Clearing The Air

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

As activists continue trying to claim smoking bans do not harm jobs, a 495 employee factory announces its closing due to smoking bans

Lately there's been alot of media coverage about a "new study" by U of M / OSU student Liz Klein which "finds" that smoking bans do not harm jobs, however, we've thoroughly debunked that 2003-2006 "study" here:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2009/05/clearway-minnesota-funds-new-study-to.html

Well, we hate to let more facts get in the way of the lies being told by Nicoderm special interests such as RWJF. But here's a newspaper report about a factory closing which is a direct result of the rent seeking legislation (smoking bans).

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/jun/23/231900/hav--tampa-cigars-closing-tampa-plant/news-metro/

Excerpts:

Updated: 06/23/2009 07:00 pm

TAMPA - Tampa will lose part of its cigar heritage in August when Hav-A-Tampa shuts its factory near Seffner and lays off about 495 employees, closing a factory that has been operating since 1902......Employees on Tuesday were digesting how they would find work in an economy where more than one in 10 people in the area already are unemployed.....Several things conspired to hurt Altadis' sales, said Richard McKenzie, a senior vice president of human resources for Altadis USA, which owns Hav-A-Tampa., including.....indoor smoking bans. The bans have especially hurt sales in cold-weather states, where it's impractical to smoke a cigar outdoors in the winter, he said.

The full impact of job losses due to smoking bans exceeds several hundred thousand, which of course doesn't take into account the indirect support jobs.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2009/03/worldwide-economic-meltdown-and.html

The facts are clear, smoking bans have destroyed a significant number of jobs, decimated our economy and continue to do so today and well into the future.

It's time to hold those responsible for these needless laws accountable to provide compensation to those whose jobs were eliminated simply so RWJF / J & J could increase profits and sales of Nicoderm, Nicotrol, Nicorette, Commit, etc.