Thursday, October 27, 2005

Potty Patrol

Ford Motor Company posted a 3rd quarter loss of $284 million. In a move to increase productivity, supervisors at their Michigan plant recently received a memo stating that they needed to monitor the time hourly workers were spending for bathroom breaks. The union contract states that workers are allowed 48 minutes per shift for bathroom breaks. Apparently, some workers are abusing this clause and are spending more than their allotted 48 minutes in the bathroom per shift and Ford blames this for slowing down production in the factory. My god, I don't spend 48 minutes a day in the bathroom even when I'm deathly ill! I would like to know what those people are doing in the bathroom for more than 48 minutes per shift. Ummm, I changed my mind, I don't want to know.

Now, here's my take on things. First, unions are a bad thing (my opinion...everyone can have one). They insist on these crazy stipulations to the contract that eventually just screws the company. 48 minutes for bathroom breaks is ridiculous! I wonder if the contract states that the time can accrue on a weekly basis? ;-) Secondly, I don't think employees spending too much time in the bathroom is causing Ford to lose sales. If you build a quality car, people will buy it. Remember, right or wrong, my opinion. And finally, on what basis did they calculate the 48 minutes per shift bathroom break? Maybe unions aren't such a bad thing afterall.

2 comments:

Hank said...

You said:

"My god, I don't spend 48 minutes a day in the bathroom even when I'm deathly ill!"

Um... I take it you're not counting the time you take during your morning shower...

Tom said...

No, I did not take showering into account. But I did take into account the time spent reading a good book.