Give Up Smoking or Your Jobs, Firm Tells Workers in 10 Plants

Hundreds of employees at USG Acoustical Products’ 10 plants in seven states were told Monday to stop smoking or lose their jobs.

The company said it would help smokers pay for assistance in kicking the habit. It made the New Year’s resolution for its workers in the interest of their health, said Paul Colitti, public relations director.

“It’s an across-the-board thing, applying to workers and management,” Colitti said in an interview from his Chicago office. “We already have a good safety record, so it is not being done to cut our insurance costs. It was a decision we’ve been thinking about, to help make everyone healthier. It is not a smoking ban. It is a ban on smokers, companywide.”

USG Acoustical, a division of USG Corp., with corporate headquarters in Chicago, manufactures thermal insulation and acoustical ceiling tiles. It has plants in Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, Mississippi, Alabama, Washington and Texas, and employs about 1,300 people.

The company has enlisted the help of Smoke Enders, a national organization that counsels those addicted to nicotine.

“We’re picking up the cost of that, and if an employee wants to use a private organization or psychologist, we’ll reimburse them for that up to the cost of what their fee would be for Smoke Enders,” Colitti said.

“The reaction has been positive, although no one is really overjoyed about being forced to change their life style,” he said.

USG employees were given the time it takes to complete one Smoke Enders clinic to kick the habit, plus an additional grace period of about one week, Colitti said.

“Then we administer a pulmonary function test that measures lung capacity, among other things. We’ll know then if they are still smoking. If they are, we’ll have no choice but to let them go,” he said.