Chrysler Auto Workers Fired After Being Caught Drinking, Smoking Pot Are Back On Job

[Dave]

This is a prime example of why unions are bad in this day and age. These people should have never gotten their jobs back. With most any type of business I'm betting there are rules that everyone has to follow and those rules would include no drinking or doing drugs during a work day, regardless of if you are on or off site. I know in my job that I can not be under the influence of alcohol or drugs while at work. Sadly, its gotten to the point where regardless of how bad a worker might be or what trouble they might cause, its getting near impossible to fire them. I've heard several times about teachers in NYC that if they are doing bad, are sent to a facility to do whatever (not teach though), continue to be paid and the school district basically can't get rid of them.

Posted: Dec 07, 2012 6:40 PM EST Updated: Dec 07, 2012 7:38 PM EST By Rob Wolchek, FOX 2 News Investigative Reporter

Fox 2 News Headlines

DETROIT (WJBK) -

Two years ago Fox 2 Problem Solver Rob Wolchek got a tip from someone inside Chrysler's  Jefferson North Assembly plant about what some workers were doing at the park on their lunch break.  

For several days our TV crews followed some of these workers.

Play the video above to see what these guys were doing before they went back to work in the factory in 2010.

When we showed the video to executives from Chrysler they were embarrassed.  The company had just been bailed out by the government and president Obama stood on the floor of the very same plant just a few months earlier. Obama said he believed in the workers and that he believed in Chrysler.

Chrysler was trying to remake its image and the activity in video we recorded certainly didn't fit the "Imported from Detroit" campaign.

Chrysler suspended two workers and fired thirteen others.  

Their cases ended up in arbitration and the arbitrator sided with the fired workers. They came back to work this week.

And now this statement from the auto maker:

"Chrysler Group LLC acknowledges the reinstatement of a number of employees  from the Jefferson North assembly plant who were  discharged from the company in September 2010 after  appearing in a local TV station's story about their off-duty conduct."

While the company does not agree with the ultimate decision of the arbitrator, we respect the grievance  procedure process as outlined in the collective bargaining  agreement and our relationship with the UAW.  Unfortunately,  the company was put in a very difficult position because of the way the story was investigated and ultimately revealed to  the public.  These employees from Jefferson North have been off work for more than two years.  The time has come to put  this situation behind us and resume our focus on building quality products that will firmly establish Chrysler Group's  position in the marketplace."

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/20292017/chrysler-auto-workers-fi...

[Willy]

This kind of thing has been going on for years. I had a friend who worked in a GM plant and he would tell me how many workers would come back to work drunk or high after lunch. They would sit in their cars at lunch time drinking or doing drugs. My friend said the situation was so bad the Company had to hire  a person to help the workers with drug addiction and alcoholism because the union would make a stink if the workers were fired. That was one of the reasons why American cars were so shoddy and as we all can see nothing has changed. My friend eventually became the person who helped those workers because he used to be one of them and knew how to handle and deal with those workers. 

[AQUAMAN]

Very cogent and personal observation and reality check there Willy, many thanks. I saw where they said it was an off-duty video. And I just wonder, was any proofs given that they were on the lunch hour, or out for the day? This would make all the dif., since if they are out for the day, they are at liberty, so to speak. But, if they were on lunch hour, then, that's a bunch of BS! Either way, it's not a good situation nor compliment to Chrysler, nor the UAW membership. I just want to know all the facts, acting kinda like the Devils Advocate at the moment. LOL. These unions have questions to answer on these basic issues for sure though. That's my opinion for what the hell it's worth. Nice find Dave, as per your usual threads and participation, thanks Dave.

[Dave]

Well the original report broke on the story a few years ago, I believe it showed several of the people in question during their lunch hours... I'll take a look and see if I can find a video of the original news story.

[Dave]

Here's a video that's actually from last year that shows some of the original video from the original story and newer video that caught more workers in the act when the story was done:

[AQUAMAN]

Shocking Dave, thanks.

[XLFD]

Excellent job, FOX 2 and Rob Wolchek.  Apparently we already are a "Right to Work" state, a "right to work in a  stoned out of your mind state", that is.

[AQUAMAN]

Yesterday I heard the union got these 13 workers reinstated, and with back pay to boot. Anyone else confirm that BS?

[Willy]

Apparently it's true

.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/10/chrysler-workers-drinking_...

[easymoney]

my brother n law was union stewart at saginaw steering gear,years ago, before it became delfi.

Anyway, he was a staunch union guy, but refused to be a steward the next time he was nominated. REASON

Said he was tired of being called out to the plant in he middle of the night to defend some-one he would have fired in a new york minute. Those are the people who make it bad for those who do their job corrrctly everyday.

It seems the union protects those who screw up the worst, sad, but true.

Of course they won't have as much money coming now for such foolishness(RTW), alot of members will drop out of the union.

I hauled out of all three of the auto co.'s for 20 years and you wouldn't believe what I saw and things I heard of.

[Jane]

You all need to realize what goes on in the real world and not fantasy land. the old school people in there 60's with the straight edge are mostly gone, back then people were either straight arrow(current republicans) or hippy's(current liberals). I have asked my parents, why did you go work and be straight instead of following the Grateful Dead, you were the perfect age to be part of something! Now they have money and investments from all those years working and sure maybe can take off to the Caribbean for a month of so and spend all summer at the cottage up North, BUT, they missed out on something so big, so revolutionary.

Now though, with the youngers, we are miserable, their is no hope, their is nothing, without medication how can anyone get through the life, does it really matter if it is marijuana or Prozac, still drugged, only difference is one is from God the other is from a chemical factory in the governments pocket.

Granted, it should be done outside of work hours, not on lunch break but, as long as what someone does is on their own time, and it does not interfere with anyone else or the job, it is their body not mine.

As far as blaming the vehicles from a certain era on workers you are dead wrong, all they do is put things together, it is engineering and design that create the flaws and lemons, not a guy bolting some parts together.

[Willy]

jane

You have misinterpreted history. Many people who were hippies ended up conservative. There were "straight edge people" who now are extreme leftists. The "hippies" were a minority but there was a general feeling of liberalism in the Country's youth like most young people are and were. As people grow older they tend to become more conservative but many of the 60's crowd never made that transition. Those workers who were drunk or high did not go home after lunch, they returned to work and that becomes everyone's business. I would not want to work next to an impaired co worker. That is dangerous, especially in a factory. Working around machines and equipment while drunk can be fatal not only to the person who is drunk but to other workers. I'm surprised you cannot see the correlation between  drunk workers and sober workers assembling a car. It matters not how well a product is engineered if the assembly of that product is the responsibility of wacked out drunks. An impaired worker cannot properly do the work required and on assembly lines the inspector has the final say regarding the products completion. If that inspector is impaired what do you think will be the condition of that new car you are about to purchase. The condition of the completed motor vehicle is directly related to the condition of the workers who assembled it.

[Progressive Tiger]

Willy, are you a supporter of mandatory random drug screening in the workplace?