As anti-smoking bans take effect in Ramsey and Hennepin counties, an initiative called WorkSHIFTS is giving labor leaders and employers a new tool to deal with the risks and consequences of smoking in the workplace.
WorkSHIFTS creates awareness of the health and economic benefits of quitting, and provides education and training to help make that happen, said director Susan Weisman. Union officials helped develop the program for the Tobacco Law Center at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul.
The program's most visible elements are Union and Employer Guides to Tobacco ? a collection of tobacco information pamphlets.
The guides focus on the health risks of smoking, the benefits of quitting, and the impact of tobacco-related illnesses on the rising costs of health care.
Zeroing in on specific occupations
For example, the union guide spells out how cigarette smoke and workplace toxins can combine to create a "multiplier effect," making each other more dangerous to workers who smoke.
That's the kind of information union members in an industrial setting should know, said Doug Williams, an international representative for IUE-CWA Local 1140.
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The union guide also describes how tobacco companies' marketing strategies aim at working-class consumers, especially those who already smoke. The four occupations with the highest rates of smoking are transportation and material moving, waiters and waitresses, laborers, and construction trades, research shows.
The information packets are especially helpful because they are divided into sections for specific audiences, said Terry Wiederich, one of the labor leaders who helped create the guides. Wiederich is director of Minnesota LECET, the Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust.
Seeking employer participation
Weisman said WorkSHIFTS' next step is to collaborate with labor leaders and employers to create tobacco policies that both promote a healthful environment and protect workers' rights. She said she also hopes unions can negotiate benefits for smokers who quit and free programs to help them do so.
Wade Luneburg plans on using the union guide to do just that. The bans on smoking in restaurants in Ramsey and Hennepin counties mean many unionized restaurant employees no longer will be able to smoke at work. Luneburg, political director for UNITE HERE Local 17, said he plans on using the guide to help members who decide to utilize the ban as an opportunity to finally quit.
Weisman said the best way to get employer cooperation is by persuading them that dealing with tobacco use is an effective way to lower health-care costs. Minnesota employers pay more than $1.6 billion a year in health costs related to tobacco, WorkSHIFTS pamphlets say. Tobacco also costs employers money through lost productivity and increased fire insurance premiums.
Jeff Zethmayr is an intern for The Union Advocate, the official newspaper of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail the Advocate at advocate@mtn.org
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As anti-smoking bans take effect in Ramsey and Hennepin counties, an initiative called WorkSHIFTS is giving labor leaders and employers a new tool to deal with the risks and consequences of smoking in the workplace.
WorkSHIFTS creates awareness of the health and economic benefits of quitting, and provides education and training to help make that happen, said director Susan Weisman. Union officials helped develop the program for the Tobacco Law Center at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul.
The program’s most visible elements are Union and Employer Guides to Tobacco ? a collection of tobacco information pamphlets.
The guides focus on the health risks of smoking, the benefits of quitting, and the impact of tobacco-related illnesses on the rising costs of health care.
Zeroing in on specific occupations
For example, the union guide spells out how cigarette smoke and workplace toxins can combine to create a “multiplier effect,” making each other more dangerous to workers who smoke.
That’s the kind of information union members in an industrial setting should know, said Doug Williams, an international representative for IUE-CWA Local 1140.
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The union guide also describes how tobacco companies’ marketing strategies aim at working-class consumers, especially those who already smoke. The four occupations with the highest rates of smoking are transportation and material moving, waiters and waitresses, laborers, and construction trades, research shows.
The information packets are especially helpful because they are divided into sections for specific audiences, said Terry Wiederich, one of the labor leaders who helped create the guides. Wiederich is director of Minnesota LECET, the Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust.
Seeking employer participation
Weisman said WorkSHIFTS’ next step is to collaborate with labor leaders and employers to create tobacco policies that both promote a healthful environment and protect workers’ rights. She said she also hopes unions can negotiate benefits for smokers who quit and free programs to help them do so.
Wade Luneburg plans on using the union guide to do just that. The bans on smoking in restaurants in Ramsey and Hennepin counties mean many unionized restaurant employees no longer will be able to smoke at work. Luneburg, political director for UNITE HERE Local 17, said he plans on using the guide to help members who decide to utilize the ban as an opportunity to finally quit.
Weisman said the best way to get employer cooperation is by persuading them that dealing with tobacco use is an effective way to lower health-care costs. Minnesota employers pay more than $1.6 billion a year in health costs related to tobacco, WorkSHIFTS pamphlets say. Tobacco also costs employers money through lost productivity and increased fire insurance premiums.
Jeff Zethmayr is an intern for The Union Advocate, the official newspaper of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail the Advocate at advocate@mtn.org