There is not much in the article to indicate what happened with the arbitrator. The arbitrator is allegedly an outside consultant, usually with some legal background, who is selected by mutual agreement of the company and the goonion.
The arbitrator has to agree to hear the case after several steps of the grievance procedure have been exhausted.
It would be interesting to know if the arbitrator awarded back pay or not. If not, it indicates that he/she found the goonion trash culpable. The arbitrator may have viewed the company’s initial action as a “rush to judgement”.
Usually what happens in the case of alcohol and/or drug use is that the goonion prevails on the company to allow the noble workers to dry themselves out on a medical leave. In this day and age, they probably normally require random drug or alcohol tests for the culprits as a condition of continued employment as well as some period of “probation” wherein the noble workers can be fired if they’re found to be in violation. Usually such a transaction might require the trade off of a number of grievances which have been written on behalf of other noble workers who are usually just too glad to contribute their grievances to stand in solidarity with their brother mens.
What normally happens is the human refuse continue to drug and drink and the goonion continues to fight for their rights to party.
There is a noble afl-cio industrial worker from Michigan who posts here all the time and knows everything who probably can provide details that the article leaves out. Note that the afl-cio includes UAW Local 6000 which is one of the biggest if not the biggest “representative” of the noble State workers, but it is an industrial union and those are noble workers.
“Note that the afl-cio includes UAW Local 6000 which is one of the biggest if not the biggest “representative” of the noble State workers, but it is an industrial union and those are noble workers.”
Right-to-work is a far nobler endeavor.
I can't speak for other industries here in MI, but this is a problem w/ the Big-3 Union types. I got to see it 1st hand when a good friend of my better half shows up one Sat morning and said feed me. I asked why, and a "worker" still toasted from Friday night gave her grief including the f-bomb, and as an engineer on launch rather than file a greiveance because it would have gone nowhere, left the building. I have read that the Big-3's productivity is not all that bad, it is these 5% or so with these issues that are tilting it in Toy's and Honda's favor.
The question begs, as contract employee's (non-line) continue to populate the plants, will the Unions as a means of survival after this coming Tuesday make the hard behaviorial changes in how they run "their business" if you will, and not enable this high-school parking lot stoner type behavior as they have for eons.
That is the million dollar question. Another industry eons ago that I was in you got 3 tries @ going away for a month in the hills of VT to a facility and if you came in again after that non-sober, you were fired period. But this was non-union.
It is interesting that via George Will warning of GM's Bankruptcy in 04' I believe, he was not only spot on about legacy medical cost, but look @ the organizations that fostered it. I.E. Gov't and Unions, look @ Detroit and our Entitlements @ the Federal Level. Ironically at the state level, many Governors including Snyder are dealing with it ( Ergo the teachers new retirement options here in MI, the 401k is to good to say no too). At the federal level? Not so much, America decided to vote for a bartender who said Drinks on the House one more Time! Rather than face the hard choices they must make and step away from the enablers and get fiscally sober...