Scotts Miracle Gro to Fire Smokers, but sells Leukemia causing Chemicals

[ecoalex]

Scotts Miracle Gro is planning to fire it's workers that smoke, this is ridiculas, as they are exposed, to cancer causing chemicals at their jobs, and some Scotts products cause Leukemia, especially childhood leukemia from their lawn herbicides and fungicides appplied to lawns. This is the Apex of Hipocracy.Write Scotts, and tell them to clean up their act before forcing their workers to clean up theirs.

http://www.scotts.com/

[MindPilot]

1. Holy annoyance Batman!! Scotts hires "D2D" sales reps!!

I didn't see anything on their site about firing smokers, but this alone is enough to make me never buy a Scotts product again.


Door to Door Sales Representative – 003371

Job Description
Scotts LawnService (SLS), a division of The Scotts Company, LLC, is the world's leading supplier and marketer of consumer products for do-it-yourself lawn and garden care, with a full range of products for horticulture as well. Our products are No. 1 in every major category and in virtually every major country in which we compete. We are close to $2 billion in revenue, within a $5.8 billion global consumer lawn and garden market. Our leading brands in the U.S. include Scotts, Miracle-Gro and Ortho. We are also the exclusive marketers for the consumer Roundup brand, which is owned by Monsanto. Our leading brands abroad include Weedol, Evergreen, Levington, KB, Fertiligene, Nexa Lotte, Celafor, and Substral.


A significant portion of our near term growth will be fueled by our Scotts LawnService division, our entry into the $3.6 billion "do-it-for-me" lawn care market. Originally founded in 1997, SLS has rapidly established a 4 percent market share, representing the No. 2 position within this highly fragmented market.

Fueled by over 70 acquisitions since our inception, we now have 70 + company-owned service locations and 70+ franchise service locations across the United States, servicing over 300,000 customers. Our company owned locations employ nearly 1,400 associates.

The Primary responsibility of this position is selling in a neighborhood environment. Sales activity is driven by knocking on residential homeowner’s door’s and engaging the home owner in a sales conversation.

Responsibilities:

· Knock on a minimum number of doors on a daily basis to meet or exceed daily and weekly sales goals assigned.

· After obtaining consent, accurately measure homeowners’ lawns and provide to each prospect a professional, individualized lawn analysis and program sales recommendation, including extra services.

· Accurately complete all required paperwork. Leave behind approved Scotts LawnService sales and marketing literature.

· Make follow-up phone calls, as requested by prospective customer, on a daily basis.

· D2D sales rep must be able to consistently hit or exceed their sales goals. Consistency in performance is important.


Qualifications

Minimum Requirements

· Education: High School graduate; Associates or Bachelor’s Degree in agronomics or business preferred.

Skills and Abilities:

Strong verbal and written communication skills including correct use of grammar.
Ability to contact customers by phone and use selling techniques to make lawn service sales.
Able and willing to work outside in a variety of weather conditions (cold, hot, wet, etc.).
Must have valid driver’s license to operate motor vehicle on behalf of the company. Must be able to insured by Scotts in accordance with Vehicle Safety Policy.
Must be able to write and speak English fluently.
Able to work in a results-oriented and high-pressure work environment.

[napi21]

3. Here's a link.

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/12/10/build/business/52-miracle-gro.inc

December 10, 2005

Last modified December 10, 2005 - 1:38 am



Scotts Miracle-Gro plan to fire smokers

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Beginning next October, smoking will be significantly more expensive for employees of Scotts Miracle-Gro Co.


Lighting up, even at home, will cost them their jobs.


Many other companies also are focusing on smokers, whether by raising their health-insurance premiums or not hiring them.


Scotts took dramatic action because it wants to hold down health-insurance costs by "helping people live healthy lifestyles," said James Hagedorn, chairman and chief executive.

[napi21]

2. This is a dumb idea, IMO. I know their reason is to reduce their

health care costs, but I watched an interview with the President of the first Company that did this same thing. He was asked, since his program was about a year old, has it proven to reduce his costs. He said NO, but maybe it's too soon to tell!

It's argueably acceptable for an employer to restrict smoking in the workplace, but I really think it's unconstitutional for an employer to be able to control what an employee does at home or one their own time!

Things like piloting a private plane, sky diving, rapelling, etc, all are unnecessary risks where injuries can cause the employer's health care costs to increase, but do they forbid those activities too?

[tyedyeto]

5. Do you believe that when employers drug test?

It's argueably acceptable for an employer to restrict smoking in the workplace, but I really think it's unconstitutional for an employer to be able to control what an employee does at home or one their own time!

The tests for drugs are NOT about 'are you high right now' but about what a person does on his or her own private time off the job.

[napi21]

6. I understand that drug testing is done to prevent future OTJ injuries

due to a worker coming to work under the influence. If I am wrong, then I do feel the same way about drug testing. If it's being done to control private behavior, it shouldn't be done!

[tyedyeto]

8. Many drugs can stay in your body for days, weeks, even months

When an employer has you take a random drug test ... what you did on that fun-filled weekend three weeks ago can get you fired, a severe cut in pay or suspended until you are clean. These tests do not say 'you are high right now', they are trying to modify your behavior away from the workplace.

[napi21]

11. I see your point, and I agree, BUT there is ONE difference.

Wether you agree with it or not, the drugs you are talking about, the ones they usuually test for, are illegal! Smoking is NOT! At least not yet!

I personally only smoked MJ once, a very long time ago. I didn't feel ANY reaction, and since, have thought it's a dumb chance to take with little to no benefit. Obviously, it affects some others differently, but for me, I'll stick to beer.

[pop goes the weasel]

10. drug testing is to intimidate workers

If drug testing was restricted to workers operating heavy equipment, there might be some basis to what you think is the reason for it. But it isn't. Every employer comes up with a reason that their employees should be drug-tested: drug users will steal money, drug users will commit illegal acts on corporate property, drug users will be less productive, etc. Really, do you care if the mall security guard smokes weed at parties? That your shoe salesman is addicted to heroin? That the assembly line worker uses nicotine? If their private life interferes with their job performance, fire them because their job performance is poor. Drug users (smokers and drinkers, too) should have the right to earn a legal living. As long as they aren't doing it on the job, and their performance on the job is not affected, it is not the employer's business.

This is completely class-based. Do you think that the CEO of Scott's Miracle Grow will be peeing in a cup on demand? This is the sort of corporate fascism Henry Ford pioneered in the 1920s, only this time there's not even a carrot offered along with the stick.

What next? Employees who don't get 8 hours sleep each night might cause problems too. Will you support employer-enforced wearable monitors to count sleep hours? People with bad dietary habits have more health problems than those who eat healthily. How about firing anyone whose blood shows they've been patronizing fast food outlets? Where does it end?

[napi21]

12. That's why I posted "This needs to go through the courts!"

For what it's worth, the company where I worked drug tested EVERYBODY! That included every officer all the way through to the janitor. I don't know about Scotts!

[pop goes the weasel]

13. I guess I don't believe it

I can believe that they said they tested everyone, and that you believe what you were told, but I don't believe that they did--it's just so different from my experience. And if they did, and the CEO or board members turned up positive, were they thrown out on their keisters with the equivalent of 2 weeks severence and blacklisted from future employment?

(I agree with you that this particular case should go through the courts. But it would be even better if Congress would act to protect people's privacy).

[jmowreader]

15. I care if the security guard is a crackhead

The only reason that I would care if my security guards did pot, LSD or heroin is that they're currently illegal. You've got way too much of a chance of blackmail there: "Hey, man, I know you shoot up, and if you don't want me to drop a dime on you, just look the other way when you see me in your store..." The nice thing about heroin is it's long-lasting in the body--shoot up in the morning, and you're good until at least quitting time.

Cocaine and its derivatives are a different story--because they don't last in the body very long, you need to take cocaine frequently, which means you need a lot of it...and it's expensive. Hmm...didn't the dealer say he really liked Rocawear jackets like we've got on that display?

[pop goes the weasel]

17. theft or abetting theft is reason enough

Firing someone because they are blackmailable? That's the excuse that has historically been used to fire gays. Why not fire any workers who have ever posed naked? How about checking on the fidelity of married workers--wouldn't want someone blackmailing them with incriminating evidence either.

How well a person does their job should be the only criteria for hiring or firing.

[jmowreader]

18. You ever seen a crackhead work?

At another place I worked, we hired a company to do "weekly maintenance" on our heating system. All they had to do was go around the building once a week and change all of the air filters; if the system broke, we went to a heating & air company that used us for their printing.

I told the boss that he should just buy a few cases of filters and we'd change them ourselves but noooooo...one of his drinking buddies ran the weekly maintenance company, and he wanted to make sure his drinking buddies were taken care of. (This is the same man who hired his mistress to set type for him; the first thing they had to do with her was send her to Fayetteville Tech to take a basic typing course.)

His drinking buddy liked to hire drunks and crackheads. Oh. My. God. these people were fucking USELESS!!! They'd come in the building blitzed, they'd put the fucking filters in backwards (we used the frameless blue & white ones--you install them so the blue side is toward the room), they fell off ladders on a regular basis. We had to buy the filters for them to install. I got a real good deal on 48-inch-square filter media. The grilles they went in were 24 inches square. Most people wouldn't have trouble with this--take the four-foot filter, cut it into four pieces and install one piece in the grille. Not this idiot--he FOLDED the fucking filter, stuffed it into the grille and stuck the grille back into the ceiling. Of COURSE the filter popped out of the grille, but no matter, he just kept right on to the next one.

Worst part: the fuckers would go out next to the flammables storage building, or out in front of the shop, and smoke crack. We were about two blocks from Fayetteville police headquarters and cops drove by us all the time. Sometimes, if it was raining, they'd go INTO the flammables building to have their crack breaks. Good thing the flammables building was 20 feet from the main building, huh?

The straw that broke the camel's back was when one of these crackhead morons fell off a ladder and landed on a 21-inch computer monitor. Just broke it to shit, man, it wasn't pretty. While he was falling, he grabbed the only thing he could find to use as a handrail--the Scitex Fiber Link cable--and destroyed it. Since this part never goes bad, it is not stocked in the United States; they had to fly one in from Herzlia, Israel. Free shipping but the SFL cable itself is around $800. So we called the ambulance to get this guy hauled up to the emergency room, called Scitex to get the new cable and the new $600 SFL board for the plotter (the incident sheared off both of the SFL jacks on the card), called MacWarehouse to get a new screen, then dropped the broken monitor on my boss's desk and notified him that either the agreement with this maintenance company ended, right now, or I was calling fucking OSHA. (If OSHA wants to pick up a quick $20,000 with almost no effort expended, all they need to do is inspect a printing plant. Every one of them is full of violations.)

So no. I am not going with that "how well a person does his job" shit when I'm dealing with a crack user. Once bitten, twice shy and I was bitten to the tune of $1700 out of my department's budget and two days' downtime thanks to this shit. Fuck it, man. If you've ever used crack, you're never working for me. I got no tolerance for it.

[pop goes the weasel]

21. obviously

Obviously those crackheads couldn't do the job they were hired to do, and I don't suppose they were even qualified to do it. They should have been fired for incompetence. The problem at that company was the boss. Wasn't he the person who decided to set up his hiring criteria on the basis of the good old boy system? Long before crack existed, the good old boy system was putting incompetents into jobs they had no business holding.

I know of a teacher who snorted coke, even in the classroom. I didn't find out about this until long after my daughter was in that class. Why didn't she or any of her fellow students rat this guy out? Because he was the only competent teacher they had at that urban warehouse for teenagers. He actually had lesson plans and put in extra time at the end of the day to help struggling students. He had a thorough knowledge of available social services and got students into programs that they hadn't known existed.

Hire and fire people based on competence and merit, not on proxies for competence and merit.

[seabeyond]

19. some times, in order to protect civil rights, you might have to be

a little scared. you find something to be afraid of in order to justify breaking civil rights. the odds of anything happening to you with a security guard on crack is waaaaay out there. yet for the waaaay out there you are willing ot break civil rights. well, anothe not as waaaay out there. what about the security guard that is power obsessed, or just came back from iraq and waaaay out there.... no testing on that guard is going to prevent him from getting a job and more likely to abuse his power

i am saying, because of a scenerio of what might happen, regardless the odds, out of fear, you are willing to give up our rights. in order to protect our civil rights, it may require we be a little brave, and willing to accept a little fear of the waaay out possiblitiy the guy may be on crack????? not like i am hearing a consistant problem here with our sec guards.

then, if the guard is found to have broken the law, he goes to jail, and we still have our rights

[leesa]

4. Now don't you be encouraging any of those fired workers to file

lawsuits now.

[napi21]

7. Somebody is going to have to get this to the courts to get

a decision. The problem is, I suspect most of these workers don't have the $$ to file one and pay the attorneys. I don't know if this is a big enough case with enough publicity to get some attorney to accept it pro bono. It could go on for a long time if it gets appealed through the legal system.

[ecoalex]

9. What about exposure to cancer causing chemicals at work and on lawns?

[High Plains]

16. There's no case. This is a private employer.

Ergo, the employees have no rights. The boss can fire them because he feels like it, if he feels like it. He could fire them for wearing blue shirts if he felt like it.

Ironically, government workers have more rights when it comes to drug testing because their employer is the government, and the Fourth Amendment protects us from unreasonable, unwarranted searches by the government. The Fourth Amendment doesn't apply to private employers.

[Little Star]

14. Slippery Slope

pretty soon workers will have no rights. Arnold is already trying to change lunch break laws in California. Give them an inch they take a mile. I am against any loss of rights or freedoms even if I hate that freedom when used by others.
I said slippery slope when they made adults buckle up. That was great for the insurance companies so as not to pay out if you are unbuckled. It was great for law enforcement, towns and states for the revenue. It was horrible for us. We lost one more freedom. Sometimes I think we as a society like to be babysat or we like to feel superior. Like, I am great because I blah,blah and you are not great because you don't blah,blah.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

20. Workers that smoke during work time or workers that smoke period? -nt