, many employers avoid paying their employees overtime by exploiting the exemptions in the FLSA. By manipulating job titles and descriptions, employers avoid paying many employees who work over a 40-hour workweek one and a half times the normal hourly rate for the extra hours.

Millions of other workers are exempt from overtime rules if they make more than $455 a week or $23,660 a year, which is still below the poverty line for a family of four.

“For decades, Americans’ wages have stagnated, even as worker productivity has soared,” said Michell McIntyre, NCL’s Outreach Director, Labor and Worker Rights. “The changes in the exemptions to overtime pay could make all the difference for families struggling to make ends meet. This is an important step. It is time to give Americans a raise.”

###

About the National Consumers League 
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Its 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.

A step in the right direction with new nutrition facts labels – National Consumers League

/in imported/by

kelsey

You may have heard about the Food and Drug Administration’s recently released proposed revisions to the Nutrition Facts label. The results were resoundingly positive, with only a couple points of contention. Nutrition Facts labels first came about thanks to the passage of a 1990 law requiring them. Since, they have only been significantly updated once, to include trans fat in the list of required nutrients. Needless to say, they were due for an update.

One of the most notable changes is the emphasis on calories.  The increased font size and bolding of the calories amount play an important role in consumer decision making and contribute to addressing the obesity epidemic in America.  FDA also proposed to add a line to the required nutrients for “added sugars”.  Added sugars are a good means of determining which food options are healthiest.  While added sugars do not affect the body any differently than those that occur naturally, they indicate that a food is likely more processed and most likely contains unnecessarily large amounts of sweetener.

The FDA would also like to see that all fiber listed on the Nutrition Facts label exclude purified processed fibers like maltodextrin and inulin.  Processed fibers are not as beneficial as those that are unprocessed and frequently found in whole foods.  A few other high points to the proposed changes are removing the “calories from fat” section and getting rid of the table that lists nutrient labels for 2,000-2,500 calorie diets and replacing the required amounts of vitamins A and C listed with potassium and vitamin D.

The largest concession was that the Daily Value of sodium was only lowered from 2,400mg to 2,300mg.  Ideally it would have been lowered to 1,500mg as is recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for people that are over 50, have hypertension, or are African American.   Daily Values are typically based on the most vulnerable populations.  It would be ideal if that applied to this proposed change.

If you are as excited as I am about seeing these new Nutrition Facts labels hit the shelves, you might want to check your enthusiasm.  We shouldn’t expect to see them until 2018 as it may take a while to finalize the rule and industry has two years for implementation.

National Consumers League Statement on FTC Investigation of Herbalife – National Consumers League

/in imported/by

March 12, 2014

Contact: Sally Greenberg, Executive Director, National Consumers League, (202) 631-2301, sallyg@nclnet.org or John Breyault, Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud, (202) 835-3323,  johnb@nclnet.org

Washington, DC – The National Consumers League, the nation’s pioneering consumer and worker advocacy organization, today welcomed the news that the Federal Trade Commission has launched an investigation of Herbalife, one year to the day after NCL originally called for such action. The following statement is attributable to NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg:

“We applaud the Federal Trade Commission for opening this important investigation. In early 2013, NCL met with representatives of the Direct Selling Association, Herbalife and Pershing Square Capital Management to examine questions about the legality of Herbalife’s business model and whether consumers recruited to sell products for the company were victims of a pyramid scheme. Unfortunately, these meetings did not alleviate our concerns. Subsequently, NCL asked FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez  in a letter dated March 12, 2013 to open an investigation to determine whether Herbalife is a legitimate multi-level marketing company, as the company claims, or an illegal pyramid scheme.” 

“The beneficiaries of today’s action will be the millions of consumers who purchase and try to earn money selling Herbalife’s products. This is an important step and we commend the FTC for its action.”

###

About the National Consumers League 
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Its 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.

The ticket marketplace: A scalper’s paradise – National Consumers League

/in imported/by

This week I braved the ticket buying process for Roland Garros, otherwise known as the French Open. I wasn’t sure what I was in for, but I had heard from those who had attended in the past that you have to buy as soon as the tickets become available, as they sell out immediately. I hadn’t realized that tennis was so popular and that so many people would get online to buy those tickets up.

So at 2 am EST, 7 am French time, I logged on to the French Open website and was put in queue for 80 minutes. I sat with a book on my lap reading and whiling away the time in the middle of the night. About an hour later, the purchase page popped up, I put in my info and got my 3 tickets. I was delighted that the French seemed to be effective at preventing scalping and appeared to be doing their best to make tickets available to as many people as possible at a reasonable price.

How foolish I was to believe these modest measures would prevent scalping. Two days after I bought my face value tickets, I saw seats in the same section as ours going for four times what we paid. I can’t help feeling angry about scalping. My son, who helped orchestrate the buying process, thinks I’m hopelessly naïve. He claims that when a hot Nike shoe goes up on a website, it’s gone in 10 minutes, only to quickly show up online for $5,000.

The National Consumers League has been working to prevent bots, illegal ticket buying software, from being used to scoop up in-demand tickets that then get sold at far higher prices. We’ve looked at many creative ways to prevent scalping, but it’s a difficult problem to solve when there’s more demand than supply. We can make it illegal to sell a ticket for more than face value, but then the worry is that the secondary market goes underground. At least with some of the official secondary market services, you have some consumer protections built in to guarantee that you’ll get the ticket you paid for.

My experience this week reinforces my frustration with scalping. Many people are making a lot of money by buying up face value tickets, then charging triple or quadruple the price. I think that’s unfair. What we need are creative solutions that ensure fair access to tickets, as opposed to the exorbitant markups that the scalpers too often charge. Yes, I’m hopeless naïve, but I can’t help but want average people to get a fair shake in the ticket market.

While Congress stagnates, your tax dollars are hard at work – National Consumers League

/in imported/by

Here’s a thought. When you’re feeling disheartened about partisan bickering in Congress, think about this: your tax dollars are supporting the work of outstanding, hard-working, and knowledgeable public servants who’ve got your back. Last week, my colleague Kelsey Albright and I met with an EPA staffer who gave us a crash course on food waste. Nearly 30% of the food US agriculture produces is wasted!

Not only is she knowledgeable about the subject, she also helped us understand the part played by each sector in the food-supply chain, including us consumers. NCL is considering what we can do to help address this important problem.

Later that day, Rebecca Burkholder, Ayanna Johnson, and I met with a cheerful and equally hard-working team at FDA to talk about NCL’s Script Your Future medication adherence campaign. FDA supports the campaign, which is complementing its mission of ensuring that the prescription and OTC drugs that Americans take are safe and effective and that consumers understand how to take them properly. They are doing a lot at FDA with very limited staff and resources,

On March 11-12, Rebecca will participate in a two-day meeting convened by CERTs, the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research’s Centers for Drug Education and Research in Therapeutics. The meeting will focus on what’s working to boost adherence. The AHRQ staffer who organized the meeting, herself a physician, has generously invested time and energy in the issue and in Script Your Future.

We could all list many more federal government employees who exhibit the same traits: strong commitment to public service, deep substantive knowledge coupled with a sophisticated understanding of their issue’s political implications, an enthusiastic willingness to engage with consumers and with stakeholder groups like NCL.

March is National Nutrition Month and it’s time to get informed. Do you know where your calories come from? – National Consumers League

/in imported/by

March kicks off National Nutrition Month – a good time for us to reflect on our diets and physical activity.  We all know the importance –and the challenges — of maintaining a healthy weight.  A third of Americans are obese and another third are overweight.  That means that two thirds of Americans are at increased risk for certain cancers, heart disease, diabetes, and other life threatening illnesses that accompany excessive poundage.

There are a few promising signs that the nation’s health is improving, however. Just this week, a major federal health survey reported that the obesity rate among two-year-old to five-year-old children has dropped 43 percent. Children who are overweight or obese are five times more likely to be overweight or obese as an adult. There is a strong focus nationwide on improving eating habits and being more conscious about what we put into our bodies.

In pursuit of sound eating practices, we recommend watching portion sizes, looking at nutritional labels and moderation above all else.   It is easy to overeat when we are surrounded by high calorie, high fat foods, many with surprisingly little nutritional value.  Americans’ top sources of calories, according to a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), are cakes, cookies, and sodas sweetened with high fructose corn syrup.  These foods are laden with fat and/or sweeteners and easy to consume in large quantities.  Surprisingly, some foods like candy contribute only 2.2% of calories to the American diet.    First Lady Michelle Obama says it well – it’s not that we can NEVER have certain foods like candy or ice cream, but that we should enjoy them in moderation.

We believe strongly in studying Nutrition Facts labels!  They are also being updated for the first time in 20 years.  Almost every packaged food item includes them: they provide calories per serving and help consumers monitor and control caloric intake for the recommended 2,000 calorie a day diet.  The updated labels will now reflect more accurate caloric information, provide larger font and a listing for added sugars, which is useful to know. Focusing on eating more foods that are nutrient dense and low in fat and calories is a critical step in the right direction if you’re looking to shed a few pounds.  As “My Plate” suggests, making half of your meal fruits and vegetables is an easy way to do this.  A few other tips to get on track are:

  1. Increase intake of whole grains, making half of all grains consumed whole grains.
  2. Reduce consumption of high fructose corn syrup-sweetened beverages like soda.
  3. Monitor and minimize calorie intake from alcoholic beverages.
  4. Be aware of how large portion sizes are, especially when dining out.
  5. Prepare more meals at home where you have control over the amount of added salt, sugar and fat.

A balanced diet is just that, balanced.  Eat a variety of foods:  it keeps your food choices interesting and satisfying.  And of course, partake in the occasional indulgence. A very restrictive diet can backfire.  A candy bar, piece of chocolate, or some other reasonably small treat can be helpful in curbing cravings.

Finally, physical activity can play a critical role in maintaining a healthy weight.  The Dietary Guidelines recommend that adults do at least 150 minutes, or two and a half hours of moderate intensity physical activity, such as walking at a brisk clip or riding a bike, each week.  The idea of fitting this in can be daunting for many of us, but it helps to know that walking to work or taking a quick stroll on your lunch break counts.  Any amount of physical activity – however brief – yields rewards and is better than none at all.  Taking these steps to better your health may be difficult at first, but with time and practice, they become habit and will surely enhance your quality of life.