Health departments across the country have been trying for years to get Americans to give up smoking. There are warnings issued regularly by the Surgeon General of the Untied States.
Who would have thought that in the light of all the evidence that smoking may cause lung cancer that a major American union would file an unfair labor practices charge against a company for prohibiting its workers to smoke on the job?
Well, it has happened: The mighty United Auto Workers has filed an unfair labor practices complaint against Caterpillar Tractor, alleging that the company’s smoking ban should have been part of a collective bargaining procedure. The UAW wants the workers at Caterpillar to have the chance to smoke while working. Do they also want them to have a chance for developing lung cancer?
Caterpillar had decided to issue the ban after Illinois issued a Smoke-Free Illinois Act that bans smoking in public place and workplaces. The prohibition was enacted into law by the Illinois State Legislature.
The cause espoused by the UAW may be one of the most bizarre stances taken by a union, which lends further evidence to the consensus opinion that unions are out of touch with the strategic concerns of workers and Corporate America.
