It’s not just the unions. My 25 years of consulting and more have shown that many enterprises at least tolerate intoxication at work in one way or another. I work mostly with some top professions.

Some enterprises encourage getting loaded. Someone I know who worked for a big cruise ship company for a number of years said that most of the top of ship officers and crew were loaded nearly constantly.

We’ve all heard of airline pilots and shipping captains who are loaded. We hear about it when some of them are removed or have an accident.

We never learn about the vast number who get loaded regularly. A relative was an eye surgeon and was known to drink at lunch and after. That was normal for him and many of his fellow docs. He had a great career.

It’s a reflection of culture in general that getting loaded during the work day is common place among many, perhaps even most professions, even if it is an open or not so open secret.