| VIRG BERNERO DEFENDS
EMPLOYEE RIGHTS
posted 4/22/05
Smoker issue puts Michigan
Senator in national spotlight
Michigan Sen.
Virg Bernero, Adrian College class of 1986, is fighting
to keep what employees do on their own time private
from their employers. Weyco Inc., a health benefits
administrator located in Okemos, Mich. adopted a policy
Jan. 1 stating that all employees had to be smoke free
or they would be subject to termination, even if they
were smoking after business hours or at home.
The company
says the policy was put into place to promote healthier
lifestyles and save the company money on employee health
care coverage. Sen. Bernero is speaking out against
this policy that infringes on a person’s private
life, for the sake of cost. It is his belief that the
rights of employees should be upheld and what they do
on their own time should not be any business of the
companies. If government allows this policy what other
rights will employers interfere with?
Traveling across the country for interviews
with several media companies, the story has been picked
up by every major TV network and newspaper. The Senator
from the Lansing district participated in a simultaneous
broadcast that topped the ratings chart. He appeared
on the “Today" show (NBC), “Good Morning
America” (ABC), and “The Early Show”
(CBS) all at the same time and had more than 10 million
viewers before 8 a.m. He has appeared on Fox’s
“On the Record” with Gretta VanSusteren,
and “Dayside” with Linda Vester. He was
on ABC’s “World News Tonight,” “20/20,”
and “News Now.” The story aired on “Currently
Speaking” on PBS, “Off the Record with Tim
Skubick” on Michigan Public TV, and “It’s
Your Call with Lynn Doyle,” which is a Comcast
show aired out of Philadelphia. It is scheduled to be
aired on the “Larry Elder Show” on CBS.
Sen. Bernero is also scheduled to
appear on “The Daily Show” with John Stewart,
a Comedy Central mock news program, to talk about the
smoking policy and why he thinks it is wrong. The Senator
was interviewed on the “Bloomberg News”
show, a syndicated broadcast aired on radio stations
across the country. Locally, the Senator appeared on
Michigan Talk Radio in Lansing, and WJR radio out of
Detroit.
Internationally the story was picked
up by the BBC television network and broadcast to several
countries. It was aired on the German Television Network,
and was picked up internationally on the radio for the
BBC Radio Network, which aired it over 100 countries.
The story has been on the air waves
from Lansing to foreign countries afar. Michigan Talk
Radio Network in Lansing aired it, as did WJR out of
Detroit.
Story
by Steve Slocum '06
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