Women organize!

By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

On Monday I had the honor of attending a wonderful White House event to commemorate the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. DOL Secretary Hilda Solis and White House Advisor Valerie Jarrett hosted the event, bringing to Washington more than 20 working women from all different backgrounds to talk about their struggles and triumphs on the job. Coincidentally, this is the week the Supreme Court is hearing the case of the women who have formed the class action suit against Wal-Mart for wage discrimination.

 

Sally Greenberg with U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis

After the attendees watched the HBO documentary prepared about the Triangle Fire, Solis and Jarrett next introduced four women, Deanna Vizi, a child care provider from Ohio, Allison, Julien, a nanny in New York,  Ernestine Bassett, a cashier at Wal-Mart in Laurel, MD and Liliana Bequer, a bilingual call center specialist with T-Mobile. Each of these women told their story – and each was more powerful than the last. They all have been leaders among their co-workers. Deanna formed a union for child care providers, Allison helped get a law passed in New York setting basic wage protections and a 40 hour week for domestic workers, Liliana wants T-Mobile to be more worker friendly, and she wants a union there as well, and Ernestine is pushing Wal-Mart to be pay more so its workforce can get off food stamps and housing assistance because the pay is so low.

 

The one thing that all these women had in common was how much they liked their work, respected their employers, and want to make a positive difference for their co-workers. They were later joined by roughly 15 additional women from all varieties of work, including a security officer and a firefighter.

After several weeks of events surrounding the 100^th Anniversary of the Triangle Fire, this was a wholly new and creative approach to looking at the lives of women who work. It was fascinating and enlightening. Hats off to the White House and DOL for sharing this opportunity to hear from women who work for better pay, better benefits, safer conditions ,and a more enlightened workplace in states across the country.

The importance of standing up to Goliath

By NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg

Last evening, I had the honor of attending a reception for the plaintiffs who are in town to hear the Supreme Court argument on Wal-Mart vs. Dukes. This is a case involving “Goliath” as the women who were visiting DC last night described it “and we are the Davids.” The plaintiffs in the Walmart case are arguing that the female employees of this mega-store were, and continue to be, denied advancement and training opportunities, paid less than men for the same or comparable work, steered to lower wage departments, subjected to a sexually hostile work environment and retaliated against when they attempt to address sex discrimination. The Supreme Court will be deciding whether this case can move forward.

Wage gaps and barriers to upward mobility in the company are the crux of this lawsuit. In fact, as often happens when a company comes under the public spotlight, the lawsuit has already brought important changes to Wal-Mart’s women employees. Some have been hired in senior staff positions and there’ve been wide-scale pay structure adjustments.

Sally Greenberg and Wal-Mart case plaintiff Betty Dukes, at last night's Alliance for Justice event

You’ll find a picture of me with the named plaintiff, Betty Dukes, who has been engaged in this lawsuit since at least 2001. The Wal-Mart case gives the issue of “wage disparity” a woman’s face and in so doing, helps other women, particularly low-wage women earners, to see that positive results can come from their struggle to achieve equal rights in the workplace. This case is a critical bellwether for women in workplaces all over the nation. We wish the plaintiffs well today and will hope for the best possible outcome for these brave women.

Hearing examines bill to help teen sex trafficking victims

By Reid Maki, Coordinator of the Child Labor Coalition

It started with an innocuous trip to the mall. A woman in her late 20s approached Natasha, a pretty 19-year-old-teenager, and suggested that she consider a job as a make-up artist. The job involved good money and travel. Natasha was interested. She wasn’t sure she was ready for college, so she figured she’d check out the opportunity. Natasha went to high-rise office building in San Francisco to see the company first hand. There were young people everywhere learning how to apply make-up. Everything looked legitimate. Everyone she met was nice. She went home and convinced her parents, who despite deep reservations, to let her take the job.

On her first day, she was having lunch with her new bosses and she began to feel that something was wrong. The feeling grew. She excused herself to go to the bathroom and made a beeline for her car. When she got to it, one of the bosses grabbed her and kidnapped her.

The next year of Natasha’s life was a living hell. The make-up job was a ruse for a prostitution ring. On one of her first days, her pimp drove her to the school that her little brother attended and told her if she wasn’t compliant—if she ever tried to leave—they would kill the boy. The young girl felt completely trapped.

Natasha—now known as Natasha Herzig—told her compelling story before a packed briefing room in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 16. The briefing’s purpose was to bring attention to the problem of sex trafficking in the U.S. and to garner support for a bill, the Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act (see summary), reintroduced by Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas).

The bill, S. 596, would aid victims of sex trafficking and prosecute sex traffickers who exploit underage girls and force them into prostitution. The legislation calls for setting up a six-state pilot program to help law enforcement agencies go after pimps and traffickers. It would also create shelters, provide treatment, counseling and legal assistance for the victims. The legislation passed the Senate and House of Representatives but in a nip-and-tuck-race was not enacted before the congressional session ended. Senator and Senator Cornyn said they are determined to see it pass in the current session. The companion bill will soon be introduced in the House of Representatives.

According to estimates by the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an estimated 100,000 minors—girls and boys—are trafficked in the U.S. each year for sexual purposes. Not all victims are lured away from happy homes like Natasha, who was an honor roll student in an upper-middle class home. Many are runaways who flee dysfunctional homes, thinking the streets will be more tolerable. Some of these children are fleeing sexual predators in their own families.

Academy Award-winning actress and advocate Mira Sorvino urged Americans and law enforcement officials to see this issue in its true light. “All teen prostitution is trafficking,” she said. Yet, she explained, in many localities, “police are still arresting the victims.”

Sorvino noted that when an adult has sex with a minor they may be sentenced to years in jail, but if money is involved, the buyers of sex typically do no jail time. They might face a small fine or be ordered to take a sensitivity workshop. The consequences need to be much tougher, argued Sorvino.

Often the police and male clients tend to think of prostitution as a victimless crime, but many of the trafficked girls are minors who did not enter prostitution willingly or were manipulated into it. The reality is that the young prostitutes have often been broken down psychologically by rapes, beatings, and threats and are not consensual sex partners, suggested Sorvino. The traffickers, she explained, “know exactly what to say” to manipulate the young girls, many of whom are as young as 12 and 13, into the business. She said they are adept at figuring out what the young girls’ hopes and dreams are and appealing to those aspirations.

The young girls are also broken down psychologically—essentially brainwashed. “There comes a point where you become what you know and you are loyal to your trafficker,” noted Natasha. “The brainwashing is a very tricky thing.”

Sorvino also said that the country’s broken foster care system is contributing to the trafficking problem. Too many children are being beaten and sexually abused and feel compelled to hit the streets. Each year, about 1.7 million runaways or “throwaways” leave their homes for the uncertainty of life on the streets. Both Senator Wyden and Sorvino noted the importance of changing the way the public views this issue.

Ernie Allen, the co-founder of the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, noted that the sexualization of children in America at “younger and younger ages” is a large part of the problem. “We have created compliant victims who think this is how they are supposed to act,” he noted. “We have got to attack demand,” said Allen, who explained that the fundamental problem is that too many adults want to have sex with kids. “It’s time to address real societal change.”

Sorvino praised the “Real Men Don’t Buy Girls” Campaign recently launched by fellow actors Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore. The campaign hopes to reduce the demand for sexual services from minors.

Sorvino also noted that the Internet is making it much too easy for prostitution to flourish and “has to be addressed.”

Ernie Allen agreed that the Internet is a big part of the problem. He noted the successful effort to get the Internet site Craig’s List to stop selling sex ads, but other sites are still doing business, he said.

The amount of money that can be made from sex trafficking is enormous. Senator Wyden noted that criminals who used to traffick drugs and engage in other criminal activities are moving over to sex trafficking because it’s easier. Allen explained that much of the trafficking of teen prostitutes is “organized crime” with traffickers moving teens from city to city to meet demand.

Natasha escaped from her trafficker 10 years ago. A friend and fellow underage prostitute was being beaten so severely that Natasha feared the friend would die. She ended up calling a friend for help. Eventually the authorities became involved and Natasha was free. However, the psychological trauma she suffered continued to haunt her for years. “I had a very long and dark journey to get to where I am today.”

Natasha is now happily married with a child. She works as a victims’ rights advocate and law enforcement trainer. The lack of resources 10 years ago made it very difficult for girls like her to escape their sexual slavery, and she wants to help young girls and women avoid what she went through. She urged the briefing audience attendees to “please, please fight for this [bill].”

Doug Justus, a 29-year-veteran of the Portland, Oregon police force and the former head of Portland’s Police Bureau’s vice unit, noted that when he first started working on criminal cases involving the trafficking of teens, prosecutors would not take his cases. They saw prostitution as a victimless crime that the public did not care about. Justus participated in trafficking sensitivity training through the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which trained nearly 300,000 law enforcement officials, and it completely changed his outlook.

In the past, he had driven by teenage prostitutes without really understanding their plight. Now, he knew the young girls should be viewed as victims. He was then able to convince other law enforcement officers and district attorneys to go through similar training. Portland began prosecuting traffickers. Still, he noted, trafficking cases are enormously difficult to prosecute. He told the story of one 13-year-old girl, Emily, who was nearly beaten to death by her pimp. Justus eventually convinced Emily to testify. After her testimony, she vanished and Justus said that informants have said Emily was murdered by her trafficker. The job is the hardest he ever had as a policeman, said Justus. “It kills you—you can’t sleep at night,” he explained.

The lack of “safe houses” is a particular problem, said Justus, who noted that when Emily was first rescued after being beaten there was no where for her to go. She was eventually released and then beaten by another pimp. “It didn’t have to happen if we had a safe house,” noted Justus. “If we had a safe house, Emily would be alive today.”

Tina Frundt, a former teen trafficking victim, told hearing attendees that she escaped from her trafficker after he beat her and broke her arm. The police arrested her and put her in jail for a year.

Frundt had been adopted into a loving family at age 12, but a pedophile stalked her and helped her run away from her parents after an argument. By the time she was 13, she was working as a stripper and working as a prostitute at truck stops—although working is certainly not the right word because she wasn’t getting paid and she was routinely being victimized by adults.

There were few if any resources to help Frundt escape. Eventually, she decided that she had to help other young girls avoid being trafficked. Today, she operates Courtney’s House, a Washington, DC area shelter for victims, that has helped over 500 young people escape their traffickers and pimps. She also operates a hotline (888-261-3665), and she and her staff hit the streets between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. to talk to runaways and prostitutes and let them know that there is an alternative.

Frundt noted that while most victims are women and are often trafficked at ages 11 and 12, boys are trafficked too. Most male victims, she said, are first trafficked at ages six to nine years old.

Members of the public interested in helping to pass S. 596 should call or write their Senators and urge them to sponsor the bill. Readers may also sign an online petition to support the legislation at Change.org.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-New York) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-New Jersey) introduced a companion bill in the House of Representatives during the last congressional session and are expected to re-introduce in this session as well. According to the Polaris Project, 45 states—including Ohio this year—have criminalized sex and labor trafficking. The Massachusetts legislature is working on a trafficking bill. The Georgia State House of Representatives recently passed a sex trafficking bill. Minnesota is also considering a “Safe Harbor” bill that assists the victims of sexual trafficking. And the Hawaiian legislature is deliberating a bill as well.

If you know a child who is missing or in danger of exploitation, please call the 24-hour hotline for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).

100 years later: business owners still putting profits over people

Today marks the 100^th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which killed 146 garment workers, in a disaster that ignited national outrage and lead to drastic improvements in labor safety legislation and fire safety codes. But in the face of collapsing coal mines, oil rig blowouts, radiation exposure, and recent union busting efforts, the uncomfortable parallels between the current state of worker safety, and the dangerous, unregulated working conditions of the early 20^th century, continues to trouble worker advocates and has been the focus of numerous media stories (some of which are included below). A century later, the fire is as relevant as ever and continues to serve as a cautionary tale of what happens when management focuses more on the bottom line than on worker health and safety.

Triangle Fire: New Leaders Emerge

New York Times

Triangle fire memorial draws parallels with today

peoplesworld

Upper Big Branch miner describes scene at blast

peoplesworld

Children in the Fields Campaign Joins NCL and Advocates to Reflect on the Push to Roll Back Workers Rights

Forums Digital Media Net

100 Years After Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, Workers Face Dangers Born of Greed

AlterNet

Honoring Francis Perkins

As March is Women’s History Month, now is the perfect time to honor early labor crusader and former NCL Executive Secretary, Frances Perkins. At the time of the fire, Perkins was having tea a few blocks away and reached the factory in time to witness garment workers jumping to their deaths with her own eyes. Perkins was instrumental in reforming working conditions, especially for women and children, as executive secretary to the Committee on Safety of New York. Perkins’ work after the fire marked the beginning of a lifetime dedicated to advocating for workers. In 1933, President Roosevelt appointed Perkins as his Secretary of Labor, making her the first woman in the United States to hold a Cabinet position—a position she held for 12 years. Frances Perkins continues to inspire a new generation of labor advocates and lead by example, at this critical time when worker advocacy is needed more than ever.

Tips for job-hunting

By Jacob Markey, LifeSmarts intern Summer 2010

The recession has been tough for many of us. Millions of Americans have lost jobs and benefits and find paying for some basic goods and services a lot more difficult now than in the past. The unemployment rate is currently 8.9 percent with the number of unemployed Americans hovering around 13.7 million.  My family is no exception, and has also been affected by job loss. Just as with the optimism of better weather arriving with the start of spring, people need to stay optimistic and hopeful. Since the LifeSmarts topic area this month is Personal Finance, a post containing tips for job-hunting is just in time!

For some people, this is the first time they have searched for a new job in years, if not decades. They may have no clue how to develop a resume or effectively use the Internet to search for jobs. This post contains a few tips and links to places with a ton of great information.

An important place to start when searching for a job is to develop a strong resume. It is the first thing a prospective employer looks at and is a way for you to make a great first impression. A resume by itself is not likely to get you a job, but a poorly-written one can certainly decrease your chances of getting even an interview. Sending in an unprofessional resume with even simple spelling mistakes is enough to get it tossed into the trash. For a great tutorial with tips for writing a resume, check out this link.

Another important step to take when searching for a new job is utilizing all available resources. Use the Internet to your advantage: while you can go to online to job posting and company web sites, you should also look for sites that cater to a specific field for other opportunities. Check out this link for a list of some good job search sites to experiment with. Of course, you can also look at traditional sources, like classified ads and through connections you gained from previous positions. You can even ask family and friends if they know of any available positions.

A final tip is to demonstrate skills that employers look for in workers. While it may be important that you had X position at Y company, it may be even more essential to have a skill set that a prospective employer looks for. If you have expertise in a certain area or working with different computer and Web programs, put it on your resume and make sure prospective employers know about it when you interview.

Teens should take many of the same steps in their search for summer work. Ask around and use resources like family, friends, and your school’s guidance counselor. You will also need to demonstrate professional traits to employers, such as being flexible in where you will work and what you are willing to do. It is in your best interest to be willing to work in many areas if that is the difference between getting a job or not.

Using these tips will not automatically guarantee you will secure a job or an interview. However, they can help give you an advantage over other applicants. With effort, you increase your chances of finding an opportunity that matches your skills and interests.

Triangle Factory Fire legacy commemorated in Washington, DC

By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

Monday the National Consumers League paid tribute to the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire that took place 100 years ago. This Friday, March 25th, is the 100th anniversary of the infamous New York City fire that took the lives of 146 immigrant men and women, some of them as young as 14 and 15 years old.

The fire changed the course of labor history and opened the nation’s eyes to the terrible and abusive working conditions of millions of their fellow citizens. The shocking way the victims died helped to bring about a sweeping series of workplace reforms and fire safety codes that caught on across the country. NCL has a special relationship to the fire because Frances Perkins, who went on to become the first female Secretary of Labor under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was working for NCL in New York City at the time of the fire and witnessed with her own eyes the sight of young women leaping out the building’s upper-story windows. Perkins took her experience to the New York State legislature to bring these reforms to fruition, this fire affirmed her lifetime commitment to bettering conditions for working men and women.

Monday’s symposium – which drew more than 100 attendees – (see the full program) started out with a Senate Resolution, read by a member of New York Senator’s Kirsten Gillibrand’s staff, commemorating the fire and passing unanimously in the Senate. The first panel featured historians and writers who reflected on the working and labor conditions at the time of the fire in New York City. Moderated by the head of the Women’s Bureau at the Department of Labor, panelists included Joe McCartin of Georgetown University, Robyn Muncy of the University of Maryland, and Kirstin Downey, former Washington Post business reporter and author of a wonderful biography of Frances Perkins. Panelists discussed the conditions of immigrants working in factories like Triangle, where, in fact, workers were better off than many sweatshop workers, earning up to $5 a week and getting Sundays off. But the largely young immigrant women had struck the plant the year before the fire and earned better working conditions and higher wages. This was the first major women’s strike in the history of the United States.

The second panel focused on workplace conditions today and was moderated by American Rights at Work’s Kim Freeman Brown. Panelists talked about injuries among hotel workers that render them unable to use one arm or shoulder because of their constant need to lift heavy mattresses. Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs’ Norma Flores described her experience as a farmworker child, spending sometimes 12 hours at a time working under a hot sun, without access to toilet facilities. And Judy Gearhart of the International Labor Rights Fund described working conditions in Bangladesh, where severe fires in factories that have taken many lives.

Before lunch, we watched the film made for this event, TRIANGLE’S ECHOES: The Unfinished Struggle for Worker Protection, Safety and Health and then we heard a sobering address from “Goose” Stewart – a miner who survived the Massey Mine Collapse, which took place less than a year ago and killed 29 of his fellow miners. He brought a tear to many in the packed audience.  And we had a rousing lunchtime speech from Cecil Roberts, President of the United Mine Workers, followed by a “Call to Action” as the program was brought to a close.

Co-sponsoring organizations at the event included a cross-section of labor, consumer, civil rights, progressive student, and environmental groups: AFL-CIO; Alliance for Justice; American Rights at Work; BlueGreen Alliance; Change to Win; Coalition of Labor Union Women; Consumer Action; Communications Workers of America; International Labor Rights Forum; Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor, Georgetown University; National Consumers League; Public Citizen; Roosevelt Institute Campus Network; Service Employees International Union; United Food and Commercial Workers; UNITE HERE!

Advocates left the event energized to continue the fight for workers’ rights, especially in light of current anti-worker efforts in many parts of the country, keeping the memory of the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire alive, and seeing to it that the men and women who perished in the notorious fire in 1911 didn’t die in vain.

TRIANGLE’S ECHOES: The Unfinished Struggle for Worker Protection, Safety and Health

Consumer Assembly 2011

Consumer Federation of America’s (CFA) Consumer Assembly kicked off today! Since 1967, the assembly has served as the consumer movement’s principal meeting where consumer issues are reviewed, policy reforms are discussed, and new initiatives are presented.

Both NCL Executive Director, Sally Greenberg, and NCL Vice President of Public Policy Telecommunications & Fraud, John Breyault, participated in discussion panels.

Sally Greenberg discussing the congressional and regulatory agenda and effective strategies for defending old protections, writing new rules, and winning needed reforms. Ed Mierzwinski, Consumer Program Director at U.S. PIRG is pictured to her right.

 

John Breyault discussing the top and newest complaints that NCL's Fraud Center is receiving and approaches for more effectively resolving, and preventing, these grievances. John is pictured with Eduard Bartholme, Executive Director Call For Action, and Beverly Baskin, Senior VP & Chief Mission Officer Council of Better Business Bureaus

Kudos to CFA for hosting such a great event!

10 amputations a day: the need for a safer table saw

By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

I spent two days earlier this month at the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), listening to the pros and cons of setting a mandatory safety standard for table saws. Ten people every day – according the CPSC’s own data – have their fingers amputated in power saw accidents. 10 a day!  I’ve wanted to push the CPSC for a mandatory standard ever since hearing a story on NPR in May of 2006.

The inventors of a saw that senses an electrical current in a finger, as opposed to a piece of wood, and stops before serious harm is done, named their company SawStop. They also took the commendable step of petitioning the Commission and asking that it adopt a mandatory safety standard – that was in 2003. The petition was acted upon a few years later – the Commissioners voted to start the process toward a mandatory standard – but one of the three commissioners resigned and the process came to a halt. Even with a new and democratic administration in 2009, no action had been taken until now.

From left: SawStop inventors Stephen Gass and David Fanning, Pamela Gilbert, former Executive Director of the CPSC, and NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg at NCL's office

NCL helped jumpstart the process with a letter to the Commission in late November of 2010, which was followed a few months later by an article in USA Today.

The article got the attention of Commissioner Robert Adler, who hosted meetings this month with the Power Tool Industry, the trade group that is resisting adopting safety technology by arguing that it’s too expensive, that it’s unreliable, and that consumers don’t want it. Blah, blah blah. We’ve heard all that before – from the automakers, from lawnmower manufacturers and the swimming pool industry. Always an excuse for why they can’t do something that will prevent injury or save lives; it almost always comes down to putting profits before the safety of their customers.

In any event, Commissioner Adler also met with the SawStop inventors themselves, and with one other inventor who says his technology will also provide a margin of safety. The SawStop manufacturers have also received the Chairman’s Commendation from the CPSC back in 2001.

As NCL told USA Today, if you have a pattern of injury, a safety technology that can address it, and it’s affordable, you should move toward a mandatory safety standard so that all parts of the industry comply. That also creates a level playing field so that no one manufacturer can get by on the cheap and NOT install the technology.

We eagerly await the Commission’s further action on this after a busy series of meetings. 10 amputations a day and thousands more injuries every year, is an unacceptable toll when a ready fix is affordable, available, and waiting.

LifeSmarts: Teens’ Consumer Rights Information Destination

By John Breyault, Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud

As National Consumer Protection Week 2011 draws to a close, it is appropriate to reflect on why this week is set aside to celebrate consumer protection.  NCL has been at the center of the consumer movement since its inception over a century ago.  A short an incomplete list of consumer protection triumphs in that time would include the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 which created the FDA, the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914, the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970, the Consumer Product Safety Act of 1972, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.

What do all of these disparate pieces of legislation share in common?  They all sought to make the market safer and fairer for consumers.  They all recognized that absent safeguards and prudent regulations, consumers stood little chance against the vastly greater resources of industry.  During National Consumer Protection Week, we encourage consumers to take full advantage of the consumer rights gained over this century of advocacy to make better-informed marketplace decisions.

It is the desire to pass on these rights and responsibilities to the next generation that motivates NCL’s LifeSmarts program.  LifeSmarts is about more than just teens memorizing esoteric consumer trivia.  It’s about giving young people on the cusp of adulthood the knowledge they will need to enter life as empowered consumers.  Every time that a LifeSmarts alumna uses the skills she gained from LifeSmarts to get a better deal on a mortgage, steer clear of an Internet scam or spot a safety hazard in her home, consumers win just a little bit more.

It is with this purpose in mind that we encourage LifeSmarts competitors to learn and understand their rights as American consumers.  In other countries, citizens must too often accept the lot that their markets deal to them.  In America, we are protected by a web of consumer protections that ensure that the water we drink is clean, that banks can’t cheat us, and that the products we buy for our children aren’t accidents waiting to happen.  When these rights are violated, LifeSmarts teens know that they can speak up and seek redress.  In an increasingly interconnected and global marketplace, having the knowledge and the tools to use it has never been more important.

National Consumer Protection Week ends March 12, but the lessons and responsibilities of NCPW and of LifeSmarts will last a lifetime.