Paul came to my aid at the end of the winter, when the company decided to institute a new drug-testing program. Instead of a foreman hauling us off to be drug-tested, we were to do this to ourselves. If we suspected that our fellow worker was under the influence of some safety-compromising substance (not a safety-compromising influence like work stress, pressure to speed up work, harassment or straightforward safety-compromising situations like faulty equipment or being made to work in unsafe conditions), we were to notify a foreman or security person and that worker would be hauled out for testing. Drug-testing was a form of suspension since you were required to wait until the lab reports returned before you could return to work. If the lab reports showed there was something in your blood the company didn’t approve of (not simply something toxic since the company approved of profitable toxic substances), you would be assigned to drug treatment or rehab before you could return to work. We were outraged at this program which was clearly yet another way to turn us against one another and into snitches.

On the other hand, as I mused at one of our meetings, if the laboratory report came back clean, the company was on the hook to reimburse you for the time you were off which could be a few days or even a week. That reimbursement included any possible overtime you might have been offered. When I mentioned this at the meeting, everyone understood that we were potentially in for some paid vacation. Our alternate vacation program took off and we began to rat out each other every day, clearing this with one another first to make sure that person’s lab work would in fact show no problems.