Smoking
and the Workplace
Gordon
Anderson
Kadriye
Bakirci
Roger
Blanpain
Michele
Colucci
Alvin
Goldman
Carin
Håkansta
Paulo
Sergio João
Asbjørn
Kjønstad
Yaraslau
Kryvoi
Birgitta
Nyström
Fumiko
Obata
Michael
Ohle
Antonio
Ojeda Avilés
Marianne
Thyssen
Gijsbert
van Liemt
Yvonne
Waterman
2005
Kluwer
Law International
The
Hague/London/New York
Table
of Contents
International
and European Reports
1.
Unloved but highly profitable: the World Tobacco Industry in the early
21st century
2.
The ILO and workplace smoking
3.
The European Union, tobacco and health
4.
Is it a human right to smoke tobacco?
National
Reports
4.
Belarus
5.
Belgium
6.
Brazil
Paulo Sergio João
7.
Ireland
Michael Ohle
8.
Italy
9.
Japan
10.
Netherlands
11.
New Zealand
12.
Norway
13.
Spain
14.
Sweden
15.
Turkey
16.
USA
List
of Contributors
Gordon
Anderson
is Associate Dean at the School of Law of the Victoria University of
Wellington, New Zealand.
Kadriye
Bakirci
is Assistant Professor of Employment Law and Social Security at the Management
Faculty of Istanbul Technical University, Turkey.
Roger
Blanpain
is Professor of Labour Law at the Universities of Leuven and Limburg
(Belgium) and Tilburg (The Netherlands), Past President of the International
Industrial Relations Association, Honorary President of the International
Society for Labour and Social Security Law and member of the Royal Flemish
Academy of Belgium.
Michele
Colucci
is researcher at the University of Salerno (Italy) and agent of the Legal
Service of the European Commission.
Alvin
Goldman
is a Professor at the University of Kentucky, USA.
Carin
Håkansta
is a researcher at the National
Institute for Public Health, Sweden.
Paulo
Sergio João
is Professor of Labour Law at the Catholic University of São Paulo and at
the School of Administration of the Foundation Getulio Vargas, São Paulo,
Brazil
Asbjørn
Kjønstad
has since 1978 been Professor of Law at the University of Oslo, Norway. His
main areas of work have been health, welfare, and tort law, including
constitutional protection and the protection of human rights in these areas.
Yaraslau
Kryvoi
is
a Lecturer at the Belarusian State University, Belarus.
He is a graduate of St Petersburg State University (Russia) and holds
Joint LL.M degree with honours from universities of Nottingham (United
Kingdom) and Utrecht (the Netherlands).
Birgitta
Nyström
is a Professor of Private Law at the University of Lund, Sweden.
Fumiko
Obata
is a Professor at Kyoto University, Japan.
She teaches on health and safety and environmental law.
Michael
Ohle
is
a trainee solicitor in Whitney Moore and Keller Solicitors, Dublin, Ireland.
He is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin where he received a
Bachelor of Arts in Economics. He also holds a postgraduate diploma in Legal
Studies from Dublin Institute of Technology.
Antonio
Ojeda Avilés
is a Professor of Labour Law and Social Security at the University of
Seville, Spain (www.personal.us.es/aojeda).
Marianne
Thyssen
is a Member of the European Parliament and Vice-President of the Group of
the European People's Party and European Democrats
Gijsbert
van Liemt
(gbvanliemt@compuserve.com) is
a self-employed international economist based in the Netherlands.
Yvonne
Waterman
is a personal injury lawyer at SAP Advocaten in Amersfoort, the Netherlands,
where she is presently engaged in the first Dutch court case against a Dutch
tobacco firm. She is also finishing a Ph.D on the comparative employer's
liability for occupational accidents and diseases. Comments and queries are
welcomed at yvonnewaterman@hotmail.com.
Introductory
Remarks
Tobacco
smoking is a subject of an ongoing and heated debate in quite a number of
international organisations and countries.
Not without reason.
First
of all, tobacco continues to provide work to millions of farmers in the
agricultural sectors and to many workers in the industrial and service sectors.
Moreover, for many, especially developing countries, tobacco in its
various forms, constitutes an important share of exports and an important part
of tax revenues. Tobacco is a
thriving, prosperous and money making sector.
At
the same time hundreds of millions of people smoke.
And here the real problem starts. Smoking
is more than bad for your health. In
the last century alone, world-wide, more than 100 million people died
prematurely due to tobacco smoking. More
than that, smoking is also bad for the health of non-smokers.
Hundreds of thousands die yearly due to passive smoking (second-hand
smoke).
These
facts are undeniable. Smoking is
now one of the main health targets of the world.
The international community got its act together.
The WHO concluded (2003) after years of tough negotiations an agreement
on combating tobacco. Member
countries are called upon to push the consumption of tobacco back.
Smoking
is, however, still a major problem in many enterprises, where yearly
thousands of workers die prematurely for reasons of passive smoking.
The
solution to that problem is very simple: enterprises should be smoke-free.
Indeed, everyone, workers included, are entitled to “pure air”, as
health is a fundamental right of prime importance. Strong legislation is thus called for. But this is not so easy to obtain.
First
of all, a considerable group of people, albeit the minority, continues to smoke
since they are addicted, though many of them would like to quit.
Nicotine is a very strong drug. The
younger people are when they start smoking, the more difficult it is to give up.
Smokers resist initiatives to install smoke-free enterprises, as well as
some managers, who continue to smoke.
The
social partners, employers’ associations and trade unions are caught in the
middle. They have smoking as well as non-smoking members.
Moreover, the trade unions of tobacco workers fight for their jobs and
the tobacco industry for plenty of money. The
industry is a very powerful pressure group and lobby.
So,
in some countries, the trade unions want to leave it up to the workers
themselves in the workplace to deal with the problem in a friendly way, so
called respecting each other, forgetting, however, that smokers are addicts.
Especially
in the hospitality industry conservative forces to keep “smoking as usual”
are strong, saying that a prohibition of smoking would kill the industry.
In
some countries, however, trade unions have crossed that bridge.
In Ireland, Norway and Sweden, the trade unions do not any longer take it
that hundreds of their members die every year due to second hand smoke in bars
and restaurants.
Difficult
areas, besides the hospitality sector, are mental institutions and prisons.
Lately, Governor Schwarzenegger took measures to regulate smoking in California
prisons.
So,
in many countries, the legislator and health groups are struggling to get
enterprises smoke-free, the hospitality sector included.
Some have succeeded, like Ireland, New York, Norway and New Zealand, just
to give a few examples. In many
other countries legislation is being elaborated.
So,
it is an accurate time to have a book on smoking and the enterprise, on what is
going on regarding smoking and the workplace.
One
thing is sure. Employers have the responsibility to introduce a policy of
non-smoking in the enterprises. And
this for many reasons; especially since they are responsible for the health of
their collaborators and liable for the damages caused to their health e.g. as a
result of passive smoking on the premises.
This
Bulletin addresses this and related issues as well at international and European
levels by looking at what is happening in not less than 15 countries from around
the globe, loyal to its comparative vocation.
Roger
Blanpain,
Honorary
President of the International Society for Labour and Social Security Law
A C.I.P. catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 90-411-2325-3
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