The Sincerity of an Alcoholic Judged by Another Alcoholic – Nigel K.

First, we will hear from Mr. Nigel Kinsett. Mr. Chairman, members of the panel, ladies and gentlemen, it's a real privilege to have the opportunity of appearing before this group on an important occasion such as this. this and you know I not being a professional I wrote some of this down before I came and I was going to say something like that anyway but looking around here this morning at the people who are here the kind of people who were here the ones I saw out in one of the other rooms earlier and the speakers I listened to I can really say that I mean that when I say it Now, I'm not in a position to qualify myself before you people in the accustomed way. I count myself fortunate, in fact, that I've not had to make those difficult decisions that you people have at one time or another before you became members of this fellowship. My only qualification for this experience is that I have been faced with the problem of what to do about alcoholics in industry in the plant where I am employed. And I must say, the deeper I get into it, the more complicated it somehow seems to become. Now, as Superintendent of Industrial Relations for the Algoma Steel Corporation, for a good many years, this matter of dealing with alcoholics has been sort of an unofficial part of my job. Algoma Steel, by the way, as a matter of information and not advertising, is the second largest of the steel plants in Canada, the integrated steel plants, and about the 10th or 11th in size on the continent. At the steelworks in Sault Ste. Marie, where I work and where we have dealt with this program, we have about 8,500 employees of whom 6,500 are hourly-rated production workers. Now, I don't need to tell you people that not too long ago the basic approach of most industries to the question of alcoholism amongst its employees was to consider alcoholics as hopeless, irretrievable drunks, and to fire them with the idea that this was good riddance and as far as these people were concerned it closed the books permanently. Then some people in industry became aware of the fact that some of these former employees, perhaps I should say now, either through AA or some other means were able to stop drinking and resume a normal life. But the stigma of being a drunk is hard to outlive, and most industries still felt that once a man became a drunk he would always be one. They hesitated to give such persons another chance once they had them out of their hair. But undoubtedly at the same time, a few people in these industries had a gnawing feeling that some of these recovered alcoholics, as distinct from what we call practicing alcoholics really deserved a better break than that. And as a result the gradual development of rehabilitation programs commenced. And when I say rehabilitation, I say it in the sense of reestablishing these people in their former jobs in industry. A program at Algoma first started, I think, because a man who had risen from ordinary production jobs to become assistant works manager and later vice president of industrial relations saw some of his boyhood friends get fired as a result of alcoholism. Then later on, even though they had solved their drinking problem but they still needed food, clothing, and shelter like any other person, they just couldn't get a job because their reputation. This man took the chance of rehiring some of them, and this was the start of the program at Algoma. Now my first involvement in the question of alcoholism was through this man. Perhaps because of my respect for him, I absorbed part of his philosophy. The increasing belief that alcoholism is a type of disease rather than a lack of willpower or moral degeneration, or what have you, seem to be a reasonable supposition. In the earlier dealings with alcoholics at Algoma, each case was handled as it arose but with no set program or procedure to follow. All too often our judgment of the individual's real intention was poor, and I am afraid that many a practicing alcoholic just got another chance at his job only to be fired again after time. This tended to hurt our effort at rehabilitation of the genuinely recovered alcoholic, because supervisors in industry tend to take the time-honored attitude of once bitten twice shy. You people know that if a supervisor will not take a recovered alcoholic back willingly and with an understanding mind, that it will be much more difficult for him to re-establish himself. So it is our belief that it is of the utmost importance that if a man is to be given another chance, we must first know that he really wants to quit drinking, that he is willing to seek, and that he has sought the help he needs, and he has been able to remain sober for a reasonably long time. This brings me to what we at Algoma consider to be the most important single part of the program of dealing with alcoholics. It is apparent that the one person who is best able to judge the sincerity of the effort of an alcoholic to stop drinking is another alcoholic. In the first place, he is in a better position to decide whether an individual actually is an alcoholic, and I might say that there are many people trying to ride along this program who aren't alcoholics." In the second place, he is better equipped to decide whether the alcoholic really does want to stop drinking and if he does want to but can't do it by himself. If he is willing to seek the help he will need to accomplish this. In other words, we must have someone who can guide us objectively in making a decision as to whether an alcoholic is a good risk for further employment. So one of the central men in our program is—and I think always must be—a recovered alcoholic who is active in the fellowship and whose judgment of whether or not an alcoholic is ready for rehabilitation, is objective and reliable. We at Algoma feel that most of the credit for any success which has been accomplished at Algona in dealing with this problem rests more upon the shoulders of one of the members of your fellowship than upon any other single factor. I refer to Jack Kaye. I think Jack got kidded about the fact that I was going to mention him. Jack has spent endless hours trying to help his fellow alcoholics solve their problems, and we are convinced that unless he thinks an individual has a good chance of making the grade, he will not recommend him for re-employment. Jack Kaye, I might say, is a supervisory employee of the company, but he works with the leaders of the union organization equally as well as with management. It is fortunate for the success of the program that both the company and the union will accept his judgment as far as individuals are concerned. This is important because the cooperation of the union is necessary for the waiving of certain seniority provisions in the labor agreement in order to assist in the rehabilitation of the employees whose jobs are included in a collective bargaining agreement. At this point, I want to make it clear that I am at the moment talking for the most part of the rehabilitation of alcoholics who have reached the stage where it is necessary to discharge them because they are no longer able to perform their jobs in an acceptable manner. I realize that there is another important phase of the problem. This of course consists of attempting to help individuals before they get fired and so avoid the much more difficult period of adjustment which follows their discharge. We attempt to deal with this phase through our plant medical department. Our medical director is a most understanding individual, and we try to steer employees who have a drinking problem to him. They don't all go, but some of them do. He also works with Jack Kaye and other members of the fellowship in Sault Ste. Marie. he will agree that the odds on a non-alcoholic convincing a practicing alcoholic that he is an alcoholic and that he must quit drinking are decidedly of the long-shot variety. In our experience, though, a team consisting of the medical director and a dedicated and respected recovered alcoholic can be successful in quite a number of cases. however for those alcoholics who do not respond or those we could not and did not reach in time it seems that discharge may well be the only successful spur which will lead an alcoholic to face up to his problem and in passing i might say this that our plant is in a small town it's the one large industry in the town and when a man is fired from that plant in a specialized industry like the steel industry, it's an awful job for him to get another job anywhere whether he's an alcoholic or not. And it seems to me that this is harsh treatment to ever have to fire the man and say, you know, you've got to get along, but sometimes it seemsと be necessary. Now so much for the general background relative to alcoholics at Algoma. The phase of the program which has become more or less public knowledge is that which involves the rehabilitation of recovered alcoholics who have been discharged by the company because they could not carry out their work acceptably. At the present time, there are some seventy-five recovered alcohols working in our plant. Most of them haven't had a drink in years. They work in almost all groups in the plant and include superintendents, foremen, skilled workers and unskilled workers. In many cases the people with whom they work don't even know that at one time they were considered to be hopeless drunks. In other cases they were known to be alcoholics but because of the fact that they are now reliable and productive workmen, and have proved that they can and did quit drinking, they are often respected as much because they did quit as because for years they have been performing their jobs, whatever they may be, in an acceptable manner. Employees who are discharged for alcoholism, whether it be officially attributed to absenteeism, poor workmanship, physical inability to do a day's work, insubordination, being on the job under the influence at any time, or any of the other results of alcoholism or heavy drinking fall into two categories which involve only minor differences in the method of handling. If the employees are not members of a bargaining unit—that's if they're supervisory or exempt employees, or whatever you like to call them, they are dealt with by company representatives, including the medical director. In all cases, they are referred to AA and are told that a positive recommendation from AA is one of the requisites before they can again be considered for employment. If the employees are members of a bargaining unit, a meeting of the grievance Committee is held, at which the discharged employee is usually present. The local grievance committee of the union has given their full support to the program. The discharge employee is told by both company and union representatives the conditions under which he will be considered for re-employment or reinstatement. At the meeting, the discharge is concurred in by the union. I say concurred in advisedly. Unions don't agree very often to the discharge of employees, but in this case they concur in it because of the program that is being followed. Following the meeting, a letter is sent by the company to the discharged employee with a copy to the union and the employment office. This letter sets forth the conditions for future employment and for the probationary period which must be served before consideration will be given to the reinstatement of his former service and pension rights. This brings me to a description of what we call the A.A. program. You will all recognize that in a plant with some 8,500 employees, a program such as this must be completely controlled by one person or at most a small group of persons who work together and are thoroughly familiar with the problems involved. This program consists of a one-page statement of procedures and four letters, more or less form letters, which are used with minor modifications in each case if and when an employee who has been discharged because of the results of excessive drinking has been placed on the AA program. These procedures itemize the requirements of the program. They are the results of a good many years of experience by perhaps trial and error, and we believe that they or at least similar procedures are necessary if the program is to be successful. I'll deal with each of them very briefly in turn. Now, item one, that is the decision to place the employee on the AA program. This is based on two factors. One, the belief that his problems are related to his drinking habits. And we always consult our contact man in AA before this decision is made. B, a determination of the man's suitability as an employee exclusive of his drinking program or problem. In other words, do we want him as an employe even if he does quit drinking? And there are some cases where we don't. once it has been decided to place the employee on the program a letter is sent to him stating the conditions under which he will be considered for re-employment and outlining his ultimate status if successful and this this letter i will quote the form letter you have been discharged from the algoma seal corporation as a direct result of your overindulgence in alcohol you have agreed to seek the help of qualified persons in a sincere effort to overcome your problem. The company is willing to cooperate with you by offering to consider you for rehiring. This consideration will only be given upon receipt of recommendations acceptable to the company, verifying that for a period of not less than six months you have successfully participated in a program to overcome your problem. In the event that you qualify yourself for rehiring, it has been agreed that you will be given the benefit of your former plant service for reh hiring and work opportunity only. For all other purposes, you will have the status of a new employee. You will be on strict probation for 12 months from the date of rehiring and may be discharged at any time should you display any evidence of unsatisfactory conduct. If you successfully complete this 12-month probationary period, you will be granted your former plant service credits. And that includes his vacation privileges and pension rights and all the other things that go along with length of service. And if the men happen to be well along in years, the return of their pension rights is a very, very important matter. Now, item two of the procedures arises out of this letter. This is that under no circumstances will we re-employ the man in less than six months from the time of his actual discharge. A further condition for rehire is assurance from our AA contact that the individual has successfully participated in the AA program or, in some cases, some other acceptable program for a period of not less than six months. Perhaps this seems like a harsh rule. It is harsh, but necessarily so because our experience has been that if we shortcut this step the chances of permanent reestablishment as a satisfactory employee are greatly reduced. On the other hand, we have found that the majority of those reemployed on the recommendation of AA, after this six-month period, do reestablish themselves, even though some of them may have an occasional short slip, such as our chairman almost had last night. Now, item three, when a person who has been placed on this program has qualified for rehiring, he must first present himself to the industrial relations department usually he's accompanied by jack k of aa he's told again that he will be on probation on a probationary basis for 12 months and that if he is successful his service credits and seniority will be reinstated at the end of that time and he has then sent a letter confirming this conversation and a quote from the letter as a result of our conversation in my office on such and such date, you will be given an opportunity to again establish yourself as an employee of this company at as early a date as possible. We draw to your attention the fact that you will be on strict probation for a period of 12 months from the date you are rehired. Any evidence of failure to continue your program of rehabilitation or of unsatisfactory conduct will result in termination of your employment with the company. In order to assist in your rehabilitation, the company, with the concurrence of Local Union 2251 and prior to the completion of the 12-month probationary period, is prepared to recognize your former plant seniority insofar as it may be necessary to provide work opportunity for you during the 12 month probationary period. That is to say, the effect of that is that if the man had sufficient seniority to hold a job before he was discharged, even if there were layoffs, that he would still be able to use that to assure that he had a job during this twelve-month probationary period. Now, at the same time that this letter is sent, the employment office is re-instructed to rehire the individual under the conditions stated in the letter, and a copy of the letter goes into his personnel record. Which brings us to item four. In many cases, the department in which the employee worked or the former employee worked is willing to take him back on his regular job once he has stopped drinking. This is generally the happiest solution. Sometimes this cannot be done. In this case, he is assigned to another department on whatever job is available and must work up from that point. In such cases, the new department is advised of the circumstances by a letter worded in this manner. This employee was previously discharged as a result of his drinking habits. He has participated in a rehabilitation program for six months, and upon receipt of suitable recommendations, the company has rehired him on twelve months' probation with the hope that he has overcome his problem and will again establish himself as a good employee. We solicit your cooperation in this program and request that you advise Supervisor of labor relations of any irregularities such as absenteeism which occur while he is in your department. Although we hope to limit the number of people who have knowledge of these circumstances, we would like the immediate supervisor to be notified. The progress of the employee is carefully watched during the 12-month probationary period. Regular assessments are made to determine his conduct and progress on the job. If there is any indication that the individual is drinking again, this is checked with AA and if necessary he is called into the office and given a final warning. If there's any further trouble, he is discharged. If he is successful, at the end of 12 months he is reinstated with all former service credits and rights. Ladies and gentlemen, this program may sound long and complicated. But in practice, this is not really the case. I can only say that it has worked successfully at our plant. You should bear in mind that our plant is in a small town of about 70,000 with one large industry, and it probably is not the same as problems in a large city. A substantial number of recovered alcoholics have reestablished themselves as useful, respected members of our community. At the same time, Algoma Steel has retained the services of many skilled and productive employees that it would have been very hard to replace. In conclusion, I say that we at Algoma are convinced that a program for the rehabilitation of our employees who are unfortunate enough to be afflicted with alcoholism is not only a necessary part of the solution of a serious health and social problem, but it pays off for the company too. Just why and how a practicing alcoholic can transform himself into a useful, happy, and respected citizen, I don't really know. As an individual, I feel that the 12 steps of AA hold at least one of the answers, and it seems to me that perhaps one of the most far-reaching of these steps from our point of view is the last one. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and practice these principles in our affairs, and Jack King has certainly done that. Ladies and gentlemen as I said at the beginning, I have been spared the necessity of making the decision that the members of this fellowship have all faced. And after looking around at the signs out in the hall there on the wall and so on, and I'm sure this is true, if I should ever have to make that decision, I know I could count on whichever one of you I could find nearest to me to see me through, because by helping others, I know you add to your own strength of purpose. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Kensett, for that very down-to-earth and practical description of a specific company program.