[Intl-tobacco] BAT: EU directive 'may cost 1,800 jobs' (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

Tobacco law 'may cost 1,800 jobs'
by John Thornhill, Consumer / Industries Editor
Source: Financial Times, Tuesday, 9/12/00

British American Tobacco warned on Monday that it might be forced to shut
its Darlington and Southampton factories, with the loss of 1,800 jobs, if
the government enacted a draft European Union directive on tobacco
control.

Workers from both plants presented their case at the TUC conference on
Monday, highlighting the broader economic impact of the factories'
closure.

BAT claimed that an additional 6,000 jobs might be at risk among suppliers
if the factories were to close.

The EU directive, which could be adopted at its second reading by the
European parliament in the next few weeks, calls for tighter labelling
restrictions and the lowering of the maximum tar level in cigarettes from
12mg to 10mg - even on cigarettes manufactured for sale outside the EU.
Member states would be obliged to implement the directive in national
legislation by the end of 2001.

Michael Prideaux, corporate affairs director at BAT, said the company's
two UK factories mainly manufactured high-tar cigarettes geared for export
markets.

"Ninety per cent of our UK production is impacted by the directive," he
said.

"Our factories in Darlington and Southampton would be very likely to
close. I do not think that the government has thought this through."

The Department of Health said the government was broadly supportive of the
EU directive. "Our primary concern is the health impact of smoking and
with a product that kills 120,000 people in this country every year.
Public health has to take priority over other considerations," it said.

"The whole thrust of our policy is to damage cigarette companies' sales
and that will come as no surprise to BAT. But it is surely not beyond the
company's wit and wisdom to comply with the protocol to manufacture
cigarettes with lower tar levels," it said.

The threat of 695 job losses in Darlington has particular resonance for
Alan Milburn, the health secretary, whose constituency includes the
tobacco plant.

BAT claimed that the EU directive was also unfairly disadvantaging
European manufacturers. Philip Morris, the world's biggest tobacco
manufacturer, produces most of its high-tar cigarettes outside the EU.

The proposed EU directive will also ban the use of descriptions, such as
"light," "low tar", and "mild" and force cigarette companies to cover 25
per cent of their packet space with health warnings. Dave McKee, an MSF
union representative at BAT's Southampton factory, said the directive
would sacrifice jobs with no improvement in public health.