A good day for workers rights in California – National Consumers League

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

October 9 was not only a good day in California history, but also a good day in labor history, for Governor Jerry Brown signed some great workers’ rights bills into law. He signed the Wage Theft Prevention Act (AB 469), the Employee Classification Act (SB 459), a farm workers’ right bill (AB 243) and many others. These laws represent huge steps forward in the battle to protect workers’ rights in a difficult political climate.

While the majority in House of Representatives is looking to erode workers’ rights in favor of corporate interests, often under the mantle of ending “job killing regulations,” it’s encouraging to see three workers’ rights bills become law in a state that, in 2009, was the world’s eighth largest economy.

These laws strive to prevent wage theft, strengthen existing laws protecting workers’ rights and increase penalties on employers caught cheating their employees. Some of the main points of each of the new laws:

The Wage Theft Prevention Act (AB 469):

  • Employers are to provide workers, at the time they’re hired, a written disclosure of their basic terms of employment – the pay rate, the pay day & the name and address of the legal employer
  • Strengthens misdemeanor criminal penalties for employers who willfully fail to pay wages due in 90 days after final judgment
  • Allows a worker to recover attorney’s fees to enforce a court judgment for unpaid wages

The Employee Classification Act (SB 459):

  • Makes it unlawful for any person or employer to engage in willful employee misclassification – classifying an employee as an independent contractor rather than an employee
  • Makes it unlawful to charge any fees or make any deductions in a worker’s paycheck for expenses such as space rental, services, repairs, goods or materials, where such deductions would have been unlawful had the worker been classified as an employee
  • Increases penalties that can be assessed against any employer for willful employee misclassification.
  • Requires employers who have been found to have committed employee misclassification to display a notice to its employees and the general public on their website and/or each location where it occurred

One of many farm workers’ rights bills signed into law was Assembly Bill 243 that requires farm labor contractors to disclose on workers’ pay stubs the name and address of the legal entity that secured the farm labor contractor’s services. Many farm workers do not know who their legal employer is nor whom they should be addressing with employment and payment issues.

These three laws are good practical examples of what can happen on a state level since the federal government is slower to move and faces larger lobbying efforts by big business and industry. Other state governments should take notice of these workers’ rights victories and try passing similar laws in their states.

Happy Food Day! – National Consumers League

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By Teresa Green, Linda Golodner Food Safety and Nutrition Fellow

Today is the first Food Day, a grassroots event organized by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).  Senator Tom Harkin (IA) and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT), both long-term supporters of healthy eating and the federal government’s nutrition programs, are Honorary Co-Chairs of the event.

Food Day is founded on six basic principles:

  • Reduce diet-related disease by promoting safe, healthy foods
  • Support sustainable farms and limit subsidies to big agribusiness
  • Expand access to food and alleviate hunger
  • Protect the environment and animals by reforming factory farms
  • Promote health by curbing junk-food marketing to kids
  • Support fair conditions for food and farm workers

Because Food Day is based on grassroots organizing, there are Food Day events being held all over the country today (find some in your area).  Whether you attend a restaurant serving up a special Food Day menu, play a Food Day game or simply cook a special meal for your family at home, everyone can participate in Food Day. It is an excellent opportunity to reflect on the important role that healthy, wholesome, affordable food plays in the lives of each one of us. Happy Food Day!

LifeSmarts, Visa score with Financial Football partnership – National Consumers League

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By Brandi Williams, LifeSmarts Program Manager

I admit it – I don’t know anything about football. When my colleagues talk about “the big game” over the weekend, or “that really awesome play” from last night’s sporting event, I struggle  to remember if the Washington Cardinals are a baseball or basketball team. I just nod, pretend to understand the sports-related conversation, and hope no one realizes it’s  all completely over my head.

So when I learned about Financial Football, Visa Inc.’s financial literacy video game, I was a little apprehensive. Actually, I was a lot apprehensive. I love video games, but I’m more of a “tap all the buttons and hope it turns into a combo” kind of player, so the idea of playing a video game that involved sports was intimidating. But I forged ahead, reminding myself that Financial Football, like NCL’s LifeSmarts program, while designed as a competition, was also meant to be fun.  And it was! After a few minutes, I was well beyond the confusion and, instead, actually enjoying the game.

That was a few years ago. Earlier this year, when Visa Inc. partnered with the National Consumers League to launch a financial literacy campaign in Washington, DC, I was super excited. After all, back in 2008 the DC Council passed legislation to require financial literacy education in DC public high schools, and Financial Football, like NCL’s LifeSmarts program, uses a fun and fast-paced competition set-up to educate teens about financial literacy issues and promote smart money-management skills.

With support from DC’s Executive Office of the Mayor and NFL’s Washington Redskins, NCL and Visa Inc. launched the campaign in DC on October 18 at Wilson High School with a live game of Financial Football. Mayor Vincent Gray and Washington Redskin Brian Orakpo led a team of 20 student athletes against a second team of 20 student athletes led by Gail Hillebrand, Associate Director of Consumer Education and Engagement for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Josh Wright, Acting Director for the Office of Financial Education and Financial Access in the Department of the Treasury.

The students were wary at first, but Coaches Gray, Orakpo, Hillebrand and Wright were so personable and friendly, and having such a great time themselves, that the students were immediately put at ease, and soon enough the teams were huddling to discuss 529 plans, telemarketers, checking accounts and auto insurance, with high-fives and shouts of “SCORE!” when the correct answer was given. Jason Alderman, Senior Director of Global Financial Education at Visa Inc., served as the dynamic quiz-master/referee and not only did he keep the game moving forward quickly, he kept the kids smiling and laughing, and encouraged them to discuss the questions and ask for guidance from their adult coaches. I knew the importance of financial literacy was getting through to these kids when one young man whispered to Mayor Gray, “Can you explain to me what a whistle-blower is?”

Despite the game’s football theme, it was still a simple format to follow – and if someone completely ignorant of sports (like me) can follow along, then anyone can – making Financial Football the perfect complement to the LifeSmarts program and a great resource for Personal Finance topics. In fact, NCL’s partnership with Visa Inc. is allowing LifeSmarts to expand its free Personal Finance educational materials.

I’d say this is a win-win for everyone. Goal!

Or maybe I meant touchdown?

Debunking the “fast food is cheaper” myth – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

Cookbook author Mark Bittman’s enhanced presence on nutrition issues is a welcome addition to the discussion about healthy foods and the obesity epidemic in America. In a recent New York Times article, he dispels the myth that junk food is cheaper than real food.

He compares a $27.89 meal for a family of four at McDonalds – 2 Big Macs, 1 cheeseburger, 1 6 pc Chicken McNuggets, 2 medium and 2 small fries and 4 cokes – with what a comparable meal prepared at home would cost: a roast chicken, potatoes and salad for four would run $13.78; an even cheaper alternative – pinto beans and rice would run $9.26 for four. The at-home meals are healthier – have less carbohydrates and more protein than the McDonalds version.

Having debunked the “fast food is cheaper” argument, Bittman’s laments that Americans have gotten out of the habit of shopping and cooking at home; they are tired and hungry at the end of the day and go for the easiest alternative. “Somehow, no-nonsense cooking and eating – roasting a chicken, making a grilled cheese sandwich, scrambling an egg, tossing a salad – must become popular again,” he writes.

I’m with Bittman one hundred percent. The fact is that there is much joy in shopping and cooking and it can be done in relatively little time. It’s also a terrific learning opportunity for kids. They need to know how to shop for quality products; they need to know how to pick out ripe fruits and vegetables, quality meats and fish, bread that’s wholesome and fresh, and high quality dairy products. And kids like to help in the kitchen – they can wash lettuce, and other fruits and vegetables, help prepare a marinade for meat or fish, and I guarantee that they will like chopping things that aren’t too hard to prepare! They also keep you company!

Bittman’s simple research on cost of fast food vs. homemade meals reminds us of how far we’ve strayed from home cooked meals where the family enjoys dinner together. This is a good – no a great –tradition that we should try to reinvigorate for the next generation.

Sure, eating fast food from time to time is inevitable – even Julia Child admitted when she was on the road and had few other choices she enjoyed a Burger King Whopper! But fast food should not be a staple in our daily routines. It’s inevitably high sodium, high fat, expensive, and poor quality. Bittman’s recommendations for buying wholesome grocery store foods and cooking them simply and quickly, then eating together as a family, is a great place to start.

Augh! My New Phone Hates Me – National Consumers League

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By Lisa Hertzberg, LifeSmarts Program Director

I just renewed my cell phone plan and “upgraded” to a smartphone. Waaaah! I miss my old phone! Friends assure me I won’t miss it by tomorrow or the next day, but for now I think my new phone hates me and it might be mutual.

Here is a sampling of the challenges I encountered on the first day:

  • Help, my phone went to sleep. Dropping it apparently does not wake it up.
  • I can take a picture, oops—that was video. Now how do I send it?
  • How do I answer a call – wait, people still make calls on these things?
  • How do I type on this keyboard since my fingers are thicker than toothpicks?
  • What are you talking about when you say, “drag the ring?”

I’m guessing the typical LifeSmarts participant could give me a 10-minute tutorial that would move me miles ahead in getting acquainted with my new phone. Cell phone penetration in the US is 96%, and while it’s hard to come up with numbers specifically for teen users, surveys report that at least 75% of American youth ages 10-17 have cell phones, and fully 45% of this group have smartphones which they use to text, go online, and even make the occasional phone call.

As I fight to type in recognizable English on my new keyboard, I see a statistic online that nearly half of teens report they can text with their eyes closed. Wow, in my current state I find that very impressive. Less cool – 34% of teens who text admit to texting while driving, 26% of teens with phones have been bullied by texts or phone calls, and 15% of teens have received “sexting” messages containing nude or nearly nude images of someone they know.

Like all things, there are pluses and minuses to cell phone technology and it’s important to understand what they are. Here’s hoping I get the hang of my new phone, so that in a couple of years I can go kicking and screaming to the next technological advancement.

Listeria outbreak highlights importance of a strong food safety system – National Consumers League

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By Teresa Green,  Linda Golodner Food Safety and Nutrition Fellow

An ongoing outbreak of listeria, a rare but potentially lethal foodborne pathogen, has sickened at least 100 people and claimed 18 lives. This current crisis is the most deadly outbreak of foodborne illness this country has seen in a decade. Rocky Ford cantaloupes from Jensen Farms have been linked to the illnesses. As the number of those impacted rises, food safety experts and members of the public are rightfully concerned and are asking themselves how such a widespread outbreak could occur.

What went wrong?

One issue that concerns consumer advocates is that there are currently no regulations for the safe handling of produce. While FDA and the industry have both released recommendations, these guidance documents do not establish legally enforceable responsibilities and thus the industry is not held to one standard of safety.

The second issue is how to react once contamination has occurred.  Historically, the responsibility of dealing with an outbreak has rested on the industry. When a product made people sick, the company would issue a voluntary recall, as was the case with Jensen Farms’ cantaloupes. However, the recall was not announced until September 14, nearly a month an a half after the first person fell ill, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

What is the solution?

As essential part of food safety is clear, concise regulations.  As part of the recently enacted FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the FDA will have to establish “mandatory, science-based, minimum standards” for the production of fruits and vegetables.  FDA plans to issue a proposed rule governing produce safety by the spring of 2012.  In light of the recent outbreak, the need for such regulations is clear and consumer groups such as NCL have led the charge in urging the FDA to begin rulemaking as quickly as possible.

Even with improved regulations, our food supply will never be completely safe from foodborne pathogens.  This means that we need a mechanism for rapidly responding to a foodborne outbreak. Recognition of this fact led the writers of FSMA to grant FDA mandatory recall authority.  Instead of waiting for the manufacturer to take action, FDA can now force a recall when it has reason to believe a product has become adulterated and could cause harm if consumed.

To avoid future recalls, FDA must be willing to act.  The agency must establish clear standards for produce safety and it must be willing to act decisively when those standards are not enough to protect American consumers. Hopefully, this combination of clear standards and quick action can help avoid future outbreaks of this scale.

Reebok’s toning shoes: $25 million dollars worth of false benefits and injury – National Consumers League

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By Mimi Johnson, NCL Director of Health Policy

You’d be hard pressed to find someone who wouldn’t welcome a shortcut to better health and a trimmer physique.  For the past few years, several different companies have marketed shoes to help women, men, and even children, more quickly drop pounds and gain muscle.

You won’t see such claims any more, says the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Reebok has just settled – for $25 million dollars – with the FTC over what they claim were unsubstantiated claims of benefits.  Reebok made very specific product promises, claiming that their line of their toning sneakers would produce 28% more muscle tone in the glutes and 11% more muscle tone in the calf and hamstrings than regular sneakers (see the ad below).

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bvOxStV8gg&feature=related]

Other brands who might soon follow suit include Sketchers and New Balance, both of which are currently under investigation or part of class-action lawsuits over false benefit claims and injuries. The Consumer Produce Safety Commission (CPSC) has more than 36 complaints in its database, ranging from reports of stress fractures to pain.  While a $25 million dollar settlement might seem like a big deal, the toning shoe industry raked in about $1 billion last year alone and Reebok spent more than $40 million advertising the shoes benefits since the beginning of 2010

If you bought Reebok toning shoes or EasyTone apparel on or after December 5, 2008, you are eligible for refunds.  For more information about the settlement and to submit your claim, visit www.reeboksettlement.com/ftc.

Strong food safety regulations are common sense – National Consumers League

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Teresa Green recently joined The National Consumers League as the Linda Golodner Food Safety and Nutrition Fellow.  In her role, Teresa deals with a broad array of food issues including food labeling, truth in advertising, alcohol, child nutrition, food fraud and food safety. 

By Teresa Green, Linda Golodner Food Safety and Nutrition Fellow

In the midst of a serious outbreak of Listeria, which has killed at least 13 people and left more than 70 others seriously ill, Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann visited a meat packing plant and called for fewer government regulations on the food industry. “We want to have safety,” Ms. Bachmann said, “but at the same time we want to have some common sense.”  When it comes to foodborne illnesses, safety and common sense is often the same thing: government oversight helps ensure a safer food supply.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that every, year roughly 48 million people, or 1 in 6 Americans, contract foodborne illnesses. Of those who get sick, 128,000 will be hospitalized and over 3,000 will die.  And for those who get better, foodborne illnesses can be far more than a stomach ache; they often result in long term health consequences, such as arthritis and kidney failure.

While some in the industry claim that regulations stifle growth, a powerful argument at a time when many Americans are struggling to find work, the truth is much more complicated. The cost of food recalls is high, averaging around $5 million. The resulting loss of consumer confidence in a brand can be equally devastating, not just to the brand in question, but to the whole food industry. Strict food safety rules will never create a perfect system, but they can ensure that as few outbreaks as possible occur.

Enter the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which was signed into law by President Obama on January 4, 2011. In the face of a globalized and increasingly technological food supply, FSMA provides a much-needed modernization of the food safety system in this country by shifting the emphasis away from responding to foodborne illness outbreaks. It does this by focusing on enhanced partnerships, import safety, prevention, and inspections, compliance and response. This means that the FDA will have greater authority to force a company to issue a recall and will be better able to trace an outbreak back to its source.

FSMA is good news for American consumers. When it is fully implemented, we will have a new food safety system that focuses on the prevention of, rather than the response to, foodborne pathogens.  This approach will mean a safer food supply and, as a result, fewer sick Americans.  Sounds like common sense to me.

Frustration in the halls of Congress – National Consumers League

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

Instead of calling for a vote or hearing on President Obama’s Jobs Plan, we are disappointed that the House Committee on Education & the Workforce chose to hold the fourth partisan hearing last week that focused on weakening the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a federal agency tasked with maintaining balance and promoting collective bargaining between workers and employers.

The GOP majority in the House Committee on Education & the Workforce seems decidedly pro-employer and anti-regulation, to the detriment of American workers. Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) has been an especially vocal and partisan critic of NLRB, especially the NLRB ruling against Boeing for moving its factory from Washington to South Carolina.

As President Obama recently noted, we have 14 months until the next election and Americans can’t wait that long for Congress to do something.  It’s time to stop promoting corporate profits alone and focus on ensuring the safety and prosperity of American workers.

The House Committee majority seems to take issue with all of NLRB’s rulings, even the most seemingly benign. For example, the NLRB recently issued a requirement that businesses post a free notice outlining the basic rights and responsibilities of workers and employers under the National Labor Relations Act—and critics responded by accusing NLRB of “over-reaching.”

“The president unveiled his jobs bill two weeks ago and it was introduced in Congress this week by Congressman Larson. Yet we’re here talking about a poster,” said Congressman Rob Andrews (D-NJ).

As outgoing NLRB Chairman Wilma Liebman noted in a recent NY Times article, the goal of the NLRB is still a sound one: to “further the policy of this statute, which is to further the practice of collective bargaining, obviously collective bargaining freely chosen.” Liebman concluded: “Some say collective bargaining is antithetical to the economy. I don’t buy that at all. This was a statute that worked. It created the middle class. It created good jobs.”

In an effort to start the conversation on the President’s Job Plan, ranking minority member Congressman George Miller (D-CA) announced the creation of an eForum on Jobs and has invited Americans to submit their stories about how the recession and economic downturn has affected their lives. The eForum on Jobs will initially run until Monday, October 3 and concentrate on gathering stories from the public on education, construction, and long-term unemployment, with selected stories to be published on the Democratic committee’s website.

For more information on how to submit your story to the eForum on Jobs, please visit https://democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/eforum.

Saving fingers and pushing for safer table saws – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

I spent yesterday morning at the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) listening to a report from the Commission’s staff on Table Saw Blade Contact Injuries – this is the culmination of many years of study and deliberation and even a favorable vote toward a mandatory safety standard in 2006 that never materialized. Table saws are inherently dangerous devices to anyone who comes within 10 feet of one. A blade spins on a table at 100 mph and cuts through thick pieces of wood, even metal.  Even watching the saw in action is scary, knowing what it can do to fingers or hands upon contact is even worse.

But table saws are a staple in any woodshop, no woodworker can operate efficiently without one.  And these saws are also among the most dangerous devices, inflicting nearly 67,300 injuries a year, half of which land victims in the emergency room. Many of the injuries are severe and cause lifelong pain and trauma  – amputations from table saws occur 10 times a day, according to CPSC data.

However, today we have a technology, invented by Oregon scientist and patent lawyer Steve Gass, that all but removes the danger of table saws. It operates with a sensor that can distinguish between human flesh and a piece of wood, stopping the blade in a millisecond and preventing injury when it senses flesh. The company Gass runs – which now makes table saws because no manufacturer would license his technology back in 2001 or 2002 when he first developed the prototype – is called SawStop. 30,000 SawStop saws are in operation today, many in shop classes and cabinetry workshops.

The CPSC staff – which is made up of lawyers, scientists, engineers, actuaries, statisticians, and human factor experts – gathered all the relevant information in order to brief the five CPSC commissioners and make a recommendation that the commission move forward with an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. That’s the first of three steps – the last of which would be a final rule or regulation requiring safe table saws.

The fact that the CPSC has moved forward on its own – without being specifically required to do so by congress –is unusual in itself. What’s even more unusual, though, is that there is a near total fix to a major safety hazard – one that causes 40,000 plus injuries a year. NCL wrote a letter in November to the Commissioners asking them to adopt a mandatory safety standard with this flesh detecting technology. NCL has been front and center in pushing the CPSC to jumpstart an otherwise dormant process.

Finally, one of the most hopeful signs that we will get an effective safety standard were the comments by Republican appointee, Commissioner Anne Northup, at yesterday’s presentation. No liberal, Northrup had this to say about the proposed ANPR and possible federal safety standard: “Thanks for putting this on the agenda. I’ve wanted this on the agenda for a long time. If you’ve ever known anyone who was injured by a table saw, it’s debilitating and expensive to treat. This is the kind of work I came to the Commission to do.”

We are hoping that within a year – give or take – we might well have a new mandatory safety standard from the CPSC, requiring flesh detecting technology, perhaps starting with the larger saws and eventually required on all of them.  The CPSC was established to address just this type of hazard. We are pleased to see them moving forward so decisively.