Fiat Chrysler Fired A Warning Shot To Its Workers Over Coronavirus Work Stoppages

[sf5211]

I’m not sticking up for the corporations or saying they’re always right on this issue but one thing I’ve said for years is “people ruin things for people”.
Some are saying FCA is “forcing” people to work but your still gonna have the guy that has a hangover or just doesn’t feel like working that day say to the medical screener “yea I’m feeling sick or feverish” .
This same person will be the first to protest when a machine takes over his/her job.

Sponsored

 

[Goin2drt]

Get rid of all the unions. It is 100% why we are in this mess to begin with.

 

[sf5211]

Get rid of all the unions. It is 100% why we are in this mess to begin with.

Like I said above about people ruining things for people.
Unions were set up so workers could be treated fair and so we don’t have “sweat shop” situations here in America.
I’m a plumber. In 1997 I was sub contracted by a plumbing union to work at the Arthur Ash Tennis stadium in Queens NY.
I was only allowed to do drain cleaning which is fine but....

I was told to not clean more than 1 drain per day. Just make myself look busy. Even if I cleared the stoppage in 5 minutes.

A large portion of the electric “piggy back” plugs that hung from the ceiling didn’t work. I wasn’t allowed to use a tester on them because that infringes on the electricians. I had to test them buy plugging in a power tool.

When the cement floor was poured a little got into a pipe and they wanted me to snake the line back to it’s 4” circumference. The pipe was in the electricians shop. They said for us to work in their shop an electrician had to be present. The job took hours with some dude making 30-40 per hour just sitting there while I worked.

I was told a few times to come to the stadium and sign in. Then get sent to some other place, once a restaurant, once some bosses house to work.

This ^ is why I can’t argue with your non union stance

 

[RubiSc0tt]

Corporate imperatives are clearly more important than the health of their workers. Pretty disgusting really.

Some things never change.

This Pandemic will lead to more automation in all areas of production ; will the money saved go to a Basic Minimum Income for displaced workers ? Should it ?

Interesting take. With increasing automation leading to decreasing jobs for actual people... something is going to needs to be done to compensate. According to some of the guys I work with, our branch of manufacturing has seen quite the reduction. The difference is there are many companies in the field, opening facilities across the US and trying to poach the experienced workers. It's not one of 3-6 giant auto manufacturers.

Peeps, is it my imagination or is Jalopnik like while it reports on the updates and things pertain to Jeep - it seems like most of the articles have some kind of slanted opinion like it was written by some CHAZ occupier THAT really REALLY want a Jeep. I stopped reading their stuff long time ago due what I perceived as bias.

Nah, that's your own personal bias showing through. You're reading into it way too much.

 

[Windshieldfarmer]

FCA is in business to make a profit and this virus could threaten its Corporate existence and thus the jobs of their employees. Worker safety must always be a huge priority...but workers can’t decide on their own to walk off - even the union understands that. A worker can’t simply walk off the job and expect that job to be available when they return.

 

[RubiSc0tt]

Or perhaps you already shared the same viewpoint as Jalopnik which makes you part of THAT group and your selective perception (see definition below) is making it impossible for you to see that you are actually ALREADY bias yourself.

Lets try not to point finger and its always a good idea to try to give the benefit of doubts okay.

Selective perception is the process by which individuals perceive what they want to in media messages while ignoring opposing viewpoints. It is a broad term to identify the behavior all people exhibit to tend to only "see things" based on their particular frame of reference.

Thanks! Well aware of that term, as well as confirmation bias. I spent a number of years studying media bias, and working in Media/ local news before making several career changes.

I'm just curious as to where you see the bias: The article in question basically stated that workers in various FCA plants stopped work due to health concerns (with one exception), and management threatened them with punishment should it happen again. The article then went on to list past incidents where workers were exposed to COVID and a few died, lending support to their claim that they did not feel safe. I did not see a statement from FCA, but it's likely they would not comment outside of some canned nonsense saying "Safety is a core value here at FCA, blah blah blah" but honestly, everyone says that and actions speak much louder than words.

Having been in a similar situation (not over COVID because thankfully, my employer has been taking that seriously since late January), I can say with 100% certainty that work stoppage is, and should be, the way any sort of immediate workplace health concerns should be handled. AT my job, Safety is the #1 step before anything else. We've had scenarios where people (management) were insisting on bringing a machine back to production. Myself and several others did not feel confident that it was the best/ safest course of action- so, we stopped work.
The difference is when we notified our direct manager, he backed us- because he knows and trusts our judgement. Sure, the people pushing for it to go back into production were less than thrilled- but they saw it was a safety and health concern, backed by our manager and the information we included in our write up, and they understood. It took a day or so to sort out with a proper plan, and some additional steps, but it was back up and running by my next shift. It sounds as though this is the critical failure at FCA- lack of trust and accountability. It is on the company to lead by example and show its employees that safety is truly a value.

 

[GtX]

This sounds to me that the production stops were due to health concerns, which is different from how Jalopnic apparently reported it.

Granted, some workers may have been a bit nervous, but given the situation who can blame them?

It sounds like a wildcat strike.

But threatening employees is not going to solve anything either. Like you said, these are not normal times.

Normal is relative. The world has faced pandemic before and will again. It just feels "not normal" because for most of us we've lived in a very safe time and most of us think we are the center of the universe.

FCA isn't threatening employees. They're saying this is the job, want it or not? The issue is the employees think they're entitled to the job. Well, they aren't.

What are governments going to do when 30% of jobs have been lost to AI?

The same thing as when the loom was invented, or the cotton gin, or steam power, or the automobile, or the computer. AI is just the newest boogie man.

Just to share the differences between AI (assuming you mean Artificial Intelligence) you are talking about an entity (not just a robot) created by human that have the ability to learn and adapt from the mistakes or the environment. I know that this sound far fetched but it is something that have consciousness (just like human) being. It is also non human so while a human are limited by situation such as COVID, this consciousness entity can trudge on and on.

Or greatest fight is with ourselves.

Humans are far more likely to make humans worse off than anything else. AI is a distraction.

Put your big boy pants on, get to work, wear a mask, and socially distance when possible, thats our company policy. Im not angry about it, either you want your job or you don't, if you don't well some one else will. Its called being an adult.

Exactly.

Sharpen the axe, it may be time to cut down the tree of liberty and plant a new one.

Indeed. Things has changed forever. Even how automakers treat their workers.

Sometime in the future, when this is all behind us, we will look back how we used to travel, crammed in those planes like sardines, with people coughing and sneezing all around us, with barely room to move and the lavatory air recycled through the entire cabin, and think “man, that was just gross!” And the same will be true of how we do many other things, including getting into a subway car, an elevator or an office space full of sick, sweaty, stinky people.

Do you really think so?

FCA is in business to make a profit and this virus could threaten its Corporate existence and thus the jobs of their employees. Worker safety must always be a huge priority...but workers can’t decide on their own to walk off - even the union understands that. A worker can’t simply walk off the job and expect that job to be available when they return.

Right, if you're so upset by the risk at your employer then you should quit. If enough employees do that the employer will change or go out of business.

If you quit and they don't go out of business then maybe your expectations were out of line with others in the labor pool and you should reconsider your stand point. Or not.

If you consider your employer isn't safe then choose go to a bar, restaurant, or the grocery store with the same, or worse, exposure then your a hypocrite.

The beauty is that you're in charge and get to choose what is right for you. Just remember, while the choice is yours, you do not get to choose others responses.

 

[JEEPIDON]

It doesn't matter where they caught it. Everyone has a personal life outside of work whether it is an assemby line worker, a meat packer, a church goer or a spring breaker.

But that doesn't mean that once the infection is detected, you keep packing them inside plants/schools/churches in the name of reopening the economy, keep spreading the disease and exposing everyone.

In this particular case, FCA has to implement regular tests and procedures to minimize the opportunity of the virus to enter the workplace. And if it does, then it needs to do whatever it is within its power to safeguard the safety of employees. Even if it means temporarily shutting down production.

We are not going back to normal until we have the spread under control or we have a vaccine. We have neither at the moment, so it is foolish of FCA to operate pretending things are "back to normal."

Or we could just stay home and do nothing For the next 60 years?

 

[aldo98229]

Or we could just stay home and do nothing For the next 60 years?

Sure. Why don’t you do that. And unplug your computer while you are at it.

 

[NPE102414]

It doesn't matter where they caught it. Everyone has a personal life outside of work whether it is an assemby line worker, a meat packer, a church goer or a spring breaker.

But that doesn't mean that once the infection is detected, you keep packing them inside plants/schools/churches in the name of reopening the economy, keep spreading the disease and exposing everyone.

In this particular case, FCA has to implement regular tests and procedures to minimize the opportunity of the virus to enter the workplace. And if it does, then it needs to do whatever it is within its power to safeguard the safety of employees. Even if it means temporarily shutting down production.

We are not going back to normal until we have the spread under control or we have a vaccine. We have neither at the moment, so it is foolish of FCA to operate pretending things are "back to normal."

Stopping production in the name of solidarity has more to do with the mob rule then solidarity!! I don’t care how big the company is, they can’t keep having unauthorized shut downs in production and still maintain profitability. These will be the first clowns to bitch and moan when the plant moves overseas because these entitled employees think they can do whatever they want. If you don’t like your employer get a new job, last I checked this was still a free country!!

 

[NPE102414]

tell me your joking with this stupidity??

 

[aldo98229]

Stopping production in the name of solidarity has more to do with the mob rule then solidarity!! I don’t care how big the company is, they can’t keep having unauthorized shut downs in production and still maintain profitability. These will be the first clowns to bitch and moan when the plant moves overseas because these entitled employees think they can do whatever they want. If you don’t like your employer get a new job, last I checked this was still a free country!!

No need to pound your chest.

Once again, according to the Automotive News article the stops were NOT just out of solidarity, as Jalopnik reported. The production stops were due to real health concerns.

 

[NPE102414]

Ummm I am trying to figure out the relevance of the first statement about automation and the second part about giving basic income for displaced worker. Maybe I am at loss but I really could not see how these two are exclusively linked to each other.

What I think he's saying is anyone that’s displaced by a machine should get paid. Sounds like communism to me

Sponsored