A decade of work on organized labor and tobacco control: reflections on research and coalition building in the United States.

Labor unions can and should make strong allies in tobacco control efforts. Through much of the 1980s and 1990s, however, the organized labor and tobacco control communities rarely formed coalitions to achieve mutual gains. Recently, labor unions and tobacco control organizations have begun to work together on smoking cessation programs, smoke-free worksite policies, and increased insurance coverage for cessation treatments. This paper explores the historic and present-day intersections among organized labor and tobacco control advocates. We summarize research in this area and report on our recent programmatic efforts to promote collaboration between the labor and tobacco control communities. We discuss lessons learned with the aims of promoting deeper understanding among tobacco control and labor advocates of how each views tobacco control issues, and most importantly, stimulating further collaboration toward mutual gains in protecting workers' health.

Reducing occupation-based disparities related to tobacco: roles for occupational health and organized labor.

BACKGROUND: Persistent and growing occupation-based disparities related to tobacco pose a serious public health challenge. Tobacco exacts a disproportionate toll on individuals employed in working class occupations, due to higher prevalence of smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke among these workers compared to others. METHODS: We provide an overview of recent advances that may help to reduce these disparities, including research findings on a successful social contextual intervention model that integrates smoking cessation and occupational health and safety, and a new national effort to link labor unions and tobacco control organizations around their shared interest in reducing tobacco's threat to workers' health. CONCLUSIONS: Implications of these efforts for future research and action are discussed.