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Company limits bathroom breaks to 6 minutes a day [and gives bonuses to workers who never use it]
CNN ^ | July 15, 2014 | Patrick M. Sheridan

Posted on 07/16/2014 8:53:33 AM PDT by grundle

Spend more than 6 minutes a day in the bathroom at Chicago's WaterSaver Faucet company and you'll face disciplinary measures.

That's what a union contends the manufacturer is pulling: timing bathroom breaks and warning employees when they can't beat the clock.

The union, Teamsters local 743, filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board claiming WaterSaver unfairly disciplined 19 workers in June for "excessive use" of washrooms.

The company's human resources department described "excessive use of the bathroom as... 60 minutes or more over the last 10 working days," according to the affidavit. Do the math and it works out to 6 minutes a day.

The controversy goes back to last winter when WaterSaver installed swipe card systems on bathrooms located off the factory floor.

WaterSaver has adopted a rewards system where workers can earn a gift card of up to $20 each month ($1 a day) if they don't use the bathroom at all during work time.

(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
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We here at Free Republic love to post articles that show unions doing stupid things, but in this case, the union is doing the right thing.
1 posted on 07/16/2014 8:53:33 AM PDT by grundle
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To: grundle

I normally class unions below even the Obamadork in idiocy and corruption, but this time, go union, go.


2 posted on 07/16/2014 8:54:36 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: grundle

This is a form of age discrimination!


3 posted on 07/16/2014 8:55:37 AM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
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To: grundle
Spend more than 6 minutes a day in the bathroom at Chicago's WaterSaver Faucet company and you'll face disciplinary measures..

In unrelated news, they're introducing chili and burritos in their company lunchroom.

4 posted on 07/16/2014 8:55:45 AM PDT by Alex Murphy ("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
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To: Da Coyote

I would just bring a roll of toilet paper with me and use it to full advantage on the supervisors desk when the need arose...: )


5 posted on 07/16/2014 8:55:48 AM PDT by jsanders2001
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To: grundle
Oh yeah! I've worked with those tiny bladders. It's all BS in the bathroom texting their boyfriends or whatever.
6 posted on 07/16/2014 8:56:00 AM PDT by defconw (Both parties have clearly lost their minds!)
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To: grundle

They should get with the program and issue Depends to employees - I use ‘em and don’t have to leave my desk all day....


7 posted on 07/16/2014 8:57:11 AM PDT by Psalm 73 ("Gentlemen, you can't fight in here - this is the War Room".)
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To: grundle
Why would I need a union to tell the employer to pound sand?

/johnny

8 posted on 07/16/2014 8:57:16 AM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: grundle

They get breaks already by law. Go then. Geez


9 posted on 07/16/2014 9:00:34 AM PDT by poobear (Socialism in the minds of the elites, is a con-game for the serfs, nothing more.)
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To: grundle

That is crazy! What if you are sick? Or maybe have an illness that sometimes flares up causing more bathroom time? My husband has Crohn’s disease and 6 minutes would not do for him on several days.

Heck by the time you unzip your pants, pee, wash and dry your hands, it’s been probably 90 sec. Just to pee!

I’m with the union here & more power to them for sticking up for these employees.


10 posted on 07/16/2014 9:02:23 AM PDT by leapfrog0202 ("the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of personal discovery" Sarah Palin)
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To: grundle

Bow to your corporate overlords!


11 posted on 07/16/2014 9:03:01 AM PDT by gdani (Every day, your Govt surveils you more than the day before)
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To: grundle

But, that is the only time i get to be AWAY from the stress of the job!


12 posted on 07/16/2014 9:05:37 AM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel (Catastrophic Anthropogenic Climate Alteration: The acronym explains the science.)
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To: grundle

I take a diuretic. Will Obama write an Executive Order giving me dispensation?


13 posted on 07/16/2014 9:06:29 AM PDT by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")
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To: Da Coyote
I'll bet the union already has 10 minute breaks every two hours.

According to the article, the company is allowing up to six minutes bathroom time outside of breaktimes.

Misleading headline as usual for the media.

14 posted on 07/16/2014 9:07:12 AM PDT by sonofagun (Some think my cynicism grows with age. I like to think of it as wisdom!)
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To: Psalm 73

They’re teamsters. Can’t their truck driving union counterparts show them the big mouth 7-Up bottle trick? ;-)


15 posted on 07/16/2014 9:07:14 AM PDT by Entrepreneur (In Hoc Signo Vinces)
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To: grundle
Management: "Well, that worked! Nobody is using the restrooms... but why are all the plants dead?"
16 posted on 07/16/2014 9:09:42 AM PDT by SparkyBass
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To: grundle
I can almost see *Catbert*, evil HR director from Dilbert cartoons, standing at the restrooms with a stop watch :)
17 posted on 07/16/2014 9:09:57 AM PDT by The Cajun (Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, Mark Levin, Mike Lee, Louie Gohmert....Nuff said.)
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To: grundle
I dunno about this one. In reading the article, the company sounds like a real slave driving shop. However, if I'm an employer, I'm paying my people to work, not sit in the can, texting.

I worked in a Retail Place that had a problem like this, but it was pre-cell phone. I was on a crew of three stocking shelves; we were pretty autonomous. One guy on the shift would clock in at 6am, then grab a newspaper and camp out in the bathroom for half an hour or 45 min while the other two of us worked.

Other guy and I complained a bunch to managment. Finally, the manager held the guy's time card, made him pick it up in order to punch in and out. Just the fact that someone was paying attention (much like the company in this story) cleared the problem up, pretty quickly.

18 posted on 07/16/2014 9:11:19 AM PDT by wbill
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To: grundle; GeronL; Slings and Arrows

Block cellphone activity (through shielding) and you’d cut down on “slack time” in bathrooms.

PS never buy a used cellphone.


19 posted on 07/16/2014 9:12:34 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (The new witchhunt: "Do you NOW, . . . or have you EVER , . . supported traditional marriage?")
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To: grundle

The owners are a caricature of bad management. These people are the reasons Unions are formed. Stupid.

Good management makes Unions unnecessarily. If ownership insists on an adversarial relationship then they get what they ask for.


20 posted on 07/16/2014 9:13:14 AM PDT by DariusBane (Liberty and Risk. Flip sides of the same coin. So how much risk will YOU accept? Vive Deco et Vives)
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