Chrysler said it has suspended some plant workers caught by a Detroit television station drinking alcohol and smoking what appeared to be marijuana during breaks.
Chrysler manufacturing chief Scott Garberding told WJBK-TV in a report that aired Wednesday night that the automaker identified some of the workers from Detroit's Jefferson North plant on tape and was pursuing the others. Garberding and other Chrysler executives came to the Fox affiliate's studio to view the footage.
Garberding told the station a few workers were suspended indefinitely without pay pending further investigation. He did not say how many.
"For us, this behavior is totally unacceptable and will be dealt with swiftly," he said. "What's difficult about this is these few people who exhibited bad behavior have painted a bad picture of what's an outstanding assembly plant filled with outstanding and committed Chrysler employees."
WJBK said it received a tip from a plant worker and followed about a dozen men for 10 days this month during their late morning, half-hour lunch break. It filmed them going to a convenience store to buy alcohol and taking it to a nearby park to drink and smoke.
The United Auto Workers said in a statement to the station that it strongly opposes the use of alcohol or controlled substances on the job.
"The employees involved in this situation do not represent the vast majority of workers at Chrysler who do a great job making high quality vehicles in some of the most productive manufacturing facilities in the United States," the union said.
President Barack Obama visited Jefferson North and other auto plants in July to argue that his administration's $60 billion bailout of Chrysler and General Motors was paying off through increased car sales and progress on battery-powered vehicles.
Chrysler said it has suspended some plant workers caught by a Detroit television station drinking alcohol and smoking what appeared to be marijuana during breaks.
Chrysler manufacturing chief Scott Garberding told WJBK-TV in a report that aired Wednesday night that the automaker identified some of the workers from Detroit's Jefferson North plant on tape and was pursuing the others. Garberding and other Chrysler executives came to the Fox affiliate's studio to view the footage.
Garberding told the station a few workers were suspended indefinitely without pay pending further investigation. He did not say how many.
"For us, this behavior is totally unacceptable and will be dealt with swiftly," he said. "What's difficult about this is these few people who exhibited bad behavior have painted a bad picture of what's an outstanding assembly plant filled with outstanding and committed Chrysler employees."
WJBK said it received a tip from a plant worker and followed about a dozen men for 10 days this month during their late morning, half-hour lunch break. It filmed them going to a convenience store to buy alcohol and taking it to a nearby park to drink and smoke.
The United Auto Workers said in a statement to the station that it strongly opposes the use of alcohol or controlled substances on the job.
"The employees involved in this situation do not represent the vast majority of workers at Chrysler who do a great job making high quality vehicles in some of the most productive manufacturing facilities in the United States," the union said.
President Barack Obama visited Jefferson North and other auto plants in July to argue that his administration's $60 billion bailout of Chrysler and General Motors was paying off through increased car sales and progress on battery-powered vehicles.
Chrysler received about $15 billion in governm
I was waiting for the part where the UAW would add it's two cents in.
I can't help but think that the only thing they're thinking about is: "Oh no... this will look bad on us and it could mean more hate towards unions and will likely lead to reduced worker dues and will mean that we'll have to give up our lavish parties in down-town DC at the Wardmen towers and we'll have to sell our yachts and luxury cars..."
Only reason they (union/management) did anything because worker got caught on TV. Union and Management both knew before. They claim innocent but they knew. Chrysler Newark plant, before it closed, as a problem too. Union And Management knew and did nothing. GM Boxwood same problem. Both have a liqueur store next to Plant... Lunch hour, shift change, etc, = rush hour at store. New owner at Boxwood plant is likely to be the same if UAW squash random drug test.
------------------ Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. (Jurassic Park)
The UAW should state that if this information is found to be true, those individuals will be fired and anyone with knowledge of this activity will be reprimanded.
Yeah... this won't happen.
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10:05 AM
jaskispyder Member
Posts: 21510 From: Northern MI Registered: Jun 2002
Hey, I just thought about this... at least they did it on break
Seriously.... these people don't know how good they have it and maybe it is time to remind the workers that they should be happy to be employed, especially in these difficult economic times.
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10:07 AM
Marvin McInnis Member
Posts: 11599 From: ~ Kansas City, USA Registered: Apr 2002
I remember a few UAW workers talking about playing cards and BBQing while at work.... I have also heard about drinking and drugs while at work. Some would also sit in the bathroom for hours. Just amazing. I am sure some of this has changed, but not all.
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10:16 AM
fierobear Member
Posts: 27079 From: Safe in the Carolinas Registered: Aug 2000
The UAW should state that if this information is found to be true, those individuals will be fired and anyone with knowledge of this activity will be reprimanded.
Yeah... this won't happen.
Don't hold your breath.
I used to be in a union, in a retail store that was a union shop. I saw TWO guys get fired for STEALING, but the union got them their jobs back.
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10:46 AM
Wichita Member
Posts: 20658 From: Wichita, Kansas Registered: Jun 2002
That's union people for ya. They are a different and worthless breed of people. I rather stick them on welfare than have them lift a finger in any company. I hope in time they die off the branch of the human evolutionary tree.
[This message has been edited by Wichita (edited 09-23-2010).]
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11:05 AM
avengador1 Member
Posts: 35467 From: Orlando, Florida Registered: Oct 2001
I have a friend who used to work for the rail road. He told me if they were caught drinking or doing drugs, by a random drug test, all they had to do is admit they had a problem and ask to be put in a program. That was a union job too and I don't think they fired too many of them, if any.
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11:09 AM
PFF
System Bot
82-T/A [At Work] Member
Posts: 22786 From: Florida USA Registered: Aug 2002
That's union people for ya. They are a differnt and worthless breed of people. I rather stick them on welfare than have them lift a finger in any company. I hope in time they die off the branch of the human evolutionary tree.
The workers aren't totally innocent, obviously, but it's the union management / mentality / policy that keeps them here.
In any other normal business situation, these workers would have been fired and replaced with younger, more eager to work employees.
These guys who were fired would then have either gone on to live their lives either learning from their experience and turned themselves around, or living their life somewhere else.
But... we HAVE TO REMEMBER that the UNION is ALSO a corporation. For every worker that's let go, that means a PAY CUT for the union corporation.
The problem is that, they don't really care about the worker... they care about making sure they get continuous income. That's all it's about.
Most of these guys will go right back to work, and the union will continue to collect dues.
In any other normal business situation, these workers would have been fired and replaced with younger, more eager to work employees.
One of the cases for unions is that lots of non-unionized businesses find ways to fire and replace workers for reasons that aren't legitimate. Some unions have gotten so powerful that they abuse it and fight for workers such as the one in this story when they shouldn't.
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11:47 AM
82-T/A [At Work] Member
Posts: 22786 From: Florida USA Registered: Aug 2002
One of the cases for unions is that lots of non-unionized businesses find ways to fire and replace workers for reasons that aren't legitimate. Some unions have gotten so powerful that they abuse it and fight for workers such as the one in this story when they shouldn't.
Not sure if you're aware of this... but if an employee works hard and is valuable... they like to keep the worker.
The rare cases in which this is not true is:
1 - The company has to restructure because it's losing money. 2 - New management comes in and wants to bring in their own people.
... and for the most part, we have laws in place (here in the US) to protect workers from firing due to disabilities and other things that are out of their control.
No matter how you slice it... the unions are a corporation. For as much as you want to defend the union, they are FAR WORSE in the exact same corruptions as you claim the companies they support are.
PLEASE REMEMBER... the UNION is a corporation. It is a FOR-PROFIT organization. They make money.
I'll repeate it again... I have TWO family members who actually work FOR the union... not represented by a union, but are actual UNION employees. One of them is a representative, and the other one is an office manager.
The benefits they get are unbelievably ridiculous. I KNOW you've heard me talk about it before, so I won't repeate them all. But these benefits they get are all at the expense of the workers (in this case, the teachers).
The union's PRIMARY goal is to make money. The SECOND goal is to take care of their own employees. The THIRD goal is to take care of the workers who pay them dues.
The workers aren't totally innocent, obviously, but it's the union management / mentality / policy that keeps them here.
In any other normal business situation, these workers would have been fired and replaced with younger, more eager to work employees.
These guys who were fired would then have either gone on to live their lives either learning from their experience and turned themselves around, or living their life somewhere else.
But... we HAVE TO REMEMBER that the UNION is ALSO a corporation. For every worker that's let go, that means a PAY CUT for the union corporation.
The problem is that, they don't really care about the worker... they care about making sure they get continuous income. That's all it's about.
Most of these guys will go right back to work, and the union will continue to collect dues.
You are right. They have long ago ceased to care about workers and their conditions. The union organ is a political and mob extortion ring. For example, they say they hate Wal-mart and blame them for ills, but what they want is to unionized the million employees of Wal-mart, which will give the union a 1/3 of a billion dollars in dues per year to spend on top union people. They'll love Wal-mart and their sourcing of Chinese goods.
Avengador1? You are right. I've seen this over and over again with union druggies and drunks. Not only do they collect DUI's, but they arrive to work (often late) drunk or high many, many times and when caught, claim they need rehab. They'll do this three times a year (was the max allowed) until HR finally fires them, only to see them come back two-weeks later to work because the Union would threaten to sue the company. These union drunks made up half the union membership were I worked.
What these (Drunk and druggie) union slobs did was just sit around all day smoking and playing cards. Which was fine, because we didn't want them working on anything. Sucked for the company that still have to give them a paycheck. I always loved it when one of these union slobs would die from an overdose or went to prison for drug possesion conviction. That was wonderful news.
That's union people for ya. They are a different and worthless breed of people. I rather stick them on welfare than have them lift a finger in any company. I hope in time they die off the branch of the human evolutionary tree.
Not all are bad. I know a lot of people that are part of a union that are hard workers trying to make a living and doing the right thing.
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12:19 PM
82-T/A [At Work] Member
Posts: 22786 From: Florida USA Registered: Aug 2002
Not all are bad. I know a lot of people that are part of a union that are hard workers trying to make a living and doing the right thing.
Yeah... and the other workers don't like then. I think the quote goes something like this... "Stop working so hard, you're making the rest of us look bad!"
I spent quite a few years in the robotics field, building lines for the big 3. All one needs to do, is park their car in the employee lot. Then, on the way into the plant, try not to step on an empty Mohawk bottle, blunt wrap container, or brown paper bag with a can in it. I is a real challenge. Remember the saying, "Never buy a car that was built on a Friday. Thursday is payday."
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12:39 PM
PFF
System Bot
Formula88 Member
Posts: 53788 From: Raleigh NC Registered: Jan 2001
Hey now, the union is just looking out for the worker's right to get drunk and stoned at work. This wouldn't be a problem if they could drink and smoke on the line. It's all because the CEO makes too much money.
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12:55 PM
Pyrthian Member
Posts: 29569 From: Detroit, MI Registered: Jul 2002
Originally posted by Tony Kania: I spent quite a few years in the robotics field, building lines for the big 3. All one needs to do, is park their car in the employee lot. Then, on the way into the plant, try not to step on an empty Mohawk bottle, blunt wrap container, or brown paper bag with a can in it. I is a real challenge. Remember the saying, "Never buy a car that was built on a Friday. Thursday is payday."
lol - yup.
one thing most either dont know, or dont take into account is the HUGE number of people going in & out of these plants.
you WILL get the good & bad apples in these size bunches. just like anywhere else.
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01:10 PM
Pyrthian Member
Posts: 29569 From: Detroit, MI Registered: Jul 2002
I saw the same thing happen in the non-union plant I worked at in San Angelo. 1st instance, the guys involved were written up. 7 or 8 men if i remember correctly--drinking and smoking in the raw material staging area. It happened again, (same bunch) and they were all fired on the spot, with a bad recomendation permanently placed in their employee file. When the termination papers hit corporate the next week, a company wide meeting was called by the owner who flew down from DFW and reportedly lambasted management in private, then laid down the law to the rest of us--there would be no longer be a "second chance"--didn't matter who you were--how high up in the company, or how long you had been there. Quite a few drunks and dopers lost their jobs in the next 6 months, including a vice president. When the owner dropped the hammer--he meant it. Some of the fired, were friends of mine, and their families suffered because of their usage and subsequent firing, but they were just too dam dumb to learn.
[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 09-23-2010).]
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01:19 PM
2.5 Member
Posts: 43225 From: Southern MN Registered: May 2007
How many office or white-collar tech workers go to a restaurant for lunch and have a drink with their meal and its normal.......but if a line worker has a beer with his sammiches, that's somehow different and cause for crucifixion ?.......sheet...how many of us have had weekly Friday "meetings" on company time at the local watering hole--but hey, we are talking shop or planning the next week, or devising strategy, so its OK.
I know I've spent most of my tech career doing those things, sometimes with the president of the company.
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07:22 PM
84fiero123 Member
Posts: 29950 From: farmington, maine usa Registered: Oct 2004
I worked at DEC, Digital Equipment during a layoff from GM.
Went to lunches with the bosses as I was in charge of shipping and receiving. You want to talk about a bunch of drunks. A couple of beers and a joint couldn’t hold a candle to the mudslides an martinis they had.
I am still waiting for the video to download, dialup. But from what I see so far this is guys on their lunch brake.
Evidently none of you ever had a beer at lunch?
Or anything else at lunch?
Steve
------------------ Technology is great when it works, and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't. Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.
The example I gave above was during lunch--paid lunch. We were all required to clock out, but were paid for it. Some sort of reg so they could prove documentation that they didn't work us 10-12 hrs without allowing time to eat. Anywhere I ever worked, as far as I remember, drinking during lunch or breaks was grounds for termination.
Come in mornings with a hangover?--yep--done that. Made for a miserable long day.
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08:06 PM
aceman Member
Posts: 4899 From: Brooklyn Center, MN Registered: Feb 2003
NEVER! Off duty and after hours have I drank beyond excess and looked pretty despicable and others knew I was a Soldier? Yes. Then after doing that for about 6-7 years of my career, I grew up.
Oops, to be honest, while I was a Food and Beverage Manager at a hotel, I was allowed to nurse 1 beer an hour while conversing with the guests. But, if I appeared drunk, I would have been fired.
Of course you defend these guys. Shall we pull your quote from another thread about drinking a case of beer/day 25 years ago?
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08:06 PM
84fiero123 Member
Posts: 29950 From: farmington, maine usa Registered: Oct 2004
NEVER! Off duty and after hours have I drank beyond excess and looked pretty despicable and others knew I was a Soldier? Yes. Then after doing that for about 6-7 years of my career, I grew up.
Oops, to be honest, while I was a Food and Beverage Manager at a hotel, I was allowed to nurse 1 beer an hour while conversing with the guests. But, if I appeared drunk, I would have been fired.
Of course you defend these guys. Shall we pull your quote from another thread about drinking a case of beer/day 25 years ago?
Op-Ed: Let Soldiers Drink Beer August 3, 2009
Listen to the Story Talk of the Nation [16 min 54 sec] Add to Playlist Download text size A A A August 3, 2009 Reports raise concern about rising rates of alcohol abuse among soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, retired Army Lt. Col. Charles Krohn argues that with soldiers sacrificing so much, a case of beer actually helps keep morale up.
Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]: Not sure if you're aware of this... but if an employee works hard and is valuable... they like to keep the worker.
The rare cases in which this is not true is:
1 - The company has to restructure because it's losing money. 2 - New management comes in and wants to bring in their own people.
... and for the most part, we have laws in place (here in the US) to protect workers from firing due to disabilities and other things that are out of their control.
No matter how you slice it... the unions are a corporation. For as much as you want to defend the union, they are FAR WORSE in the exact same corruptions as you claim the companies they support are.
PLEASE REMEMBER... the UNION is a corporation. It is a FOR-PROFIT organization. They make money.
I'll repeate it again... I have TWO family members who actually work FOR the union... not represented by a union, but are actual UNION employees. One of them is a representative, and the other one is an office manager.
The benefits they get are unbelievably ridiculous. I KNOW you've heard me talk about it before, so I won't repeate them all. But these benefits they get are all at the expense of the workers (in this case, the teachers).
The union's PRIMARY goal is to make money. The SECOND goal is to take care of their own employees. The THIRD goal is to take care of the workers who pay them dues.
I mean... this is all fact. You can argue whether it works or not, but these are facts.
I've worked for both and seen inequities on both sides, like most things it's not all black and white (good and evil).
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08:41 PM
aceman Member
Posts: 4899 From: Brooklyn Center, MN Registered: Feb 2003
And you wrote in that piece it was always a blessing at the end of the day to see that last helicopter come in, carrying a sling full of beer. Mr. KROHN: Well, that's right. And the point is that
Seems you are not the norm.
Steve
At the end of the day. OFF DUTY. Even in a war environment there is some off duty time. Care to try again? Sorry, Steve, for 15 years I have been an Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program Coordinator. One drinks or does drugs on duty and is caught and the military has a special little program for them and there isn't a second chance after that.
How many office or white-collar tech workers go to a restaurant for lunch and have a drink with their meal and its normal.......but if a line worker has a beer with his sammiches, that's somehow different and cause for crucifixion ?.......sheet...how many of us have had weekly Friday "meetings" on company time at the local watering hole--but hey, we are talking shop or planning the next week, or devising strategy, so its OK.
I know I've spent most of my tech career doing those things, sometimes with the president of the company.
I've worked in an office for the past 12-13 years with computer programmers. These are people who drink heavily and eat a lot. Some of them are fat, most of them out of shape. (See Office Space movie)
Since I've been in the work force, every company that I've ever worked at would look down upon that kind of thing. We joke about it from time to time at previous companies when I would go out to lunch, but no one ever had anything alcoholic to drink before coming in to work.
This is perhaps maybe something that was common in the 80s, I guess??? Or perhaps business partners maybe? But... I've been on several lunch meetings with vendors, consultants, or whatever... and alcohol was simply out of the question... I mean, for someone to drink a beer on their lunch break would be completely out of place.
I don't think people do that anymore? At least, I've never personally seen that...
I've worked in an office for the past 12-13 years with computer programmers. These are people who drink heavily and eat a lot. Some of them are fat, most of them out of shape. (See Office Space movie)
Since I've been in the work force, every company that I've ever worked at would look down upon that kind of thing. We joke about it from time to time at previous companies when I would go out to lunch, but no one ever had anything alcoholic to drink before coming in to work.
This is perhaps maybe something that was common in the 80s, I guess??? Or perhaps business partners maybe? But... I've been on several lunch meetings with vendors, consultants, or whatever... and alcohol was simply out of the question... I mean, for someone to drink a beer on their lunch break would be completely out of place.
I don't think people do that anymore? At least, I've never personally seen that...
Really? Have you ever hung out with any sales people?
