Well, I told squeezer the rag had been quiet on smokers for some time, but should have known it couldn't last. Actually, though, this one's about the fairest of any i've seen in the excuse for a newspaper-that's because the writer's new on the staff, i guess-don't recognize his name. He'll learn. It was on the fron page of the business section, though. Along with an illo of a yuppie CEO breaking a huge cigarette in half.

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050...904007/-1/ARCHIVES30

Yeah, that article lacks the frothing at the mouth I'm so used to seeing in the TB.

Apparently, Weyers has changed his reasons for instituting the no-smoking(even at home) policy at Weyco. Now he's saying that it wasn't about the MONEY (the "costs" of smoking) but about his concern for his employees health. Awwwwww.

Gee, so he only did it because he CARED. I guess he didn't care enough to let the employees keep their jobs, though. And he didn't care enough not to downsize and fire a bunch more people even after the smokers left.
Makes me wonder if this wasn't an attempt to get employees to quit the job rather than to get them to quit smoking so he didn't have to offer severance packages to those he was planning to downsize.

http://www.news.cmich.edu/news/index.asp?id=796



WEYCO CEO WHO CRACKED DOWN ON SMOKERS CLEARS THE AIR AT CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
Howard Weyers, founder and CEO of Weyco Inc. who implemented a strict no-smoking policy for his employees, will talk at Central Michigan University along with Weyco’s attorney, Dave Houston of Dickinson Wright PLLC, at 7 p.m. Sept. 28 in Anspach Hall 161.

Weyers made headlines earlier this year when his company announced it would no longer hire smokers, resulting in the resignation of four workers who claimed discrimination. Weyco, a Michigan-based health benefits management company, administers random tobacco testing to ensure that its workers are smoke-free, both at work and at home.

Hope May, director of CMU’s Center for Professional and Personal Ethics, said she realized after talking to Weyers that he didn’t make his decision solely based on its financial benefits to his company — he was concerned for the well-being of his workforce.

“It was established in the interest of encouraging healthy lifestyles for his employees rather than helping Weyco’s bottom line,” she said.

So where are the stories of the fat people he fired because he cared about their health too? I must have missed THOSE stories. (I really doubt they're all skinny there)

Here's something I found interesting in Wanda's link:

The Michigan arm of the American Civil Liberties Union has spoken out against the Weyco policy, calling it discriminatory — though it is not illegal.

What's interesting is that the ACLU spoke out against it even though it's legal in Michigan.

When the 3rd town in my state implemented a non-smoker only hiring rule for their fire depts, which is TOTALLY ILLEGAL in my state a woman with the WI ACLU said something like this: I don't think that's legal. I'd have to look.

She couldn't have sounded more uninterested.