We'll get back to bailouts, corruption and Bernanke's QE carpet-bombing tomorrow. Entertaining video but extremely embarrassing for the UAW.
Coverage from Jalopnik:
- "The problem is not really the drinking per se. The problem is when it happens the UAW turns a blind eye," says the Detroit resident who used to work in automobile manufacturing but wished to not be identified because of his close family ties to the United Auto Workers and friends still in the industry.
- "My first week on the job I was teaching some classes at this plant, and the breaktime bell goes off to wake up the guys so they can take a break," he explains. "The trailer [I was in] was parked up right next to the plant window and I see this head go by, and it was this guy snorting coke back there. That was my first experience."
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Just the Facts:
DETROIT — The Motor City has been rocked by a scandal involving some Chrysler auto workers who build one of the company's crown jewels, the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Several workers were followed for weeks by Fox News Detroit and caught on tape at a local park near the Jefferson North Assembly Plant here, drinking beer and smoking pot on their lunch hour.
It's the same plant where President Obama stood in July, praising Chrysler auto workers and saying "I would bet on the American worker any day of the week." The local TV station said it began following the workers just five days after Obama's visit. Chrysler went through a government-led bankruptcy in 2009 and took $10.8 billion from the federal government. "The fact that we're standing in this magnificent factory today is a testament to the decision we made," said Obama in July.
The video shows the workers leaving the plant, heading into a local party store and then blatantly drinking and smoking pot in a local park. "There ain't no party like a Detroit party," intones the reporter during the video. He adds: "We saw this day after day after day. [They use their] lunch break to catch a buzz."
The workers have since been suspended indefinitely without pay, according to Chrysler.
"I'm very, very disturbed about what I just saw in the video and I want to make it clear that we at Chrysler take it very seriously," Scott Garberding, Chrysler's senior vice president of manufacturing, told Fox News Detroit. "For us this behavior is totally unacceptable and will be dealt with swiftly."
The United Auto Workers also issued a statement saying that it opposes the use of controlled substances or alcohol on the job.
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We'll get back to bailouts, corruption and Bernanke's QE carpet-bombing tomorrow. Entertaining video but extremely embarrassing for the UAW.