Chrysler workers busted smoking, drinking on lunch break in Trenton

[Rey C.]

Isn't this common in most factories?

Why not grab some beers when the union will make sure you keep your job if you get caught. Unions are a fucking joke.

I'm not justifying any of the behavior in the OP, but yeah, it is common enough. Over the past 15 years or so, I've been in hundreds of manufacturing facilities (both union and non-union) around North America. And what's in that vid is actually pretty tame compared to what I've personally witnessed and heard about. That reporter should have caught up with me when I was going into JNAP. On 3rd shift, back in the parts racks, you could easily find used condoms in the knock-down totes. I often wondered how suppliers reacted when they'd get those totes back and find crusty rubbers in them. :eeew:

At most plants, there's usually not much going on during the 1st and 2nd shifts. But the freaks come out at night. I walked up on a guy getting a blow job on a picnic bench last year (at a non-union auto supplier). The girl was on her stomach on the bench and I didn't even see her for a while. I've walked up on people, who thought they were well hidden, smoking crack, meth and weed. Alcohol is VERY common throughout manufacturing, with both hourly and salaried employees. I've been flashed by female employees (and it's never the women whose tits you'd LIKE to see). There was one woman who'd press her tits against my arm whenever I was in her work area while I was doing an assembly line project. Some women will slip their phone numbers into your hand while you're trying to do a time study on the line. A female engineering team leader at one plant told me she could help make a nagging problem I had go away... if I'd spend some time with her in Windsor. She was cute enough, but I didn't feel like I had enough time or money to support her cocaine habit. I knew one male area manager who would move "accommodating" female employees to easier work assignments - even when it affected efficiency and made no sense. He was "mobbed up" and didn't seem to care if I or anyone else knew. I didn't care to have some mysterious guido creep up behind me and shank me while I was leaving the plant late at night (and I couldn't carry a firearm in that state), so I said "fuck it" and let it go... like everyone else who knew about it. The women weren't complaining and he was getting easy pussy, so it's not like anyone would have backed me up if I'd made a big deal about it. I don't know if he was on drugs or just crazy, but some nutcase ran through Warren Truck several years ago and whacked some unsuspecting workers with a sword.. yeah, a freakin' SWORD! :eek:

Bottomline: manufacturing facilities are a hotbed of sex, drugs and rock & roll. If I had a hidden camera I could have made a 20 part X-rated documentary by now. It's not right and it hurts our ability to manufacture "defect free" products. But you see it in management/salary, as well as the hourly workers (union and non-union).

 

[TheOrangeCat]

I don't know if he was on drugs or just crazy, but some nutcase ran through Warren Truck several years ago and whacked some unsuspecting workers with a sword.. yeah, a freakin' SWORD! :eek:

Yea, sorry about that. It was a slow day, and I was bored.












And on meth.

 

[Rey C.]

Yea, sorry about that. It was a slow day, and I was bored.

And on meth.

Well now, to be honest with you, the guy who was there that day, and relayed the story to me, did say, "that cat was fast!"

The Orange Ninja Cat? :eek:

 

[TheOrangeCat]

Well now, to be honest with you, the guy who was there that day, and relayed the story to me, did say, "that cat was fast!"

The Orange Ninja Cat? :eek:

:orangecat: :orangecat:

 

[Member442]

This happens at basically every place of employment. Construction works at my nieghbors house were drinking beer on their lunch break sitting on his roof. Not the best work ethic. The same when a house around here was torn down the one guy was dinking a beer all damn day. Thankfully he wasn't the one driving the machinery but still. You do slow down if you drink a lot. One beer I wouln't complain about it shouldnt mess with you but multipule ones where risk to others than becomes a possiblity I do have a problem with.

As for the smoking. I've met many people that seem to work better after and others that slowed down and shouldn't have smoked then gone back to work. If your productive goes down because of it and you are caughting other thier productive then I say fire you if you do it other wise it's not that horrible.

Breaking policy though is not right as it is their policy they should all be fired breaking rules has conciquences.

 

[STDiva]

Maildude would say otherwise, so would I.

Anyway, they are doing this off the clock.

If employers could treat their employees with respect then we wouldn't need Unions.

So when some idiot is drunk/high and screws up with the machine he is operating and kills someone, you'll defend that?

Unions are only useful to the people who milk the system. Im assuming you are one of those degenerates.

 

[rock hard]

fuckin snitches

While watching the vid I thought the same thing as Legz....a couple people were so concerned that they saw fit to drop a dime to the TV station about these guys, instead of gathering a small group of like-minded people and confronting these transgressors....or even reach out to the union and let them deal with it.....nope, they acted like pussies IMHO :2 cents:

Lunch breaks are not 'off the clock'. They are paid time, mandated by both state and federal labor laws.

:wtf: Would you be so kind as to post a link or two to these "labor laws" you speak of please? I am unaware of any laws that state that lunch breaks are to be paid by the employer. So maybe I am wrong....or maybe you are just talking out of your furry little ass!!!

Also worth noting....this video kept showing the same footage over and over of what...about 6 guys smoking and drinking. Let's just say there are 12 of them for example....there are 1130 employees at that plant Trenton engine plant.....that is 1% of the work force. Media sensationalism at work again!!!

 

[Rey C.]

So when some idiot is drunk/high and screws up with the machine he is operating and kills someone, you'll defend that?

Unions are only useful to the people who milk the system. Im assuming you are one of those degenerates.

If someone who knows me in real life heard me make this statement, they'd probably shit a brick... since the only time my real name has appeared on a forum or site (other than LinkedIn or some professional site) was on a UAW message board several years ago - and they weren't exactly saying nice things about me. :nono: But I can't say that even I would go that far... too generalized. Some unions are worse than others. Some locals are worse than others. Some of them do milk the system and enable goldbricks to hang on or keep them from being (rightfully) fired.

But I've been in non-union facilities (mainly in right-to-work southern states) where even I couldn't understand why the employees wouldn't try to start a union. Course, the reason was the employees had "slave mentalities" and the company would shut down that facility, or clean out the "trouble makers", if they did. But I've refused assignments or walked out of facilities where I've seen outrageous health and safety violations that had been going on for years. There are still a lot of shitty companies out there which, as a standard way of doing business, run over their employees. I give unions credit for doing something about that, if nothing else. And that was the original mission anyway. But I agree, some have strayed (far) from that original mission.

What I do is often misunderstood by rank & file employees and their unions - managers and supervisors too. And some of the people who do what I do are nothing but fast buck artists who slash and burn as a quick way to show savings and get a fat bonus... and then go to the next place. But I really am in favor of trying to find more efficient ways of producing products or services, reducing defects and then cross-training any affected workers so that the headcount isn't reduced, but business is increased. The same number of people can do more work and not work as hard as they were before! It doesn't always work out that way, but that is always my initial goal. But a lot of the time unions will immediately start giving me a hard time, before they even hear me say the first word. Especially in facilities where high tech methods are used, I have a HUGE amount of respect for what the people do - so I'm anxious to jump in and get as dirty as whoever is doing a particular job... if I'm invited in. But at one aerospace shop, a guy invited me in to work with him for a little while, cause I was fascinated by what he was doing. But this other cocksucker saw me and he filed a grievance against me with his shop steward! Had the first guy not stood up for me with his union boss, I could have been excluded from the shop floor and my project would have been dead right there. The first guy knew I was there to try to build their business up and make things better, so they wouldn't lose it to Mexico or China or where ever! Things got bad for them during the recession, but as far as I know, that facility is still going strong now... in the United States! :thumbsup:

So I'm not against unions in general. But yeah, some of them can be real bastards... short-sighted bastards.

 

[Facetious]

there was a vid? Didn't notice. Anyway, they are on lunch. So I see no problems. Go to lunch, catch a quick buzz and back to work. So long as they go back to work and are productive, then no problem. If they go back to work and slack off the rest of the day then there's a problem.

Even without a buzz, it is well documented that employees in general are much less productive after lunch.

Let 'em smoke like chimneys on the 2's (interval hours between breaks) ... but drinking? :nono:

 

[TheOrangeCat]

:wtf: Would you be so kind as to post a link or two to these "labor laws" you speak of please? I am unaware of any laws that state that lunch breaks are to be paid by the employer. So maybe I am wrong....or maybe you are just talking out of your furry little ass!!!

though neither Federal nor NJ law requires that you receive breaks, Federal law says that IF breaks are offered, breaks of under 20 minutes must be paid. IF the company provides you with a break that is over 20 uninterrupted minutes, it must be paid. IF the company provides you with a 30 minute meal break but you are not completely relieved of duty, it must be paid.

From laborlawtalk

 

[rock hard]

From laborlawtalk

Ok...I see where you're coming from with your interpretation. However since in most cases the employee is completely relieved of duty during lunch...they don't get paid.

 

[TheOrangeCat]

Ok...I see where you're coming from with your interpretation. However since in most cases the employee is completely relieved of duty during lunch...they don't get paid.

Yah .. I suppose I should have clarified that as these workers were given lunch breaks, then they had to be paid, therefore they were not off the clock ....

therefore Will E is, as usual, wrong :tongue:

 

[rock hard]

Maildude would say otherwise, so would I.

Anyway, they are doing this off the clock.

If employers could treat their employees with respect then we wouldn't need Unions.

Yah .. I suppose I should have clarified that as these workers were given lunch breaks, then they had to be paid, therefore they were not off the clock ....

therefore Will E is, as usual, wrong :tongue:

I actually agree with the worm on this one. And I still don't think you get it....I would bet these guys badged/clocked out to go to lunch. Companies these days use the gate record as their timekeeping device, as well as for other reasons. These guys were not getting paid when they were filmed!

Just to clarify I do not condone what these guys were filmed doing.

 

[STDiva]

Does it really matter if they were being paid? They had to go back to work in...20 minutes? I don't want to work with someone who's been drinking, especially when heavy machinery is involved.

 

[TheOrangeCat]

I actually agree with the worm on this one. And I still don't think you get it....I would bet these guys badged/clocked out to go to lunch. Companies these days use the gate record as their timekeeping device, as well as for other reasons. These guys were not getting paid when they were filmed!
.

Yea, union guys always clock off so they can take unpaid lunch breaks instead of having paid ones ..... to re-state: if a lunch break if offered, under New Jersey and federal law it MUST be a paid break. If we assume only $20 an hour, and a half hour for lunch, you really think these guys are going to give up $200 a month when they could be being paid and drinking at the same time ... puhrlease!

And never side with the Worm. It's the slippery slope to Hell, damnation and surprise fisting sessions.