Tonight the National Consumers League will honor Steve Kroft, Co-Editor and Correspondent, 60 Minutes and United States Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis with its highest honor, the Trumpeter Award, on Capitol Hill. Each year, NCL’s Trumpeter Awards Dinner and Reception brings together a diverse group of representatives of labor unions, advocates, legislators, organizations, to celebrate the achievements of consumer and worker advocates.

NCL’s first ever Trumpeter recipient was Senator Edward Kennedy, in 1973. Since then, NCL has recognized leaders who are not afraid to speak out for social justice and for the rights of consumers and workers with the Trumpeter. *Other past recipients include Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, author Barbara Ehrenreich, former NCL President Linda Golodner, Senator Paul Wellstone, Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher, and other esteemed consumer and worker advocates.

In his decades of investigative journalism, *Steve Kroft has earned a reputation — and numerous Emmy and Peabody awards — for groundbreaking reporting on an array of pressing issues ranging from credit default swaps to nuclear safety. His forceful reporting, which has attracted worldwide attention and resulted in real changes for consumers, includes profiles of a Madoff whistleblower and a teenage stock manipulator, as well as an undercover investigation on the rolling back of odometers by car wholesalers, which triggered a federal grand jury investigation and five convictions.

*Hilda L. Solis was confirmed as Secretary of Labor in February, after representing the 32nd Congressional District in California for eight years. The daughter of a battery recycling plant worker and Teamsters Union organizer in the San Gabriel Valley, as a young child she walked in picket lines with workers seeking improved health care. Throughout her career, Solis has advocated for low-wage workers, women, immigrants’ rights, better access to health care, a livable minimum wage, and strong support for the right to organize.

NCL will also honor *Lynn Jimenez, of San Francisco’s KGO Radio, with its Florence Kelley Consumer Leadership Award, named for NCL’s first general secretary. Jimenez is a journalist dedicated to consumer and small business education. Author of a bilingual consumer education book, ¿Se Habla Dinero? The Everyday Guide to Financial Success, and host of “Your Money,” Jimenez has served the Bay Area since 1990. Before joining KGO, Jimenez helped create the first California statewide Hispanic AIDS Education Telenovela and telephone hotline. She has been honored with numerous awards, including the Associated Press Bill Stout Memorial Award for Enterprise Reporting and the Northern California Radio and Television News Directors’ Association award for a series on privacy.

 

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As the new school year is well underway, *the second wave of swine flu (H1N1 virus) has become a major concern for health officials, school administrators, teachers, and parents.  It was at the end of the previous academic year that the flu first struck with vengeance, and caused schools across the country to shut their doors as they tried to quell its spread.

The biggest fear and danger with the H1N1 virus is that it has hit school-aged children the hardest.  So, what can you and your children do to stave off the flu?

Practice Good Hygiene

• Wash Hands (and send kids with bottles of sanitizer in addition to their other office supplies)

• Cover Coughs & Sneezes (NOT with your hand, but with a tissue or arm)

Stay Home if Sick

• Keep kids home if they are sick, ESPECIALLY with a high fever, vomiting, or diarrhea

• Ensure kids are fever-free for at least 24 hours (WITHOUT medication) before returning to school

• Do NOT go to the emergency room if you think you or your child has a case of the flu (you are likely to catch it while at the ER); call your doctor or a health hotline

Immunize

• Get kids immunized against the seasonal flu as soon as the vaccine becomes available this fall

• Keep your eyes and ears open about the H1N1 vaccination, which is currently being tested

Check with your local health officials and health care professionals should you have any questions or concerns about the H1N1 flu in your community.

 

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

Consumer organizations do so much great work in the financial services area — working against predatory loans, fighting outrageous fees and surcharges on credit cards, demanding truth in lending and transparency in credit scores. But often our attention is focused on the here and now. What about working to ensure that consumers have a secure and adequate retirement?

NCL was invited to a meeting last week with leaders of the *Retirement USA, a group formed by the Economic Policy Institute, the Pension Rights Center, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, and the Service Employees International Union, which holds a seat on the NCL Board. Retirement USA’s goal is to get widespread agreement on a series of principles that move Americans toward a far more sound retirement system than what exists today.

The facts about Americans entering retirement are grim:

• Only half of full-time private-sector employees participate in a retirement system.  The participation rate drops to 45 percent if part-time employees are included.
• Only 20 percent of American private-sector workers participate in traditional pension plans that provide guaranteed, lifetime benefits.
• 30 percent of American private-sector workers rely entirely on 401(k) plans to supplement Social Security.
• 2/3 of 401(k) plan investments are in stocks, and stocks have lost more than half their value since 2007.
• Half of all workers with 401(k)-type plans had less than $25,000 in their accounts – before the stock market meltdown – and the median 401(k) balance for workers over the age of 55 was only $40,000.
• 64 percent of older Americans depend on Social Security for more than half of their income, and one of five receives all of their income from Social Security.
• Social Security benefits for the average retiree are now $13,863, just barely more than the minimum wage.
• Half of people age 65 and older receive income of less than $17,382 a year from all sources.

Retirement USA has laid out a series of *important principles that would – if adopted – help to secure adequate retirement for all workers:

• Universal coverage – every worker should be covered by a retirement plan in addition to Social Security.
• Secure retirement – retirement shouldn’t be a gamble; workers should be able to count on a steady lifetime stream of retirement income to supplement Social Security.
• Adequate Income – everyone should have an adequate retirement income after a lifetime of work.
• Shared responsibility – employers, employees, and the government should share this responsibility.
• Required contributions – employees and employers should be required to contribute a specified percent of pay; government should subsidize lower income workers.
• Contributions to the system should be pooled and professionally managed to minimize risk.
• Payouts should only be permitted before retirement except for permanent disability.
• Benefits should be paid out over the lifetime of retirees and not given in a lump sum.
• Benefits should be portable when workers change jobs.
• Voluntary contributions should be permitted.
• Efficient and transparent administration of benefits by a government agency or a private nonprofit.
• There ought to be effective oversight of the new system by a single government regulator dedicated solely to promoting retirement security.

The National Consumers League supports these principles, especially in light of the dire economic reality most American workers face when they retire. The League’s early leaders were strong supporters of Social Security, which is a lifeline to older Americans, but was never intended to be their sole support. Retirement USA has laid out the blueprint for reform. Now it is time for consumer groups, unions. and others to make that blueprint a reality.

 

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By Courtney Brein, Linda Golodner Food Safety and Nutrition Fellow

The National Consumers League was pleased to join fellow consumer advocates along with government and food industry representatives at last week’s 32nd annual National Food Policy Conference.  The conference, sponsored by the Consumer Federation of America and the Grocery Manufacturers Association, focused on two key issues of national concern: food safety and child nutrition.  On food safety, the conference proved particularly timely.

Lately, unease about the safety of the food supply in the United States has grown, fueled by outbreaks of food-borne illness linked to contaminated peanut butter and cookie dough.  A *Pew-commissioned bipartisan poll of Iowa voters released during the conference found that approximately half of those polled stated that events of the past year have decreased their confidence in the safety of food sold in this country.  A *Pew-commissioned nationwide poll released at the same time found that concern about the safety of imported foods has increased since 2008; 64 percent of Americans surveyed believe imported foods to be “often or sometimes unsafe,” whereas only 53 percent of likely voters expressed these concerns in 2008.  The poll also found that 89 percent of participants want stronger food safety measures and 91 percent want more frequent inspections of high-risk food processing facilities.

Modernized food safety laws are long overdue.  Many food safety regulations have not been updated since 1906, when President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act, legislation that the National Consumers League played a key role in passing.  In July, the House passed the Food Safety Enhancement Act, *H.R. 2749, which would increase the regulatory powers of the FDA, require imported food to meet the same safety standards as food produced in the United States, establish a national food tracing system, and require all food processing facilities to implement food safety plans.  Food safety advocates hope that the Senate version of the bill, which does not include all provisions in the House bill, will come up for consideration this session.

During her keynote speech, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg detailed the FDA’s plans to strengthen its own programs and policies, measures which include appointing a Deputy Commissioner for Foods.  Hamburg also noted a fundamental change in perspective at the FDA: “We are pressing forward with a new agenda: to shift the agency’s emphasis away from mitigating public health harm by removing unsafe products from the market place, to…prevent[ing] harm by keeping unsafe food from entering commerce in the first place.”  The Commissioner announced the *Reportable Food Registry, a new initiative requiring food industry officials to electronically report cases of probable food contamination within 24 hours of discovery.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius echoed Commissioner Hamburg’s commitment to cross-agency collaboration and noted that new preventive measures will not only save lives but will generate significant cost savings as well.  Secretary Sebelius used her speech before an audience of many consumer advocates to announce the launch of www.foodsafety.gov , a joint initiative of the USDA and HHS that will provide consumers with a one-stop source for information about the latest recalls and outbreaks.

The National Consumers League applauds the collaborative approach embraced by the Obama administration and strongly supports much needed food safety reform.

 

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

New York, NY – There was an air of excitement at historic Federal Hall yesterday – a historic setting for President Obama’s “tough love” speech delivered on Wall Street at the place where George Washington took the oath of office. Yes, despite reports in the major newspapers of a grim-faced audience hearing *the President’s words, I was there for the speech with NCL Board member Sam Simon, and we both thought there was an air of hopefulness among the Wall Street audience. There was a sense that we’ve turned a corner and that there are better economic times ahead. The president received sustained applause as he walked in and stood at the podium: as if the audience was saying – “we know you are under attack by the right – and maybe you’re disrespected in other parts of the country – not here in New York City – here we support you!”

The audience included the President’s economic team – Treasury Secretary Tim Geitner, Christina Romer, Paul Volcker and a host of New York officials – Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silvers and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, among them, and Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank (D-MA).

This was the one-year anniversary of the Lehman Brothers’ collapse. After chronicling the crisis of a year ago, Obama noted, “We helped to restore capital and confidence… We’re putting people to work, repairing roads and bridges and hospitals. Eight months later this effort continues. We can be confident that the storms of the last few years are beginning to break.” He noted that consumer advocates had played an important role in working for legislative reforms.

But the president also admonished Wall Street not to return to some of their worst practices. “Normalcy cannot lead to complacency. Some are misreading this moment. They are choosing to ignore those lessons at our nation’s peril. I want everyone to hear my words. We won’t go back. . . too many were motivated by an appetite for quick kills. And expect taxpayers to break their fall.”

Ultimately the President wants to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, and consumer groups strongly support such an entity – whose primary function will be to protect consumers against intentionally complex agreements with “gotcha” clauses that bury information about fees while creating uniform regulations so banks and financial firms can’t shop around for the most hands-off regulatiors, as they do today, exploiting loopholes in the system.

The President closed with this message to Wall Street: You don’t have to wait for government to force you to act responsibly, do it on your own! For example, he told them “put your 2009 bonuses up for shareholder vote.”

We thought the President hit all the right points, cajoling Wall Street, while affirming the good things about our economic system when it is working effectively: stimulating competition and spurring innovation. It was important to mark the one-year anniversary of a darker time, and highlight government’s role in protecting companies and consumers from what might have been a more prolonged and far harsher economic toll.

 

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