If this was a Union member the bosses would be calling for their sacking.
Why should Abbott – who admitted that the impact of his drunken behavior was “rather greater than it should have been” – keep his job?
Why hasn’t the current PM moved on this issue beyond rebuking the behavior? It is worth pointing out that Turnbull and Abbott have a strained relationship and that Abbott – as it now comes to light – somehow managed to unseat Turnbull as the Liberal Party leader in 2009 despite now admitting that he worked while inebriated in that year.
Estimates of the cost of injuries, absenteeism, lost production, workers compensation and rehabilitation services, arising from the misuse of alcohol in the workplace run into the millions.
The impairment of behaviour can cause affected employees to injure themselves or others and employers may be faced with lateness, inefficiency and absenteeism, lost time and production from dangerous incidents and damage to plant, equipment and other property.
The TWU, our grassroots members and hardworking delegates and OH&S representatives – many of whom work under a zero alcohol policy – take this issue extremely seriously.
Some indicators that can suggest the presence of alcohol and other drug misuse in the workplace by an employee include:
• ‘near miss’ incidents
• habitual lateness & frequent absences
• neglect of personal grooming & interpersonal problems
• employee experiencing poor coordination, poor concentration and/or visual disturbance, and• being passed out, drunk, and missing an important economic vote as a representative of 22 million Australians that could have ensured a safer passage for all through a Global Financial Crisis that left many broke.