Why you can't fire people.

In many ways my work here feels like the factory that I used to work in in Northern Indiana. Really it is not remotely similar but none the less there are similarities. A big difference though has to do with the way Amis takes responsibility for its employees.

There is for example a worker who had some slight mental issues and was essentially with out a fixed domicile (SDF). Then a couple of years ago he had an accident where he fell down some stairs and his condition has worsened. I am not aware of all the issues he faces. I believe that he lives alone at the moment but apparently his living space is a mess. He has a fairly strong smell. Not a smell of sweat but generally one of not clean. He also has no family at all. The point being that he shows up late for work and then leaves at lunch though he is supposed to work till 4:15. This is not good. At the factory I worked in it would not be a problem because he would have just been fired months ago. The supervisors and organization though feels a responsibility to improve his situation. Thus they are trying to find him a living situation where he would have some supervision to make sure that his living space was in order and such. This is a many month long project. It has been determined though that to improve his work ethic his housing situation needs to be improved. We can't fire him because he will find no other work and then he will lose his living space and then he'll be on the street. Unfortunately it is also difficult to hold onto him if he shows up for 2-3 hours of work a day.

This is not the only case like this. How do you discipline workers who if they lose their jobs there is no question that they will be on the street? An organization like this can't operate without reliable workers. It is a business.