By Phoebe K. Helm, Chair
American Cancer Society Chicago
Community Leadership Board
Soon the Chicago City Council will consider whether or not we join other enlightened cities and go smoke free in our bars and restaurants, or do we continue to turn our heads and pretend that we do not know that working eight hours in a smoking environment is equivalent to smoking 16 cigarettes. To me this issue is not about your right, or mine, to smoke. It is about the workers' rights. Employees in our restaurants and bars have a right to a safe workplace; however, they were exempted from the Illinois Clean Air Act. Why? Because of the lobbying efforts of the tobacco industry and the hospitality industry. And now those same groups are lobbying the City Council and the Mayor.
What are their arguments?
Employees have a choice—they can work elsewhere. Can they? Are jobs that plentiful, especially in this economy? Should these employees have to choose between their safety and their job? Should those of us with good health benefits be protected by the Illinois Clean Indoor Air Act and those hourly workers without such good health benefits be unprotected?
Allow restaurants and bars to install exhaust systems and/or pay a higher license fee to operate. Does that make any sense? Exhaust systems can remove some of the odor, but they have little impact on the toxins in the air. A higher license—is this about money or health? Can you or I pay a fee to serve unsafe food or to use a cell phone while driving? Of course not!
Restaurants, bars and the City would lose money. Is that true? Do folks visit Chicago or go out to eat or drink to smoke? Of course not! In fact our research indicates that Chicagoans would eat out the same amount or more often if we were Smoke Free. And, for example, I would be able to go to the Green Mill to hear some of my favorite entertainers.
New York City did not lose money when it went Smoke Free. In fact, the number of restaurants and bars and the number of hospitality industry jobs increased after the Smoke Free Ordinance was implemented. Additionally, the whole State of New York followed the City's lead and went Smoke Free. We believe that will happen in Illinois too.
As one resident of the Lake View community who recently moved here from New York said, "Yes, there was grousing [in New York] initially—just as there was with the airlines when they went Smoke Free. But now, no one expects to smoke on an airline and no one in New York expects to smoke in a bar or restaurant. And frankly, Chicago needs to 'just do it.'" Smoking stinks. No one likes it in his hair or on his clothes, little alone in his lungs!
Owners and managers of bars and restaurants that have gone Smoke Free report a positive economic impact from improved productivity and from decreased costs associated with insurance and lost time from work due to illness. So, let's just do it! Let's stand up for health and for the rights of all workers. Call your alderman. Let him or her know that you want a Smoke Free Chicago. Thank them for their support of Smoke Free workplaces for all employees!
|
