Let me give you all a old " back in the day story " and you can see that in some ways things have improved . Mind you this has changed but it was in full effect as late as the early 80's .This all took place in my home town and I actually ended up working there for three years just before I left for CA. A goodly portion of the first shift of yard workers would stream out of the yard at noon for their 30 min lunch break. The first shift was just under 10,000 in number mind you so it was quite a crowd . Along the street were small bar / grinder shops and liquor stores. Everything was streamlined for getting the guys in and out as fast as possible .The bars would already have 16 OZ glasses filled with beer covering every top surface of the bar top. Garbage cans stood ready behind to bar to catch the dollar bills that were passed over for the beer and not take time with ringing a register. Everyone would grab and go as fast as they could. On the streets guys would be pounding half pints to the cheers of their buddies . In broad terms this is what went on 5 days a week for many years until the Navy came in and said enough was enough. You might ask how the Navy might have had a say in the matter of how a civilian plant conducted itself ? Well actually they did have quite a say as you see this plant is the well known General Dynamics Electric boat division and these fine men and women were building our Navy's Nuclear attack submarines Quite a bit more complicated than a Chrysler. I watched from the engineering building across the street and to be honest didn't think much of it as it had been going on for decades . It has since been changed of course but it took many years to do so and I might add that we were all union which might have had something to do with how long it took for that change to take place . Randy
drinking & drugs on lunch hour My cousin works at GM this has been going on there for twenty years. Still walk across street bar is filled with glass of beer, shots of whiskey they poor it down for hour then head back. wildcard
Heck, back in the day I had a buddy who worked for one of the airplane builders in Long Beach. I think it was McDonald Douglas, or something. Same story. Bar across the street. Beer, whiskey, other substances that will give you a "boost". He was a welder, riveter on the line.
Not all union locals are the same within a union. Some locals are still living in the past, with no real concern for the conduct of it's members. Some locals have zero tolerance rules, that can and will get a member thrown out of the union, whether reported by the client, or another member. I've had the unpleasant task of having to report substance abuse, and watch a fellow union member lose their livelihood. In the case of very large unions, in things like manufacturing, auto/aircraft builders, many of the members have no real concern about their local, or the union in general, they just pay their dues, punch a clock, and for the most part don't drink/smoke/snort/ingest anything. Some unions attract members because it helps protect earned wages, in the case of the union I belong to, from shady show biz types, who skip town. My union, which is international, was instrumental in finding me work when I moved to the US. Mark