Explanation for my LONG absence

[80Zedder]

Well, this is a long time coming. Where do i start?

How about a little background?

For those of you who really know me and those who don't. I am generally private person. Only a select few really get to know me. The majority just knew where i worked.

I was a third generation GM employee. it started with my grandfather way, way back. Both my mother and stepfather have put in 30 years at Gm Oshawa. Then came me.

My mother was a very well respected union rep, who took no shit from anyone, union member or management alike. My stepfather was a very capable and knowledgeable master electrician for this company.


I started my life in Gm in the much loved truck plant. I was giddy with joy when i got my phone call to report to work. As i entered the plant on my first day i was wide eyed and with a HUGE shit eating grin on my face, I had made it.

Contrary to what you would think, i wasent smiling because of the money. i was smiling because THIS is where i wanted to work. I knew of all the bullshit management pulls and the ass hats that can be found on the line, it dident matter, i was HOME.

after a year, i was laid off for about 3 months. i knew it was coming, but i also knew i would be back. 3 months later i started my life in the car plant building the impala. it dident matter where they stuck me, i loved my job, and i loved my co workers. All walks of life were there, a virtual melting pot of workers. I never had a boring day!!

the black cloud of layoff came again. this time for 4 years.

Again i got my call. Welcome back to the car plant, i was working on the camaro. HOW EXCITING WAS THIS??!! My favorite car, i have owned 3!!

i don't often toot my own horn, but there was no job they gave me that i dident excel at. i excelled over new employee's and guys with years on the job. I soaked up everything like a sponge. In a VERY short time i was made a U.R on the line. My supervisor said to me, "here go learn every job on this line, then learn them all on other lines" WHOA, not a problem.

I learned every single job i could. Fixing defects, helping out the line workers when they were having difficulty building YOUR car. I was extremely proud of my job and my work.

All the time i have been on here helping you guys with problems. answering questions and building excitement and having some fun as well. I have made good friends on here.

We were told that we were ambassadors to Gm and to create excitement about the brand/company whenever we could. And i did just that.

ANYTHING I have ever said about the camaro, Indy pace car and ZL1 camaro, have all been said to you AFTER GM had made it public themselves. I KNOW the rules and it wasent worth my job.

Turn back the clock to last March of 2011. I show up for work, and 4 hours into my shift i get hauled into the office. i was told by my useless committeeman who was more interested in his upcoming lunch "date" with my Trim plant superintendent then actually representing me, that i have been bashing the Camaro on these boards. Hmm, think you have your employees mixed up there sparky.

My trim line super is in the office with me just grilling me, but not giving specifics. Ok, this is all new to me. Through the vague information he gave me. the final line was I was terminated.

I got back to my parents and blew a gasket, my mother got in the horn to the union hall to her old co workers and the next day i was down at the hall.

I had my third step hearing the following week. I was told more about what i had "apparently' done. All bullshit.

i will skip the drawn out process of my hearing. But i did my homework and contacted the excellent and wonderful MODS and ADMINS on this site who looked in to the matter on their end. I was given a superb letter for the Admins and Mods stating that my account had been broken into. Which I cam to the conclusion earlier when i went back and read some things that had been written under my name.

Into my hearing i brought my homework, paperwork from the admins and mods, information on how easy it was to break into a forum account, oodles of information. GM company head labor relations guy said " i have serious doubts that you did this" WHEW sigh of relief i thought. I can relax a bit more.
We will get back to you in 48 to 72 hours i was told, TRY 9 DAYS!!!

end result. Still terminated.

Gm threw everything they could at me, from me taking pictures. I was told that I took them, and they have proof, and dates and im guilty and that was that!! Oh really, those dates that i took those pictures, i was on LAYOFF!!!!!

Then they said i signed a ZL1, not true, i will admit though that my phone auto corrected when i said "the rear seat pans have been signed, i miss spelled and it put, I have signed the rear seat panels" Which i admitted, and offered to pay someones wage to remove the rear seats and see for themselves that i did not sign anything, I am not the stupid. I know who did sign it though. Their response is that they already pulled the seats and no they did not find my signature on it.

I offered up my laptop as well for them to have it sent to their EDS computer gurus to be dissected at my own expense. They refused, even though it would have cost GM NOTHING, ZILCH, NADA.

The final thing they tried to pin on me was that i posted a picture of a build sheet of a pace car. Which yes i admitted i did.

"well there you go, stealing company property and breaking confidentiality agreement i signed"

Well, NO, Its not. why? The build sheet was given to me by the head guy i worked for in Trim. that's right, GIVEN TO ME. to do what i wanted with. It was now my PERSONAL property. i took the picture AT MY HOUSE, on my OWN COFFEE TABLE. And showed you guys who wanted to see, as i saw no problem with doing so as it was MY PROPERTY and it would create enthusiasm and maybe a sale or 2 down the line.

Well, apparently creating enthusiasm is looked down on now, or when it benefits Gm corporate.

Heres a funny fact, when you apply for E.I, if your fired from your job. your universally denied benefits. Unless there is a huge explanation that is valid. Like moving mountains. They phoned Gm to find out why i was fired. They said i broke confidentiality.

guess what, after EI and i had a chat on my termination, they approved my benefits! what does that tell you?!

So, out of my dream job, kicked in the nuts what do i do?

At this point in time, i am so pissed off of what went down. I decided to lawyer up. First order of business, find out WHO got into my account.

As luck would have it, some one on the line who works with my best friend "who had no idea he was my buddy" started blabbing about how he got rid of that ****sucker UR. I have had run ins with this person before. we did not see eye to eye but i chose work professionalism over swinging dicks.

so a little sleuthing on my part, gee his IP address is identical to a number of my postings on here. off to the lawyers. i wont bore you with the details, but i won my case, it was pretty cut and dry. Which is why i have been off of here, i was advised until after the court date to not say a peep.

So here i am, a family man with 2 young kids, 1 with a serious heart condition that needs meds that I pay for out of pocket, as i have no benefits. My mother has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. My stress level is very high. i have been considering closing the chapter in my life and moving on. But this is bothering me to no end.

So, as I KNOW Gm brass will be reading this post.

How is it that i get fired, "wrongfully". With a impeccable work record, which was noted by the company with a almost ZERO absenteeism or lates in my WHOLE career at GM.

When you have guys that are higher then kites and drunk out of their heads still employed working on the line? Camaro5 members, these are the guys building your cars that you bought with your hard earned money. they are outside smoking weed and oil on every break and lunch and in between. I know guys with lockers full of booze, literally, full of booze. Who then sell it for $2 a can of beer to the workers.

Yes Gm corporate reading this, I have names of those who do this and i can tell you exactly where they work in the plant.

Also on the subject of picture taking in the plant which is a HUGE no no and cause for immediate firing. I know who is taking pictures in the plant, in the open without regard. I have personally reminded this 1 individual numerous times about it to their response, "who cares, they wont catch me"

Hey Gm corporate. I have their names too. and some of the pics are on their facebook!!

Hey Corporate, i know who is stealing from you as well. I also have names of those people.

So again, how is it that I, a hard working third generation Gm worker. Who made it to U.R. with a impeccable work record, who created enthusiasm about YOUR product to the masses and HELPED people with YOUR product when problems popped up, who YOUR labor relations team told me to my face that "there is alot of doubt that i actually did all this" gets fired.

yet you have these guys still working for you?

Maybe this should go to the papers? I saw the bad press it brought Chrysler and Ford was it? when the drugs and drinking were exposed in the news.

All i want is a apology for being treated like a piece of shit. After all i have done for this company, i feel i deserve one.

Would i work for this company again if i was ever given the chance? It would be a cold day in hell if they ever extended the offer im afraid. But YES i would. not for the money, but i really really loved my job. i loved working with the people. I took HUGE pride in what i did. You cant really find a job like that anymore. And hey im not going to lie, i could really use the money too, but that's not the main reason. But i know i would have a gigantic target on my back.

Thanks for letting me vent FINALLY

[Cam2011]

I am so sorry to hear (or read) this. I hope at least you got some recompense from GM for wrongful termination. I hope everything works out for you in the future.

[formare]

Goes to show - if a company wants you gone. You are gone, they will find a reason.

[Camaro_krazee]

Wow.

[Earl]

Where can I get the Reader's Digest version?

[Hendu]

Looks like you went through a long and tiring process, sorry to hear that.

Something to keep in mind with most corporations, even if you're off the clock, you represent the company. Some companies will come out and say it, others imply it. Showing the build sheet, even if it was given to you, may have not been appropriate.

In my line of work, I have access to sensitive customer information. If my manager happens to give me a disk with customer information to enjoy, that doesn't make it ok for me to share it just because I didn't take it myself.

[hightower]

This is an incredibly painful story. You deserve your job back without a doubt. If there's any way you can, keep fighting!!! I suggest you start a petition or something. You can damn well count on my signature and word of support!

[Mindz]

So the story finally comes out. GlD to see you back on the forums zedder. I wish it was under better circumstances though.

[daveagogo1]

Really sorry to hear this and i hope everything works as well as can be for you. I do not believe you will ever receive any apology or call back and here is why. You just posted on a public forum that your sure someone high up in GM / Oshawa will read the following.

You know the names of individuals stealing from the company, violating their agreements and drinking and selling alcohol on the job and using illegal drugs. Your also implying you have had all this information but, chose not to tell anyone about it previously.

Not sure about Canada but, here in the States that is cause enough to be terminated. They kind of look at it as you being an accessory if you have the knowledge but, keep it to yourself. Especially company theft.

Again, i really hope something great comes out of this for you and you find something even better. Sorry to hear man.

[SSGUNNER]

Sucky story. Hope all goes well. Corporate america sometimes sucks. All kinds of BS everywhere. Hang in there.

[jmaynard]

80Zedder, there are always two side to every story. you have presented yours and you have admitted to doing somethings that 'could' be considered questionable (publishing the drawings you assumed were your property). I sympathize with you; however, your post rasies some serious red flags. If I were to see this post and judge you, I would find that you probably did not get along well with others at work and were somewhat confrontational. You really should NOT have used a public forum to 'vent'. It's what we call burning bridges and it NEVER works out in our favor.

What you should have done was contacted GM's whistle blower hotline and reported those that failed to provide you a fair shake. You SHOULD have contact the next senior person and worked with your Union rep to get your side out. I assume by the tone of your message that you held this same tone in your negotiations (and that is what these things are) with GM management. Perhaps had you 'played dumb' to some of the lesser offenses, like the drawing thing, and been a little humble, management might have been more inclined to work out a compromise.

You admit to having a problem with another employee. Perhaps you had problems with more than just one. You claim to know of wrong doing inside GM. Your failure to have reported THIS is grounds enough for termination, so even if you were 100% right for all that you discussed, you are 100% wrong for not reporting an unsafe work environment and drug abuse in the workforce. You have basically admitted that you deserved termination.

I feel for you and wish you the very best. I am confident that you will land a new job and I pray that you can use this past experience as a learning tool. I wish all the best to you and I will pray for the continued health and well being of your family; as I am sure the others out here will do. I also am confident that, if you embrace this learning experience, this will make you a better person and employee and this will all work out for the best in the long run, but dont hold your breath for a job offer back at GM. It probably will not come after this very public bash.

[2SSRSinBama]

the final story comes out and from what I gather, he is planning on being a wormy tattle tail... no doubt you were probably wrongfully terminated, but why throw every under the bus who had absolutely nothing directly to do with your termination?

that is a great way to get an ass kicking, just sayin' lol

[SamHouseIII]

Wow!!

[skipinminn]

So much for Unions Protecting you :( Like already Said if they want you gone they WILL find a way to make it Happen. <<<