Ford (Kentucky Truck Plant) worker mourned as death investigation begins

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.freep.com/article/20091227/BUSINESS0102/91227034/1320/Ford-worker-dies-in-KY-plant

By James Bruggers and Jere Downs
The Courier-Journal

Posted: 7:43 p.m. Dec. 27, 2009

While Ford Motor Co. and United Auto Workers officials met today over the death of maintenance worker Ronald S. Cassady at the Kentucky Truck Plant, Rhonda Scott mourned.

“He always said `You are going to miss me when I’m gone,’ ” Scott said of Cassady, her boyfriend of eight years. “He was cocky. He was a challenge.

“I don’t know what I am going to do without him.”

Cassady, 54, who shared a Shively home with Scott, was cutting down an I-beam with a torch Saturday morning when the beam fell on his head and neck, severing an artery, she said.

He was declared dead at University Hospital at 9:24 a.m., shortly after the accident, Jefferson County deputy coroner Jim Wesley said.

His on-the-job death was the first for a UAW worker at either of Louisville’s two Ford factories since the mid-1970s, former UAW Local 862 President Lewis Sexton said. A contract worker was killed while loading a truck at the Louisville Assembly Plant in the mid-1980s, he said.

FULL story at link.

[Cirque du So-What]

1. I wish the Free Press would stop their editorializing

quoting his girlfriend's comments of 'cocky' & 'a challenge' seems a blatant attempt to portray Cassady as reckless & irresponsible. Why else would the paper go to such lengths to write this story if it wasn't trying to take some of the heat off Ford for allowing work to proceed under unsafe conditions? Allow the investigations to be conducted before editorializing about what a 'handfull' he was.

On a personal note: in a previous life I spent an 18-hour day at the Kentucky Truck Plant - in the staging lot where assembled vehicles are kept until the delivery truck arrives to take them to dealerships. These trucks had a defect in an assembly provided by the company for which I worked, which was discovered after final assembly. Ford put what's called a 'lot hold' on those vehicles, which meant it was a HUGE deal requiring immediate attention. A quality engineer & I were dispatched to KTP - along with a portable arc welder that had to be schlepped along with us, checked in & out on the planes, etc. Ford wasn't gracious enough to lend us their equipment to perform the task.

The weather was horrendous - bitter cold & howling wind. Even with insulated coveralls over 3 layers of clothing, it was a frigid nightmare - scooting around under trucks, locating the problem site, and hand-welding a repair. We even got the evil eye whenever we took breaks. Coming from a lowly Tier I supplier - and being members of management without UAW protection - we were expected to keep working nonstop until the job was completed. Regardless, we still took our breaks, but the impression we got was, 'fuck you! Keep working!' Truck-hauling semi trailers were loaded with vehicles as we completed our repairs.

After we finished the next day - after having worked through the night - we were summoned to the office of some mighty muckity-muck for a good dressing-down concerning the transgressions of the company for which we worked. We knew we were going to face the wrath of an egotistical prick when we noticed a life-size poster of Superman (George Reeves - the TV version) on a wall in his office, which we were instructed NOT to enter - remaining instead in his cold, drafty lobby until His Majesty's arrival...and arrive he did...4 hours after being called to the carpet. What followed was 45 minutes of haranguing & pontificating that taxed every fiber of my being to resist cock-punching this bloviating sack of shit. I weighed the options, finally deciding that losing my job & going to jail wouldn't be worth the satisfaction of breaking this assclown's kneecaps. I'm sure I would have gotten fired even if I had told him to eat a bag of shit, so I sat & tried to induce an out-of-body experience.

Over the intervening years, I've never indulged in hoping bad things happened to that guy, KTP, or Ford Motor Company in general, but I've always hoped that those in management who are responsible for worker safety get their hides nailed to the wall when they drop the ball. It's no different in this instance. No matter how big a cowboy Ronald S. Casady was, the ultimate responsibility for his safety lies with Ford Motor Company. That's not just opinion - it's the law - and I want the law upheld & justice served for his memory, for his survivors, and for all the other workers.

[Omaha Steve]

2. Thank you ...

For saying so much! Well said indeed.