I was hired at HAM (Honda of America Mfg.) in August of 1980. The 220th person hired. I was very excited.in our orentation the first words out of J.R. Cuttinghams (Admin) mouth were "Everyone at Honda is treated the same wheather you are the company President or the last associate hired in, we are all treated the same". After 27 years, a bigger lie was never spoken.
If you are in management, they cover you like a blanket. If you screw up, they might demote you, but probably will just tell you not to do it anymore. There was an Asst. Mgr.in Marysville paint who had at least 8 sexual harassment charges against him. He got to work till he was old enough to retire, then they made him retire.
I had a production coordnator in the Motorcycle plant who was completly incompetent. She made life hard on everyone because her son had got drunk one night & was killed in a 1 car accident. She took it out on everyone for what happened to him, when the truth was, she was to blame.
When she was on 3rd shift an older woman complained of chest pains. She told her to get back to work. Later that night she had a heart attack & nearly died. She sued Honda & won her lawsuit. The p/c? Nothing happened to her. Kept being a p/c until she reached 55 & Honda forced her to retire.
She tried to fire me in 2002 for putting a gas tank down on a metal table & it made noise & scared a female associate. She told the p/c & i was seperated. Luckily, i got my job back through the Kangaroo Court Honda dreamed up. This consists of 6 associates & 1 Senior Mgr. Who are like a jury. The 6 associates are from the opposite shift. The people on second are a different breed than on 1st. I got my job back by a vote of 4-3. I was transferred to ELP (East Liberty Plant).
This was the second auto plant built. They sent all the Marysville Rejects (Mgt Personell) to run ELP. I worked there from 2002 till Feb when i was fired.
A guy who was working in my area went to administration because i made him "uncomfortable". At the time, there was a legitimate rumor that they were offering an early retirement package. I was pumped. I was 53 years old & ready to get the hell out of there before they fired me. Earlier that month i had tried to get rid of this little temporary bitch, for getting special treatment. She was screwing the team leaders DH (an off line helper, self appointed by himself) He was worthless too. A crybaby he who got what he wanted.
Well I went to talk to the Mgr. Who told me anytime I have a problem, come see him. I did. He didn't like me calling this associate "The laziest white man I have ever seen". I was called to admin. & asked if everything was ok. I said i was just excited about the buyout & retirement i had heard about. She went off!" there will be no early retirement, thats just a rumor & you should forget about it" She was pissed.
Then we had a incident on the line with this guy i made "uncomfortable". The people who liked the temp I tried to get rid of, all lied to admin. I told her who was going to retalliate against me & those were the only people she talked to. The guy who was standing right there in front of what happened, 15 feet away, was never questioned. Why? He would have proved all the others liars. But admin. Didn't want that. I was ready to retire.
Now I had been in trouble in my 27 years. Nothing as serious as sexual harassment, or denying an associate medical attention & almost dying. Mostly for swearing, which Honda calls "Creating a hostile working environment". I had 20 bad days at Honda in 27 1/2 years, days which I did get in trouble for something. That's 20 more times than you are allowed at HAM. You are not allowed to have a bad day. Zero tolerance, for some people, like me. Others in Mgt. Could get away with murder.
Right before I was sent home, admin still had to investigate more, the girl from admin patted my file & said "It doesn't look too good Jay". She had already made her decision. She was going to fire me.
7 days later i got a phone call saying i had been seperated... Again. I went to ELP on a Monday to pick who was going to be on my jury.
The first time, numbers were in a big tumbler & i picked about 40. They are suppose to start from the 1st number & go down till they get 6 people. You don't have to serve if you don't want to. This time the numbers were drawn on a laptop computer. She hit a key & up popped 40 numbers.
I wish to this day i would have copied those down because when i got to kangaroo court, all were young men, & 1 senior Mgr that I had not liked for a long time & the feeling was mutual. She had hand picked who she wanted! I'd bet my 401k on it! So I had to convince 4/6 people I still deserved a job.
As time went on, I realized none of these people had ever been in any trouble. I was there 7 years before I got in trouble the first time. I had more years in than all 6 of them put together. What did they know about working in a factory for 28 years? Half of them wern't 28 years old for Christ sake! There from 2nd shift so they get rid of me, there 1 step closer to being on day shift!
The day I went to kangaroo court, I had Phnemonia. Called admin to postpone the hearing. Can't do that, even though the handbook (Honda Bible) said I had 30 Days from the time of seperation. It had been 17 days. Well needless to say I could not put up much of a fight the way I felt. She got up & pretty much lied through her teeth to the jury about my history at HAM.
Theres no swearing in, like a real court. No perjury. She can lie! What are they going to do? Its there system. Well i was fired 2 1/2 years short of retirement.in March, they did offer an early retirement package.
My pension would have been about $3200 a month. Now I'll get about $1400 a month, before taxes. Not enough to live on. Look at all the money Honda will save.
I was a very dedicated associate. Loved the company & what it had done for me. I am not the only 3 didgit clock number to be fired. I know of 6 others who were fired for some bullshit reason within the year iI was fired.
What can I do about it? Not a damn thing, sadly. You give over half your life to this company & they crap all over you.
I will say one thing I know is true. Mr Honda, whom I met & shook hands with in 1981, would be turning over in his grave if he knew how this company was being run. His whole philosophy was "we are a family". All these Johnny come lately's, don't know or care about the history of Honda.
All they want is there big bonuses. They don't have a clue what mr honda's vision was. I do. I read the book Mr. Honda wrote " The Honda Way" I would bet less than 1% of Management has ever read that book. If they would have, me & many others would still have a job.
Jay
ZANESFIELD, Ohio
U.S.A.
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