Chrysler Auto Workers Busted
 

I know some of you will dismiss this due to being a Fox story but its still sickening. And yes I know its going on all over, but being so blatant about it the Detroit way.


myFOXDetroit.com Staff - We're all rooting for the auto industry to come back stronger than ever. It affects every one of us here in metro Detroit and across the country because it's so important to our economy.

Fox 2's Rob Wolchek got a tip about what some guys are doing at Chrysler's Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit. This is the same plant that President Barack Obama visited back in July and talked about the significance of manufacturing in America.


http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news...ed_20100923_dk

It's certainly bad that they're smoking and drinking on the job and that Chrysler didn't have an effective substance abuse program in place. However, the sensationalist manner in which this report ties these problems to Obama is another example of Fox yellow journalism.

There's plenty to be disgusted by in this report without the smarmy manner of coverage. I wonder what the workers comp carrier for Chrysler thinks about this.

Here Grumpy, this'll help. The story is sourced from somewhere other than Fox:

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100...cohol-at-lunch

Unfortunately, nothing really new here, except that these characters got caught on tape.

Yes and it is a much more professionally done report. It omits the sensationalism. It doesn't use charged political terms like the TV reporter's contemptuous pronunciation of the word "bailout" The workers, who the Detroit news characterized as a small group of workers, were the entire focus of the story. I would submit that out of any group of over 2500 people, whether they are office people, salespersons, plant workers, lawyers, accountants, engineers, or lobbyists, there are going to be at least fifteen who are substance abusers or alcoholics. For such people, the bottle or the hit becomes the most important thing in their lives, and they are willing to take unreasonable risks to feed their addiction. It is a sad, but selfish behavior.

Regards,

D-Ray

Your seriously downplaying this ?

I don't see why you wouldn't.

This sort of thing is more rampant than you could possibly believe... :(

I would challenge you just a bit in your suggestion that this is "Fox" yellow journalism. Rob Wolchek is not uncommon in his reporting style in Detroit. Steve Wilson who used to be on the local ABC affiliate comes to mind. The "Problem Solvers" is the local affiliate's "news-making", as opposed to news reporting, function. I'd also suggest, in my travels when watching some local news outlets in other cities, there are other "news-maker" segments on other news casts as well.

Perhaps so. I suppose that most local news stations have their "designated ghouls," as my wife calls them. This sort of sensationalism on the local news is definitely not exclusively Fox's terrain. The story itself is fine and newsworthy (at least to some degree). It was the tone and presentation that left me cold. Just give me the friggin' facts in a dispassionate manner without all the silly drama and innuendo.

I'm amazed in this day and age that such a company as Chrysler doesn't have a stronger substance abuse program, particularly for industrial workers. I'd hate to see what the accident rate in that plant is, not to mention the quality of the product coming off the line.

This is indeed disgusting behaviour, and shouldn't be tolerated. Factories are dangerous places as it is, throw alcohol and/or drugs into the mix and you are putting your life and the lives of others on the line.

We recently sent four guys from our maintenance department out for drug/alcohol testing over an incident involving improper rebuilding of a large centrifugal impeller type fan. The fan is similar in design to the fan in your vacuum cleaner only it is cast steel, four feet in diameter, driven by a 100hp motor and weighs several hundred pounds. Because they failed to properly pack the bearings in grease, the bearings became extremely hot, the pillow blocks (bearing housings) exploded sending chucks of cast iron flying over fifty feet. The impeller itself slammed into the side of it's housing, destroying it, but miraculously did not break through and leave the housing. The drive shaft, 5 inches in diameter and 4.5 feet long was bent like a noodle and you could see where the impeller twisted off of it. In short, someone could very easily have been killed, or grievously injured.

So far no positive test results have come back. But, all four men have been written up and warned. If anyone comes up positive, he's gone.

I can tell you guys, the type of behavior seen in that video is not limited to auto industry or union shops. I've worked in non-union plants and seen people snorting coke in the bathrooms, coming back from lunch stinking of beer, even finding places to sneak off to and get high-------inside the plant. I will say that it seems to be less commonplace now than it did say, twenty years ago, but it still happens.

The company I work for now is pretty good at prevention with simple rules against loitering in the parking lot, drug testing policies such as the one mentioned above, etc.
I only know of one incident of a man gettting caught with beer in his locker.

Personally, I don't see how anyone can do it. I have never gone to work drunk or high. I just can't function that way.

Not trying to downplay the behaviour, but to an extent I can see Dons point. Fox does politicize everything, and I mean everything. If a pidgeon shits on a clean statue it is somehow Obamas fault. If an alien spaceship should show up and start shooting death rays about, it'll be because the Democrats failed to secure the stratosphere. And don't give me that, "That's the Detroit style" horsehockey either. They do the same thing everywhere. I will uabashedly tell you I despise FoxNews and every single smug faced, self-righteous conspiracy theorist dickhead that works for them. (And most of their viewers as well.)


Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite,
Dave

I know I worked in lot's of factories as a high school and college kid during the summer and this sort of thing was a way of life in all factories, especially on Fridays.

I feel the love!!;)

I have little patience with the MSM these days, look at all the coverage they gave to that nut case pastor in Florida. The Chattering Class blow everything far out of proportion. I recall when I used to watch CNN, Wolf Blitzer would decry the attention being paid to some whack job, then turn about and spend 20 minutes going over the same whack job.

Like or love that reporter, he does a lot of good here in Detroit. He does his "problem solvers" bit and is regularly chasing down contractors who screwed customers.

Are you trying to say it wouldn't be their fault?

:)

The low paying jobs I had as a young man were filled with beer and drugs. The better, higher paying places - weren't.

Brock Yates mentions in one of his books that workers in a Chrysler plant in Youngstown liked to fool around, and were seen slapping trim on one handed, behind their backs, etc...

And my bud that worked in the Twinsburg stamping plant has some great stories about the drugs drinking drawing straws to see who was staying till closing time to clock out etc...

My dad worked a job in NYC. The HVAC guys on the roof had written right into their contract that they could have one beer with lunch. An enterprising local started selling these giant cans of beer to them.

By the end of the job the roof was littered with them :)

All that said piss tests are unfair to working men and I'll tell you why - an office guy and a warehouse guy hits a j at a weekend party.

Two weeks later, who's at risk of getting fired? The piss test is mandatory for a workplace accident. What's the chances of the office guy having a reportable accident vs the warehouse guy?

There is no way that it's a factor two weeks later. But the warehouse guy gets fired because he smushed a finger. And no workers comp!

A swab test reads back 2-4 days and is much more fair to the warehouse worker.

[/soapbox] ;)

Pete

wrong thread and the aliens are shooting disable rays not death rays ;)

Excellent point.

Not only that but when I took a minimum wage guy and moved him to a $25 an hour guy he inevitably became a more responsible dedicated worker.

You simply have more to lose.

That doesn't matter to everyone though.

Pete

And then those damned Liberals came along with their socialist OSHA and their nanny state workplace safety rules and their fascist drug testing.

Damn Liberals to Hell!!!

John

Check your facts.

John

So, maybe...... a raise?

John

???????

Have a swell weekend!
Dave

Check your facts.

John

Clarification please John?

Blue, I agree about the danger, but I'm talking 2 weeks after the fact.

Pete

THC rarely persists in the urine for more than a few days. The exception being chronic users who occasionally show traces for several weeks. The clear implication here is that positive THC results several weeks after consumption is an indication of an habitual chronic user of the chronic.

John

True.

Dave

I see John, but it was also my understanding that it varies greatly depneding on percentage of body fat.

Why not the swab test? Because the evil employers don't want workers comp claims?

Pet

Arguing weather drug tests are fair is well and ok, but how the hell did these 15 not get tested at all ?

Yes I am assuming they were not, after all they would have been caught by their employer, long ago.

I can't help but enjoy sitting back here and seeing some of our usual lefties taking on the authoritarian position and one of our dependable righties standing up for the working stiffs.:D

It seems like on thing we can agree on is that some guys partying at lunchtime doesn't have anything to do with the financial support to the automakers during the economic crisis. The only causal link would be that without the federal intervention, there might not have been a job there that some people could chose to abuse.

Regards,

D-Ray

There are several types of drug testing plans. Some are for cause only, but in all cases of accident or injury. Such plans can also include random drug testing, in which someone's number comes up for testing at random intervals. Many test people as part of pre-employment screening. Having a regular policy of blanket testing is very expensive - consider that there were 2800 people at the plant. A long-winded way of saying that it is quite possible that the number might not have come up for this party pack.

Regards,

D-Ray

Oh I disagree - it's CLEARLY Obamas' fault.

:D

And just call me bootstrap Pete - with hard work and Gods grace I've climbed slightly up the ladder, but my collar is still blue underneath the faintly genteel white varnish :)

Piece-It Pete - Defender of his Working Brothers! lol

Pete

You might be on to something here. Didn't somebody suggest testing that goes back a year, recently?

Dave

Right. This is the question.

Dave

Obama refused to allow it, of course.

John

Excellent point, counselor. But, this is how it will be spun---"You tax dollars are being given to a bunch of lazy, dope smoking, loungeabouts." I'm sure by the time I get to work, Hannity and Beck will have availed the entire world of how a handfull of idiots in a parking lot in Michigan are bringing down the entire of Western Civilization, crapping on the flag and destroying Christianity so the queers can pervert our children and bring an end to the American family as we know it.:rolleyes:

Oh, and of course...It's all Obamas fault.

Dave

I don't blame obama one bit. Fact this pub voter may be going straight dem next time around if the only choice is dem or tea party. I will not play a part in the insanity that they are planning.

Me too. I'm looking for the GOP to become more moderate before they get my vote again. But they appear hell bent to go in the opposite direction. Randy Forbes was the last Republican I voted for. He's my Congressman and he's not a bad guy. I actually met George Allen, and he gave me the creeps. I mean it, he had a limp handshake, and look in his eyes that gave me that same feeling you get when you think you're about to lose control of your bowls. Weird.

I wonder if he's a member of "The Family"?

Dave

He's a friggin' makaka.:D

That just means that you're a capitalist stooge and a traitor to the working class.

John

Anybody watch Fox last night?
Turns out I was right. Again.
Fifteen jackasses in Detroit are the bane of western civilization.

Everyone who works for a bailed out automaker is a lazy, dope smoking drunk.................
The entire industry, the UAW, the Jeep Cherokee and the Obama administration called into question because of a handful of idiots, by Stuart Varney. When Sean "Eddie Munster" Hannity came on afterwards it got even worse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujPLK...eature=related

Dave