[Intl-tobacco] Britain's Pub Union Calls for Smokefree Workplace Law

[robert.weissman@essentialinformation.org]

> This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand
this format, some or all of this message may not be legible.
--
[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]

Britain's Pub Union Calls for Smokefree Workplace Law

Parts excerpted from UK Times and Personnel Today, 6/7/04

Bar, pub, club and catering staff of the Transport and General Workers'
Union voted in favor of an outright ban on smoking in their workplaces.
Britain's third largest union made their demand for smokefree bars, clubs
and restaurants, days after Prime Minister Tony Blair supported making all
public places smokefree.

The vote comes amid mounting concerns of the failure of existing legislation
to protect workers from diseases caused by exposure to tobacco smoke
pollution.

Brian Revell, the union's national organiser for food and agriculture, said
it was unacceptable that union members working in the hospitality industry
continued to be confronted by smoky environments, which could damage their
health.

"The feedback from our members working in bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants
is that smoking in their workplaces is as prevalent as ever and a ban is
necessary now," he said. "The Government is right to consider smokefree
workplace legislation and the union expects it to take a firm position in
the interests of public health."

This year, Ireland and Norway became the first European nations to make all
workplaces, including pubs and restaurants, smokefree.

--