KEN STREMSKY DISCUSSES ARBITRATION, CREDIT CARDS, THE MINIMUM WAGE, AND OTHER TOPICS ARBITRATION LAW This section deals with Amendment Seven of the United States Constitution which says "In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law." The June 2002 Consumer Reports on page 7 discusses arbitration in the letter from its President with the title "Losing your day in court." I wrote most of this section before reading the article. Congress should pass a law which says businesses may not require employees to participate in arbitration to obtain employment or keep employment because employees should be allowed to sue employers because of Amendment Seven. Congress should also pass a law which says investors do not have to participate in arbitration because of Amendment Seven. Health insurers and other insurers should not require people to sign arbitration agreements. Participants who participate in arbitration should be allowed to participate in class action law suits. The results of arbitration should be made available to the public. Congress should decide the conflict - of - interest guidelines that arbitration providers must follow. Employees, investors, and others should be allowed to participate in arbitration. INCREASING THE NUMBER OF PATENTS THAT BUSINESSES OBTAIN Businesses would probably come up with more patents and more valuable patents if they allow the employees who come up with the patents to have their names on the patents that they obtain and allow the employees to share in the proceeds the businesses obtain from the licensing of the patents. The businesses should decide who is able to license the patents and how much will be charged for licensing fees. The employees should obtain proceeds from the licensing of their patents if they decide to stop work for the business or are fired by the business. Municipalities might want to do the same thing. I came up with this idea after reading an article in the March 26, 2002 Wall Street Journal on page B1 that has the title "If City Employee Invents Process, Who Gets Patent?" TOP SALES PEOPLE IN RETAIL STORES Retail stores might obtain higher profits if they allow all their sales people to obtain monthly bonuses in addition to regular pay. The bonuses would depend upon how much profit the sales person generated. The December 3, 2001 BusinessWeek on page 45 has a great article which has the title "THINKING BEYOND THE ONE-SIZE-FITS-All PAY CUT" written by Louis Lavelle and Michelle Conlin. ADVICE FOR UNIONS Encourage members to share their ideas with the companies they work for. Advertise in newspapers the union's views on the issues. I think this is a better use of money than contributions to political parties. Encourage members to vote in elections. Encourage members to run for elective office. Contribute money to libraries. Encourage members to become mentors and tutors. Provide members for financial planning information. Encourage members to invest in index funds, individual stocks, and bonds. Unions might want to invest a portion of their dues in the stocks of companies their members work for and push for the adoption of many proposals that benefit unions. Encourage members to read books, magazines, and newspapers. Encourage members to take courses. CREDIT CARD LAW The quotes in this section come from a credit card company's brochure. Congress should pass the following credit card law. "Grace periods for repayment of balances for purchases" should not be less than thirty days. The interest rate for purchases should not be greater than seven percent above the Prime Rate discussed in the Wall Street Journal. The interest rate for cash advances should not be greater than five percent above the Prime Rate as discussed in the Wall Street Journal. The transaction fee for balance transfers should not be greater than two percent "of the amount of each balance transfer." Late payment fees on balances should not be greater than $10. Lenders should not be allowed to alter the terms of lending agreements at will. Lenders should not be allowed to change a borrower from a fixed rate to a variable rate without the written permission of the borrower after the borrower has received money from the lenders. Lenders should not be allowed to change a borrower from a variable rate to a fixed rate without the written permission of the borrower after the borrower has received money from the lenders. Lenders should not be allowed to alter the amount and number of minimum payments a borrower has to make without the written permission of the borrower after the borrower has received money from the lenders. Federal law should cap the interest rates that lenders may charge. DEBIT CARDS LAW The June 2002 Consumer Reports on pages 8 and 9 discusses debit cards in the article "Debit card users stuck with new PIN fees." Congress should decide the maximum amount of money that banks may charge consumers each time a PIN is used. Congress might want the maximum amount of money that banks may charge consumers each time a PIN is used to be 5 cents. BOUNCED CHECKS LAW I created this section after viewing the website of the Consumer Federation of America which is www.consumerfed.org. Congress should pass a bounced check law. Banks should not be allowed to charge a consumer who deposits a check a bounced check fee. Banks should not be allowed to charge a consumer who deposits a money order a bounced check fee. Banks should only be allowed to charge a bounced check fee to the person who writes a check. Congress might want the maximum bounced check fee to be $10. BANKRUPTCY LAW I created this section after checking out the website of the Consumer Federation of America which is www.consumerfed.org. Congress should pass a better bankruptcy law. Billing statements should tell "consumers how long it would take to pay off their balances at the minimum rate and what their total costs in interest and principle would be." Child support and alimony should be paid before other creditors are paid. Creditors should not be allowed to "repossess essential appliances like refrigerators and washers." Bankruptcy law should discourage creditors from lending money to high risk individuals who carry large debts. Home equity shielded from bankruptcy should be at least $400,000. NON-COMPETE, NON-SOLICITATION, AND CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENTS I would like Congress to pass a law that makes Non-Compete Agreements illegal because they lessen competition. I would like Congress to pass a law that makes Non-Compete, Non-Solicitation Agreements illegal because they lessen competition. Congress might want to pass a law which says what may be included in Confidentiality agreements. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT The National Labor Relations Act may be found on the National Labor Relations Board website which is www.nlrb.gov. Under definitions the National Labor Relations Acts says "The term "labor organization" means any organization of any kind, or any agency or employee representation committe or plan, in which employees participate and which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work." FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT Congress should decide if the Fair Labor Standards Act should include vacations, holidays, severance pay, sick pay, meal or rest periods, pay raises, fringe benefits, and discharge notices. The Department of Labor's website which is www.dol.gov provides information on the Fair Labor Standards Act and other Labor Related issues. THE MINIMUM WAGE The minimum wage should gradually increase to $10 per hour in 2005. I do realize that Economics 101 says when the price of labor increases, the demand for labor decreases. I believe that this is the case when the cost of labor is very high. Most smart companies realize that when companies increase the pay of their workers, the workers are more likely to care about saving the companies money and increasing the profits of the companies. Inflation is less likely to occur when wages increase if taxes are decreased significantly first.