Anybody catch this Chrysler story?

We have a 'tap on the shoulder' routine for spot drugtests. One of the tapees refused the test and was terminated on the spot. As in, "Let's go get your stuff out of the locker and walk you out the gate, okay? And oh by the way, your cardkey will be cancelled as soon as you badge out." This was about 0800 (the local clinic opens at 0800) when his day had started at 0700 and was due to finish at 1730. I don't know of any other refusals, but I do know of several that failed the random tap. A couple guys have tested 'way positive for booze, and spent a couple un-compensated days at home, called a 'decision-making leave', before deciding on rehab instead of job loss. That's the alternative with the 'decision-making leave'...you 'decide' on rehab, or no job. In our case, that's about a $70K per year decision. Tough love, maybe. But in the industry I'm in (coal fired steam electric generation plant), there's little room for error, and no tolerance for drug induced screwups. None. And I happen to agree with it. I don't want a co-worker hung over or actively loaded, working where it'll affect me. But that's just me, I'm sure.

I guess you gotta be razor sharp to do you're one meanial task over and over for 8 or 10 hours, eh?

(and I dont smoke, drink and havent done any drugs)

I personally got the Obama connection. Didnt look at all like they were making it his fault, I think people see things in Fox News that they want to see....

racinginc215 wrote: Wow he caught 15 out of 73,000 nothing like making up the news. I guess now that Kwame is in jail, Wolcheck has to justify HIS job somehow and making up your own story is a decent way.

This is what passes for news these days. There was just a story in the news here that in a year 170 bus drivers were caught using a cell phone while driving. Out of about 8000 over the course of a year. Watchout for those mad men always on the phone running people down

It's typical sensationalism. Yes drinking on company time is wrong if it's against the rules (assuming it is). Weed is illegal so that's bad. But when I worked at Detroit Diesel they guys would take that 30 minute break and stretch it to an hour or more. These guys left on time and were back on time. I dont condone their actions at all but what the heck?

BobOfTheFuture wrote: I personally got the Obama connection. Didnt look at all like they were making it his fault, I think people see things in Fox News that they want to see....

maybe.. but there was no reason to preface the entire article with a 1 or 2 minute spotlight on obama.. like him or not, we do not need the politics in an article like that.

I thought the whole point of showing Obama visiting the plant was to show that the workers should be overjoyed they got a bailout allowing them to continue to have a job and that they should be busting their butts to make the best vehicles they can so that they can survive as a company and pay back the American people. It was not blaming Obama for this.

While I think the beer part is getting blown out of proportion (40oz of beer in a half hour won't put a 200 pound man close to the legal limit according to this site: http://www.alcoholhelpcenter.net/Program/BAC_Standalone.aspx ), I think the autoworkers brought this on themselves by being so brazen about it, and by smoking weed. At one auto supplier I used to work for, you could get wine in the cafeteria at our plant in France and we had no issues with quality or safety. I've heard, though I've never been, that auto plants in Germany have beer in their cafeterias. What's wrong with these guys having a quick beer on lunch? I've done it before, and I'm sure many others have too. Why are North Americans so hung up on alcohol?

I also find it hilarious how self righteous the newscasters are being about this, acting like this is isolated to blue collar workers. Bill Bonds, one of the most revered and respected news anchors in Detroit was known to show up to work drunk quite often. Hell, he even tried to fight then mayor Coleman Young during one of his drunken interviews.

These workers were dumb for making it so easy to get caught, and if they violated company policy, which I'm assuming they did, they deserve to be disciplined, I'm just not sure firing is the correct discipline.

Bob

Schmidlap wrote: I think the autoworkers brought this on themselves by being so brazen about it, and by smoking weed.

Exactly. These guys are not drinking a 40oz and smoking a joint in a 30 minute period (probably even less when you subtract transit time) because they enjoy the taste. They are doing it to get the maximum effect in the shortest time frame.

Schmidlap wrote: I thought the whole point of showing Obama visiting the plant was to show that the workers should be overjoyed they got a bailout allowing them to continue to have a job and that they should be busting their butts to make the best vehicles they can so that they can survive as a company and pay back the American people. It was not blaming Obama for this.

This........

The President and Congress spent billions of taxpayer dollars to save the jobs of these people. A majority of taxpayers are outraged at the expense and acts like this only solidify their feelings.

Linking the intent of the report to "bias" is plain, effing stoopid.

remember the stories of finding beer cans in Cadillacs? I goes some things never change.

In reply to DrBoost:

I get to work at 7:15 AM and leave at 5:00 PM. I get no breaks and no lunch our. I have to run to the cafeteria or to the shop across the street to pick up lunch and eat at my desk on a busy trading floor.

I know some will say that I am not being truthful, that everyone gets breaks and a lunch hour, but that is not so.

No sympathy for those who need a drink during there oh so strenuous day. Suck it up and do your job.

Moparman wrote: No sympathy for those who need a drink during there oh so strenuous day. Suck it up and do your job.

Indeezy....

I eat lunch at my desk and work from 7-6 every day... When I worked on the shop floor, I supervised 30+ union guys and worked 6-6 and most weekends.. Not easy working in corp and clawing your way up the ladder.

DrBoost wrote: It's typical sensationalism. Yes drinking on company time is wrong if it's against the rules (assuming it is). Weed is illegal so that's bad. But when I worked at Detroit Diesel they guys would take that 30 minute break and stretch it to an hour or more. These guys left on time and were back on time. I dont condone their actions at all but what the heck?

Ur joking right? Please tell us you are joking.

oldsaw wrote:

Schmidlap wrote: I thought the whole point of showing Obama visiting the plant was to show that the workers should be overjoyed they got a bailout allowing them to continue to have a job and that they should be busting their butts to make the best vehicles they can so that they can survive as a company and pay back the American people. It was not blaming Obama for this.

This........ The President and Congress spent billions of taxpayer dollars to save the jobs of these people. A majority of taxpayers are outraged at the expense and acts like this only solidify their feelings. Linking the intent of the report to "bias" is plain, effing stoopid.

Exactly. The poster who said F U Fox is probably some kid who has been brainwashed by his buddies and the media to bash Fox, its the cool thing to do ya know? Can you imagine if Bush was our Prez and had visited the plant... can you imagine what MSNBC would do with this....speaking of MSNBC, are they even reporting the story?

Moparman wrote: In reply to DrBoost: I get to work at 7:15 AM and leave at 5:00 PM. I get no breaks and no lunch our. I have to run to the cafeteria or to the shop across the street to pick up lunch and eat at my desk on a busy trading floor. I know some will say that I am not being truthful, that everyone gets breaks and a lunch hour, but that is not so. No sympathy for those who need a drink during there oh so strenuous day. Suck it up and do your job.

By law you are supposed to get a lunch time, and in some cases minimum breaks. If your company policy doesn't say you can't drink during working hours (I've NEVER had a job that prohibited it) then the drinking on the 30 minute lunch isn't wrong. I wouldn't do it and I'm not sure it's wise but it's not wrong. Smoking wacky-weed is a whole 'nother story. I'm sure that's against the rules and I'd guess it's grounds for dismissal. In that case they get what they have coming to them. But I'd going to bet this happens in every plant in this country and that Wolcheck has had a drinkey on the job as well. But, that being said, they are UAW workers. They could have been caught hiding Kilpatrick's dead stripper in the trunk while doing a line of cocaine off of a burning Koran while hiding Talaban fighters in the basement and they the worst thing that would happen is they'd get a few paid days off.

plance1 wrote:

DrBoost wrote: It's typical sensationalism. Yes drinking on company time is wrong if it's against the rules (assuming it is). Weed is illegal so that's bad. But when I worked at Detroit Diesel they guys would take that 30 minute break and stretch it to an hour or more. These guys left on time and were back on time. I dont condone their actions at all but what the heck?

Ur joking right? Please tell us you are joking.

Uh, no. Joking about what? This being typical sensationalism? Cummon man, they stretch a 60 second weather report into 6 2-minute segments. Joking about the drinking on the job? Not joking there either. If it's against the rules that's wrong. If it's not then how is it wrong? They left company grounds while the company was paying them, is that wrong too? It's not in the rules? Joking about the crap the UAW loosers pulled while I worked at DD? No, and the waaay extended breaks and coming back drunk and high are just the beginning. And yes I was actually surprised they left on time and came back on time.

plance1 wrote: Exactly. The poster who said F U Fox is probably some kid who has been brainwashed by his buddies and the media to bash Fox, its the cool thing to do ya know? Can you imagine if Bush was our Prez and had visited the plant... can you imagine what MSNBC would do with this....speaking of MSNBC, are they even reporting the story?

I don't know, but you should know that the whole story originated with an investigative report by Rob Wolcheck, who is a reporter for Fox 2 Detroit. So it makes sense that the larger Fox organization would run with it. I haven't seen any of the national coverage, but the way it was presented locally was "These guys got bailed out, the President even visited their plant, and now look at what they are doing." Certainly not a shot at Obama the way they presented it.

It may not be against Chrysler's rules for these guys to drink and drive and smoke weed on their time, but it is against the law.

BTW, the fact that everyone in this thread works 22 hours a day without so much as a bathroom break while being whipped by their boss the whole time isn't really relevant to the topic of the thread.....

I would be surprised if the guys in the story got off with a slap on the wrist. I would guess there were a number of drug tests the day after the story ran and most places even with a union are tough to stay after a failed test. If our guys fail they at best lose about 6 months pay but many don't make it through the rehab program that is designed to make you fail so you can be fired.

What I find funny is that at lunch time every bar I pass is filled with suits, and most tables have a beer or two on them. Should I be outraged since most of them work at banks and got tax money to stay open or is it ok because they are white collar.

Wally wrote: What I find funny is that at lunch time every bar I pass is filled with suits, and most tables have a beer or two on them. Should I be outraged since most of them work at banks and got tax money to stay open or is it ok because they are white collar.

I think the main thing here is not that they are drinking. As you stated probably just as many white collar/management workers do the very same thing. I am sure drinking is rampant in the job force. The problem is these guys go back and drive Hilos, work around machinery and supposedly should dispaly a least a fair amount of precision when doing there job. Would you want to buy a $40K vehicle assembled by drunk workers? Probably not. Does this mean they are impaired and can't do a good job? Also probably not.. Bottom line. Certain jobs like surgeons and pilots, air traffic controllers, bus drivers etc. and yes people that assemble expensive vehicles, that by the way potentially put others at risk who drive them , have more at risk than a banker who sits his fat ass down in front of a computer.

It would also be interetsing to know if the transplants, Honda. Toyota, BMW, Nissan etc. assembly plants in this country has this type of thing happen. Anybody out there work at any of these plants? If so, chime in.

that is a good question. Is it a big 3 cultural thing.. Or does it happen all over. I am betting on the latter

mad_machine wrote: that is a good question. Is it a big 3 cultural thing.. Or does it happen all over. I am betting on the latter

Alcoholics and drug addicts don't just work on assembly lines, this sort of thing happens all over.

stuart in mn wrote: Alcoholics and drug addicts don't just work on assembly lines, this sort of thing happens all over.

Very true, but not all alcoholics and drug addicts have jobs that were saved by the forced-infusion of billions of public dollars.

If someone gives you a second chance and you screw-up, one person has a right to be PO'd. If you get a second chance from millions of people who didn't have a choice and (then) screw-up, don't be surprised when someone wants your gear hangin' off his/her hitch.

Just sayin'......

By no means am I excusing them. The question was, "does this happen all over" and I answered that.

I'm not making excuses, but there's going to be some of those kind of people at every company.

Oh, and the President has nothing to do with it. You could've hidden the Fox News banner and I still would've been able to tell it was them by the freaking retarded voice-overs.

At my company, if you are involved in an accident are injured you are instantly sent to medical. If you refuse to submit to a company medical exam, at any point, you are fired on the spot. Fail the drug test, you are fired on the spot.

smoke on campus and you're also fired on the spot.

White collar, purple collar, black collar, whatever collar....

btw. Fox news is crap.