4. Video Case Study: United Here Local 1 Chicago

Watch the video about United Here Local 1 Chicago, and then use your knowledge of human resources and employee rights to answer the questions that follow.

I love my job, I do, honestly. My name is Kimmie Jordan [assumed spelling]. I work at the Holiday Inn [inaudible] Hotel. I've been a housekeeper there for the last five years. Part of working in a union hotel is like deciphering like what the contract is and the handbook. And so the handbook kind of has some things in there that kind of, you know, it kind of didn't go hand to hand with what the union is about, you know? And so they didn't have an attendance policy. And they came out with this attendance policy, where we would get wrote up if we call off more than three times. And so one of the things that our contract made, and the union stated, that we had a right to five sick days. You know, and that's one of the things that struck me as the usual, one of the things that we kind of battled with, you know, and again, just having a union kind of protected us from being wrote up, of being, you know, in trouble for calling off for being sick. You know? Like who does that? And I think that's what the union means to me, like you don't have to suck it up, you know, and take what they dish to you. But what we do is we, you know, we gather the information, we talk, and you know, we figure out like what the next step is, particularly in a certain instance, for that person in their situation. You know? And if it's unjust, we follow the process of what, you know, the grievance process. >> I'm a strict believer in enforcing a contract, because the [inaudible] do enough to try to get over, and if we help them, they just do a little bit more. And I tell my co-workers all the time, don't have me defend you if you're in the wrong. My name is Baudry Barnes [assumed spelling], I am a cook at Macaroni Grill. I've been working for HMSHost for seven years. I've been a [inaudible] for six for Local 1. If you are in the right, your case is going to win regardless. But if you have some doubt to your case, they're going to pick up on it, because the company is smart. They're not dummies. >> No, they shouldn't, but they try to apply it to everybody's lives, like, my manager tells me all the time, "This is your family," and I'm like "No, this is my job." The very first thing is you can't get hired unless you get the background check, and then you take a drug test on the condition that you're hiring. No, I think a drug test is basically an invasion of privacy sometimes. Do it really perform? I can understand if you show signs at work, you are not performing to your ability, but if somebody smoked weed three days ago and it shows up on their test, I think that's an invasion of privacy. 

Kimmy Jordan, housekeeper for Holiday Inn Hotel, indicates the contradiction between the contract and the employee handbook. Kimmy says the handbook didnt agree with what the union was about. As a member of the union, Kimmy has which of these?

A.) a revocable contract

B.) an explicit contract

C.) an implicit contract

D.) a constructive contract

Baudry Bonds, cook for Macaroni Grill and shop steward, says that if a person had smoked weed three days ago and it shows up in their test today, he considers that an invasion of privacy. From this statement, Baudry Bondss criticism of drug testing most likely correlates with which of these?

A.) The type of drug test may be inappropriate.

B.) Drug tests do not reveal whether a person is currently under the influence of a drug.

C.) Drug testing does not make the workplace safer.

D.) Drug test samples can be improperly handled.