First firing

[Anoree]

Originally Posted by mart

It is a difficult decision to make, like you suggest Anoree as in it may have been the other way around and that the machinist may have goaded the fight. I guess that's why the firm has the first punch rule. It's the easy way out for them, whether it's right or wrong. But i do know this rule goes back to the 50's and i guess it was very different in them days. Has anyone here ever heard of the first punch rule?. I have worked for some builders firms in the 80's who had this rule in force.

I don't think I know it by that name, but whoever starts a (physical) fight in the company bails himself out of job.

The building industry, as well as wood work and probably a few other brances where hard muscle work is requested, tends to be rougher than the average office job. That spreads to the language used and might lead to "loose fists".
Even more so in the 50's, up to the 80's, when much more had to be done by hand. Rules to keep the workers in order (and the company working) had to be set.