Wisconsin NORML's sponsoring some WalMart protests this weekend. Pretty good idea. I'm always looking for creative reasons to get together and rally. I think all of us want to make more noise. There are so many people who want to do things to help get pot legalized. DFWNORML is lucky to have so many interested members! So, I'm always watching what other NORMLs do, and I like this one because what WalMart did was crappy & they really ought to be called into account for it by the general public.

I've known a lot of people who've worked at Walmart throughout the decades & I've seen and heard this: WalMart provides insurance, but if you use it in a major way, they fire you. I've seen this happen to more than one person, but in particular, a co-worker's wife worked there as a cashier for many years. Her husband took sick with something and did not get better, ever. He was on her insurance policy. After about 9 months of his high doctor bills, she got fired. Coincidence? Doubt it. Who wants to fire someone in that kind of a situation?

Sam Walton doesn't run the company any more. His kids do. They never had to work for anybody. They don't have the same passion that Sam had.

when i saw the video of that guy that got fired from walmart i was enraged and printed off 100 of our flyers and went to walmart and spred them all over the store and i will hit anther walmart today.

Medical marijuana firing debated

http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20100328/NEWS01/3280325/Medic...

Local companies are scrambling to decide what they would do if an employee was using marijuana for medical reasons.

Interest in company drug policies spiked after a Battle Creek area man said recently he was fired from Walmart on B Drive North after a routine drug test confirmed he had used marijuana.

Joseph Casias, 29, has a state license to grow, carry and use marijuana because he has sinus cancer and a brain tumor. The store fired him in November anyway. Casias did not return requests for comment.

Michigan voters in 2008 made marijuana use legal for patients with certain medical illnesses, including cancer, Hepatitis C, Alzheimer's disease, HIV and AIDS. The law does not protect people who use it at work, explained Greg Francisco, executive director of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association.

"The law is very clear that employees cannot be intoxicated or use marijuana on the job, and nobody is saying anyone has the right to use marijuana on the job," he said. "At the same time, we would hope employers would have a sense of decency."
Francisco said Casias showed no signs of abusing the drug and he should have been treated like any other employee using a prescription painkiller or antidepressant to treat an illness.

"The man has terminal cancer," he said. "Why would Walmart want to add to that aggravation or stress?"
Walmart no longer is contesting Casias' claim for unemployment, a company spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday.

"This is just an unfortunate situation all around. We are sympathetic to Mr. Casias' condition but, like other companies, we have to consider the overall safety of our customers and associates, including Mr. Casias, when making a difficult decision like this," the company said in a written statement.

Area managers are anxious about confronting a similar medical marijuana scenario, said Dan Fry, marketing manager with HelpNet, an employer relations assistance program supported by Battle Creek Health System. Most companies and employees will need to examine their drug policies for guidance or face legal consequences.

"A drug is a drug is a drug," he said. "It's probably no different than employees who are using prescription drugs. ... Is this person fit to do his or her job, yes or no?"

Earlier this month, I.I. Stanley Co. Inc. instituted a new method in which it tested all employees and associates for drugs on the same day without warning. The more rigorous policy included, for the first time, its Japanese associates, said Greg Bond, section manager for human resources.

I.I. Stanley produces automotive lighting and electronics in the Fort Custer Industrial Park at 1500 Hill Brady Road. Its workers do not have a union to negotiate the company's drug testing policies.

Bond said previous attempts to randomly screen for drug use seemed to create strife among employees.

"Some people got picked multiple times," he said, while others suspected of using drugs never seemed to get picked.

I.I. Stanley gave employees the option of quitting rather than take the test, Bond said. Nine of its 570 workers made that choice.

"We wanted to make this easy for people," he said. "If you think you have a problem and you don't want it on your record; if we fire you for drug use that can follow you for the rest of your life."

Of the employees who submitted to the urine screening, 17 showed illicit drugs in their systems, he said.

All of the 17 workers had used marijuana. None had medical marijuana registry cards and all were fired, though they have the option to appeal, he said. Employees who had other narcotics in their urine were asked to show a prescription to justify its use.

Bond said I.I. Stanley is committed to being a drug-free workplace to ensure the safety of its workers and quality of its products.

"Technically, our drug policy is zero tolerance," he said. "If you use drugs you can't work here."

But he was unsure how I.I Stanley would have dealt with an employee with marijuana in his system had he been licensed to use it.

"I think it will come down to: you can't be under the influence at work," he said. "The problem that you run into is, I don't believe there is a test out there that says you are under the influence now."

Union employees at Battle Creek's Kellogg Co. do not currently submit to routine drug testing, except when they are hired into the company or after returning from substance abuse treatment, said Rocky Marsh, president and business agent of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union, Local 3-G.

Marsh said the union will renegotiate the terms of its supplemental agreement for Battle Creek cereal workers before the current one expires April 3, 2011. He hopes to add language to the agreement that addresses medical use of marijuana.

"We're going to recommend that same procedure that's in place now, but with new people coming in, because of the law, we would like Kellogg to consider that particular qualifying patient as being still eligible to work," he said.

http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20100328/NEWS01/3280325/Medic...