[Martinjlm]

Originally Posted by Number 3

Worked in a GM plant many years ago. It was never as bad as you suggest. We got multiple breaks including lunch and in the end I worked 6.5 hours and got paid for 8. And the job I did was defined by the union as a 2 man job for that station. Well, it turns out the guy I replaced went on sick leave so it ended their scheme of the one guy punching them both in and the other punching them both out as they worked 4 hours each. In my case we worked 30 minutes on an off so I really only worked a bit over 3 hours and got paid for 8. Good gig but college was the plan. It was funny when I got a cut on my finger most of the folks around me wanted me to go to medical and get leave. I just wanted a band aid.

....

When I was a co-op student one of my assignments was in the engine plant. This happened...

There was a guy who for the sake of this story will be called Skip. I can't remember his real name, although I did know him during the occurrence of these events. Skip was a utility man, meaning he worked across a number of departments filling in for absentees and vacations. He pretty much knew every job in the plant. All the supervisors loved him because he knew all the jobs and had perfect attendance.

I was working in Industrial Engineering, so I spent a fair amount of time on the floor and saw Skip working in multiple capacities. One day Skip got injured on the job and needed to be taken to medical. He tried not to go, but the injury was such that they would not let him leave the property without treatment. So they get him to medical. In filling out the paperwork they asked for his employee number. Probably social security number. This was the early '80s. He couldn't remember it.

After some checking they came to find out that Skip was not an employee. Here's how that came about...

The Buick engine plant was running 7 days a week and on overtime for years. The 3.8L V6 was installed in everything and this was the only plant that made it. So the employees were banking tons of $$ but didn't have enough free time to spend it. One day an employee asked his neighbor, Skip, to punch in for him and cover his shift. He paid Skip in cash. It worked so well that other employees asked him to set up the same hookup with Skip. Over time, Skip had so many "customers" that he was in the plant everyday. Nobody (except his customers) realized he was not actually on the payroll. Lots of people were fired.

Another assignment I was in the sheet metal plant working 3rd shift to help set up a machine maintenance program. Got to know the crane operator really well. He showed me where all the "stores" were in the plant. One guy sold coffee. There was a popcorn vendor, a hot dog and sausage vendor, a candy vendor. Probably the coolest thing he showed me was the steel coil beds. He was the crane operator who would deliver the large steel coils to the stamping presses. At the start of each shift he would tell all his friends which coils were scheduled to be picked up. Then they would set up cardboard beds inside the coils at the opposite end of the inventory bank and take their naps there. It was quite a wild time in the plants.