2009 Trumpeter Awards: National Consumers League to honor Labor Secretary Solis, CBS News’ Kroft for careers in service – National Consumers League

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September 29, 2009

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

Washington, D.C.—The National Consumers League will honor United States Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis and award-winning journalist Steve Kroft with its highest honor, the Trumpeter Award, this week on Capitol Hill. The Trumpeter Awards Dinner and Reception will bring together a diverse group of representatives of labor unions, advocates, legislators, organizations, and industries touched by the two advocates’ esteemed careers. The advocacy organization, which honored Senator Edward Kennedy with its first Trumpeter award in 1973, has recognized leaders who are not afraid to speak out for social justice and for the rights of consumers and workers for more than 30 years.

“The Trumpeter Award is NCL’s highest honor, given to leaders who are not afraid to speak out for social justice and for the rights of consumers. No one fits that description better than Hilda Solis and Steve Kroft,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg. “Solis’ dedication to improving the quality of life for workers in the United States, and Kroft’s dedication to consumer-minded investigative journalism have earned them this year’s Trumpeter Award.”

NCL will also celebrate the career of San Francisco business journalist Lynn Jimenez with its Florence Kelley Consumer Leadership Award, an honor named for NCL’s first general secretary that is given to grassroots leaders in consumer education.

The Trumpeter event will feature a reception, dinner, and speaking appearances by the three honorees, as well as:

Larry Cohen, President, Communications Workers of America 
Herb Weisbaum, past Trumpeter recipient and The “ConsumerMan” on MSNBC.com
Michelle Singletary, past Trumpeter recipient and syndicated columnist
Jane King, NCL Board of Directors, Chair
Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

Event Details

What: National Consumers League’s 2009 Trumpeter Awards Dinner

When: Thursday, October 1, 2009, 6 p.m. Reception, 7 p.m. Dinner

Where: Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill, 400 New Jersey Avenue, NW,

Washington, DC.

Questions or to RSVP: Larry Bostian, National Consumers League 202-835-3323

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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.

Consumer group to honor media leaders with ethics in telecommunications awards – National Consumers League

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September 29, 2009

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

Washington, D.C.— Media advocates who work daily to empower individuals and promote diversity and democracy in media will gather at The Riverside Church in New York City on Sept. 30 to examine ethics in telecommunications. The 27th annual Ethics in Telecommunications Lecture and Awards, featuring the Rev. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in the U.S.A., brings together media advocates from across the country and honors individuals whose work embodies the principles and values of advocating for the public interest through social communications.

MEDIA ADVISORY

What: The 27th Annual Everett C. Parker Ethics in Telecommunications Lecture and

Awards Reception

When: September 30, 2009, 3:30 PM

Where: The Riverside Church New York City, 490 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10027

Why: To honor excellence in media ethics and consumer reporting.

This year’s honorees include:

Patti Miller, Vice President of Public Policy, Sesame Workshop, recipient of the Parker Award.  Sesame Workshop is devoted to developing innovative and educational content for television, radio, print, and interactive media that makes a meaningful difference in children’s development.  The award is given in recognition of an individual whose work embodies the principles and values of the public interest in telecommunications.

Sam Simon, Chairman, Amplify Public Affairs; Fellow, Intersections; and Founder and Former President, TRAC, recipient of the Donald H. McGannon Award.  Simon is being honored for his lifetime of media advocacy work on behalf of minority consumers. The McGannon Award is given in recognition of special contributions in advancing the roles of women and persons of color in the media.

Ben Popken and Meghann Marco, Co-Executive Editors of the popular blog “The Consumerist.” This award is given in recognition of efforts to educate and enable consumers to use technology as a toll of empowerment.

The event is free and open to the public, but an RSVP is requested.  Online registration is available here or for more information, contact Jeff Woodar at woodardj@ucc.org.

The Everett C. Parker Ethics in Telecommunications Lecture was created in 1982 to recognize OC, Inc. founder the Rev. Dr. Everett C. Parker and his pioneering work as an advocate for the public’s rights in broadcasting. It is the only lecture in the country to examine telecommunications and the digital age from an ethical perspective. Past speakers include network presidents, Congressional leaders, FCC chairs and commissioners, as well as academics, cable and telephone executives and journalists. It is funded by the communications industry, particularly broadcasters, along with the communication offices of major faith groups. The Parker Lecture is sponsored by the United Church of Christ’s Office of Communication (OC, Inc.) and the Telecommunications Research and Action Center (TRAC), a program of the National Consumers League.

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About the National Consumers League and TRAC

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.

The Telecommunications Research & Action Center is a non-profit education and advocacy organization for residential and small business communications consumers. TRAC produces consumer guides, comparison charts, brochures, and online content dedicated to helping consumers navigate the often complex world of communications devices and services. TRAC is based in Washington, DC

Consumer groups oppose Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger – National Consumers League

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September 28, 2009

Contact: 202-835-3323, media@nclnet.org
Washington, DC — Several national consumer organizations have written to the Department of Justice opposing the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger, arguing that it would turn the “already questionable ticket selling industry into an even less competitive environment for consumers.”
The three groups signing the letter – the National Consumers League, Consumer Federation of America and Consumer Action – are concerned that the companies individually already own extremely large shares of the sectors in the live entertainment event industry, and that the merging of these two giants should be closely and skeptically reviewed under anti-trust law. This could turn the already questionable ticket selling industry into an even less competitive environment for consumers.
“Buying tickets to live performances in today’s marketplace is fraught with pitfalls for consumers. Tickets are put on the secondary market routinely – and marked up two to three times their value before consumers ever have a chance to buy them at face value. There is no transparency in the market, and this merger would only make the problem worse,” said Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of the National Consumers League. 
“If allowed to merge, these firms would control so much of the music marketplace that no one could stop them from raising ticket prices and service fees, meaning fans would pay,” said Linda Sherry, Consumer Action director of national priorities. “No single company should have that much control over access to live entertainment.”
The letter opposes the merger on two grounds:
First, the groups say the merger would create a “virtual monopoly in the ticketing industry.” Some industry experts estimate that Ticketmaster, which has secured its place in the market through long-term contracts with its clients, controls up to 70 or 80 percent of all concert ticket sales. Live Nation, which entered the ticket-selling market in early 2009, “has already demonstrated its potential to become Ticketmaster’s only significant competitor.”
Second, the letter states that the merger would “create a massive entertainment giant, Live Nation Entertainment, which would hold significant market shares in the artist management, venue operation, event promotion, ticketing, and secondary ticketing sectors of the live entertainment event industry.”

NCL praises DOL for new weapon in the fight against child labor – National Consumers League

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September 14, 2009

Newly released DOL list of goods produced by child labor and forced labor may help reduce the number of exploited child and adult laborers

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

Washington, D.C.—The National Consumers League (NCL) today hailed the release of a long-awaited report identifying over 100 goods produced by child or forced labor in more than 50 countries around the world.

“According to the International Labor Organization, extreme poverty compels more than 200 million children to perform child labor around the world. This new list of products tainted by child labor will be an invaluable tool for consumers who want products free from forced and child labor,” said NCL’s Executive Director Sally Greenberg.

“Most Americans and most consumers in the world market would not choose to purchase goods known to be produced by exploited children or forced laborers—at any price,” noted Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis in a foreword to the report, which was produced by DOL’s Bureau of International Affairs Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking.

Of the 122 goods indentified in the report, the majority are in agriculture, an industry in which, globally, seven in 10 working children toil. Many of the most common agricultural products end up in the homes of American consumers, including cotton, sugar, tobacco, coffee, rice, and cocoa.

“Manufactured goods” (including clothing, footwear, and carpets) and “mined or quarried goods”—bricks, coal, gold, and minerals such as coltan used in electronics —follow as the next two leading categories of child labor.

Founded in 1899, NCL, the nation’s oldest consumer advocacy organization, has historically fought to reduce abusive child labor and to increase protections for American workers. For the last 20 years, NCL has coordinated the Child Labor Coalition (CLC), a group of 20-plus organizations committed to reducing exploitative child labor and child trafficking. The CLC and its members are working to decrease child labor in many of the products and countries cited in the report including cotton in Uzbekistan, cocoa in West Africa, rubber in Liberia, and shrimp in South Asia.

Mandated by language in the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Acts of 2005 and 2008, the report is is charged with examining foreign child labor; however, it briefly notes that the United States is not without child labor problems. DOL’s Wage and Hour Division found 4,734 minors illegally employed in fiscal year 2008. In 40 percent of the child labor violations cited, children were working in hazardous conditions or using equipment deemed too dangerous for minors to use.

“Hundreds of thousand of children are allowed to work in American agriculture on non-family farms at very young ages because of loopholes in U.S. child labor law,” said Reid Maki, NCL’s Director of Social Responsibility and Fair Labor Standards. “Many of these child farm workers are only 12- and 13-years-old, and they work because they are from poor families. We should clean up our own child labor problems if we are going to ask other countries to stop the exploitation of child workers.”

Enhanced enforcement efforts at DOL have begun to address concerns about very young children working in agriculture. Earlier this year, DOL fined five North Carolina blueberry growers for employing minors under the legal age.

“We’re encouraged by expanding enforcement efforts, and this list is a great starting point for consumers, companies, and government officials to devise strategies to reduce child and forced labor in specific products,” said Greenberg. “As the report points out, ‘When problems are known and understood, they can be addressed’.”

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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.

Consumer group sues General Mills for deceptive claims on Cheerios – National Consumers League

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September 10, 2009

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

Washington, DC, September 10, 2009—The nation’s pioneering consumer organization, the National Consumers League (NCL), is taking cereal giant General Mills to court for claiming that eating its cereal, Cheerios®, would reduce total and “bad” cholesterol. The NCL filed its case in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on August 20, 2009.

NCL is suing under the DC “private Attorney General” statute, alleging that General Mills falsely represented that Cheerios possessed drug-like anti-cholesterol properties without being approved as a drug by the United States Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”).  On the packaging, the cereal company claimed “Cheerios is … clinically proven to lower cholesterol.  A clinical study showed that eating two 11/2 cup servings daily of Cheerios cereal reduced bad cholesterol when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol.”

Earlier this year, in response to a letter sent by NCL, the FDA notified General Mills that at least some of Defendant’s health benefit claims violated the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act.  The FDA issued a cease-and-desist letter stating that the health claims “exceed those permitted for products that have not obtained FDA approval for marketing as a drug.”

“Putting a stop to false and deceptive advertising is a cornerstone of consumer protection,” said the NCL’s Executive Director Sally Greenberg. “In this case, General Mills has really gone overboard with these claims about Cheerios’ drug-like anti-cholesterol properties. They should know better, and we hope the action we’ve taken will deter such exaggerated claims in the future.”

Headquartered in the District of Columbia, the NCL filed its case under the District of Columbia Consumer Protection Procedures Act, DC Code Section 28-3901 et seq. which makes it an “unlawful trade practice …whether or not any consumer is in fact misled, deceived or damaged thereby,” to “represent that goods or services have a source, sponsorship, approval, certification, accessories, characteristics, ingredients, uses, benefits or quantities that they do not have.”

The NCL is represented by Finkelstein Thompson LLP, a firm with extensive experience in the field of consumer protection law.  The National Consumers League has represented the interests of consumers and workers since 1899, and throughout its history has worked to combat false and deceptive advertising, particularly in foods products.

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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.

National Consumers League launching 2009-2010 LifeSmarts year – National Consumers League

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September 9, 2009

National teen consumer initiative kicks off for new academic year with new resources and supporters for biggest year yet

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

Washington, D.C.—The National Consumers League announced the start of the 2009-2010 LifeSmarts season, with a new competition year beginning Sept. 14 at the program’s online home, www.lifesmarts.org, along with a variety of new resources for state coordinators, educators, and youth. LifeSmarts is an educational competition that tests middle school and high school students nationwide on real-life consumer issues through online quizzes and live contests. While the competition formally begins Sept. 14, students and coaches may register online and begin taking practice quizzes and downloading resources today.

“We’re thrilled to be launching the 16th year of LifeSmarts,” said Program Director Lisa Hertzberg. “This program delivers real-world knowledge to students and then allows them to shine in competitions where they demonstrate all that they have learned,” said Hertzberg. In its first 15 years, LifeSmarts has steadily grown in numbers of student and adult participants, state partnerships, and corporate sponsorships. “Most importantly, the breadth and depth of the program’s content has continued to evolve, too” said Hertzberg. “We’re proud to be preparing our teens and tweens to become the next generation of smart consumers and workers” she added.

Each year, thousands of students answer millions of questions on consumer issues ranging from personal finance and health and safety to the environment, technology, and consumer rights and responsibilities. Starting online each fall, the competition progresses to live state play-offs, and then builds to a high-spirited National Championship, which will be held in 2010 in Miami Beach, FL. At last year’s national competition held in St. Louis, MO, students on the state champion team from Oconto High School in Wisconsin were crowned the 2009 national champs.

NCL partners with coordinators in 30 states, including Better Business Bureaus, credit unions, state attorneys general and consumer protection agencies, State FCCLA organizations, Jump$tart Coalitions, and others, to staff and promote the program. Interested students and adults can visit the LifeSmarts Web site to connect with the program in their state.

“The National Consumers League’s mission is to inspire confidence and safety in the marketplace,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director. “The LifeSmarts program, our consumer education initiative for youth, gives students the tools to make smart decisions and feel confident about their place in today’s fast-paced marketplace.”

New this fall at www.lifesmarts.org are dozens of up-to-the-minute teaching resources for coaches, including innovative personal finance lessons made possible by an unrestricted educational grant from Visa. Other major LifeSmarts contributors include Experian, American Century Investments, American Express, Bridgestone/Firestone, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, Monsanto, NextGen Web, Procter & Gamble, Toyota Financial Services, Toys“R”Us, Vreizon, and Western Union.  To see a full list of current LifeSmarts contributors, visit www.lifesmarts.org. To test your LifeSmarts abilities, take a sample quiz at https://start.lifesmarts.org/. From there, click on “Daily Quiz” to get started.

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About the National Consumers League and LifeSmarts

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.

LifeSmarts is a program of the National Consumers League. State coordinators run the programs on a volunteer basis. For more information, visit: www.lifesmarts.org, email lifesmarts@nclnet.org, or call the National Consumers League’s communications department at 202-835-3323.

NCL mourns loss of ‘hero and champion’ Senator Ted Kennedy, (1932-2009) – National Consumers League

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August 26, 2009

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

Washington, DC, August 26, 2009—The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneer consumer and worker advocacy organization, mourns the death of hero and champion of the worker, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA).

Senator Kennedy embodied all that NCL stands for, promoting fair treatment for both consumers and workers. NCL is proud that, in 1973, Sen. Kennedy was the first recipient of the organization’s Trumpeter Award, an annual honor bestowed upon leaders who are not afraid to speak out for social justice and for the rights of consumers. Kennedy was a champion of workers, fighting tirelessly for minimum wage increases for working families and health care for all.

Sen. Kennedy also championed the rights of consumers. In January of this year, he called upon the Obama Administration to reinstate the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, with a statement in the Congressional Record: “With a new administration focused on bringing needed change to the Nation, a new focus on consumer safety should be part of this change.”

Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of the National Consumers League, offered the following statement: “It will be hard to imagine a Congress without Senator Kennedy at the center of the action. He spoke with compassion for the disenfranchised, immigrants, minorities, workers, and consumers. He will be sorely missed.”

The staff, Board of Directors, and membership of the National Consumers League convey their sincere condolences to the Kennedy family.

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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.

NCL supports nomination of Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, urges Senators to confirm – National Consumers League

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August 6, 2009

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

WASHINGTON, DC –- The National Consumers League today urged members of the Senate to support the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court of the United States. The NCL believes that Judge Sotomayor’s long years of legal experience, including seventeen years on the bench, service as a prosecutor in New York City, and her civic involvement in groups like the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund make her unusually qualified to sit on the nation’s highest court.

“In Judge Sotomayor’s nomination, we see someone who we think will be a fair and compassionate Supreme Court justice,” said Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of the National Consumers League. “Judge Sotomayor also represents the American Dream – that education and hard work can mean that even those who grow up with few material advantages can rise to the highest levels of our legal system, the Supreme Court of the United States.”

Since 1899 the League has championed the concerns of both consumers and workers. NCL looked at Judge Sotomayor’s decisions pertaining to labor matters and found that the Judge, having grown up in public housing in the Bronx as the daughter of a factory worker, has consistently interpreted labor laws to protect those who need it most. She has ruled in favor of workers to be free against discrimination in the workplace, to collect their rightful wages and receive their rightful benefits. She has ruled in favor of litigants seeking freedom from persecution in their countries for union activity.

The League also reviewed the small number of Judge Sotomayor’s decisions pertaining to consumer matters and found her reasoning and conclusions to be fair and balanced. She seems to understand the need for strong consumer protections and supports federal agencies and laws that provide those protections. NCL’s brief review of Judge Sotomayor’s consumer decisions can be found at NCL’s Savvy Consumer blog.

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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.

Health reform: Good for consumers, good for America – National Consumers League

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July 31, 2009

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

WASHINGTON, DC –- The lack of comprehensive health care coverage is America’s albatross –it makes our businesses less competitive and our workers less healthy. We need to put partisan concerns aside and work NOW to ensure that the system is reformed. The cost of doing nothing is unthinkable.

American families are paying about $15,000 a year for health care, twice as much as we did twenty years ago, and we pay $6,500 more for health care than any other industrialized country in the world. Yet despite these high costs we have poorer health outcomes.

We need to address why we are overpaying for care that is not making us healthier. Health reform, as proposed in several current bills in Congress, will move us towards greater accountability, efficiency, accessibility, transparency, and quality. It is essential that everyone have access to affordable health care or the system will remain broken.

For consumers, health reform will translate into choice – with a greater number of options available, including keeping and supplementing your own insurance, at more affordable and competitive prices. Reform will also make it easier to compare and understand the true costs and benefits of plans. As consumers and employees, we can make choices what will help push for health insurance and benefits that are competitive, innovative, and cost-contained.

With unemployment nearing 10 percent, many Americans have lost their employer-based coverage. Further, of the nearly 50 million uninsured, close to 80 percent are working Americans. It is imperative that we not leave our most vulnerable citizens out in the cold, which is why health reform will only be effective if everyone is covered.

Experts project that families will pay $10,000 more annually on medical costs by 2016 if we DON’T fix the system Health care coverage for all Americans is a moral imperative that must not be allowed to fall victim to partisan politics.

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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.

Testimonial advertising crossing the line into deception, says NCL – National Consumers League

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July 22, 2009

Stricter rules on consumer and expert endorsements, blogola, and fake news needed, says consumer group

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

WASHINGTON, DC –- Appearing today before a Senate subcommittee, the National Consumers League (NCL) called for stricter rules regarding the use of consumer and expert testimonials in advertising. The consumer group also urged lawmakers and regulators to strongly consider establishing guidelines regarding disclosure by bloggers and others of compensation received in return for product and service reviews online. The League also described as “extremely troubling,” the proliferation of advertising masquerading as real news.

“Now more than ever, consumers need to be assured that products and services advertised to them deliver on what they promise,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg. “We believe that the overuse of consumer testimonials and expert endorsements has crossed the line from aggressive marketing to outright deception.”

The hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee’s consumer protection subcommittee was prompted by revisions being undertaken at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the agency’s guidelines regarding the use of consumer testimonials and expert endorsements in advertisements. Changes under consideration include requiring advertisers to prominently disclose average results when atypical results are shown, such as in diet pill commercials. Other changes would require that bloggers and other online reviewers disclose when they receive payment or gifts from advertisers in return for a review. NCL also urged regulators and lawmakers to investigate whether the undisclosed use of video news releases by news organizations should fall under the FTC’s testimonial advertising guidelines.

“We find the rampant lack of disclosure by broadcasters that they are being paid to air VNRs extremely troubling,” said Greenberg. “Citizens of a democratic society should have confidence that the media is not passing off advertisements as hard news.”

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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.