B&H forced Hispanic workers to use separate bathroom: feds

[PatrickFaith]

This thread is total BS, the thread title is designed to drum up anti-semetic stereotypes (i.e. jewish business practices hurt the common person) followed by calls to ban the store ... where I have seen that BS happen? Now people can debate union stuff, I don't care, but anti-semetic bullshit has to be called.

 

[Cameron K]

...anti-semetic bullshit has to be called.

Yep. Moderators?

 

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Your URL links to a year-old article from the NY Post, not widely regarded as NYC's most objective daily newspaper, but that may be tangential. The article is a collection of accusations and allegations but very little by way of fact. There were never (and are not now) separate and/or unsanitary restrooms. That is a falsehood. There were never problems with asbestos, fibreglass, etc. No one was ever deprived of access to drinking water. In fact our coffee vending machines are free. The shifts and breaks are scheduled in accordance with federal, state and local regulations. The campaign leading up to the union vote was supervised by the NLRB. There was no abuse or retaliation.

On one occasion workers were not allowed to leave the warehouse for more than 30 minutes during a fire that was filling the building with smoke

That's a lie. There was a fire near, not in, our warehouse. There was no smoke and no danger to our employees. In fact the NYFD specifically asked us NOT to evacuate our facility. There was no need to do so. The number of evacuated employees would have made the NYFD's job more difficult and impeded their being able to deal with the situation effectively. We didn't evacuate because we were told not to do so.

BTW since this thread has begun wandering off-topic a bit I want to add, this has NOTHING to do with religion.

--
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video

Glad to hear this. I have nothing but amazing personal experience with B&H. Looks like there is a concerted effort to harm their reputation. In this era fake news spreads fast. So good to hear from B&H representative.

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

This thread is total BS, the thread title is designed to drum up anti-semetic stereotypes (i.e. jewish business practices hurt the common person) followed by calls to ban the store ... where I have seen that BS happen? Now people can debate union stuff, I don't care, but anti-semetic bullshit has to be called.

Yep. Moderators?

No need for drama or policing the thread. People will never learn to interact properly on their own if the higher force needs to step in every time to change diapers when the topic gets tricky or if some topics are always avoided. This only postpones the infant phase and at some stage diapers and training wheels have to come off.

We live in times of garbage sensationalistic information publishing with zero journalistic integrity and responsibility towards society, which motivates typical thought patterns within society.

If there were any issues at B&H I'm pretty sure there is more consideration now.

 

[Ben Scott]

This thread is total BS, the thread title is designed to drum up anti-semetic stereotypes (i.e. jewish business practices hurt the common person) followed by calls to ban the store ... where I have seen that BS happen? Now people can debate union stuff, I don't care, but anti-semetic bullshit has to be called.

Absolutely. Simply no reason for it.

 

[Henry Posner]

I remember B&H back in the days when it was on 17th St. At the time everyone on the floor was almost exclusively from one religous and social background. So to spin this whole thing in another way, I was actually surprised and happy to see it's staff become much more diversified and representative of the NYC population and find the greater number of hispanic and minority workers on the sales floor at the present address to be atypical in a positive way.

When I came to work here, 20+ years ago, the store manager was non-orthodox, as were several of our most senior sales associates including one who still works here and has been here since the mid 1970s. There are more non orthodox employees today as a ratio of total staff, but we've always been there. I think clothes and hair preferences make them more likely to blend into the group of customers.

Regarding the other articles cited above, they all emanate form the same original source which was a concerted effort to raise negative awareness leading up to the original vote by the warehouse workers to accept union representation. I repeat -- no separate unsanitary restrooms, no asbestos, no fiberglass, no one denied drinking water, no one endangered by a nearby fire.

 

[Rodrigo Violante]

Just to clear this up, I share an article that I saw online, but it's not the only one mentioning stuff like this.

If you do a google search you can find it.

My family is Jewish so this share had nothing to do against Jewish. Also that a guy from B&H comes and says everything is false and you guys 100% believe him it's also absurd. What do you expect from him?

Nypost sucks ok but what about CNN??

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/29/us/bh-photo-lawsuit/

 

[Nick Morrison]

Just to clear this up, I share an article that I saw online, but it's not the only one mentioning stuff like this.

If you do a google search you can find it.

My family is Jewish so this share had nothing to do against Jewish. Also that a guy from B&H comes and says everything is false and you guys 100% believe him it's also absurd. What do you expect from him?

Nypost sucks ok but what about CNN??

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/29/us/bh-photo-lawsuit/

As this CNN article points out (as did other articles), the US Department of Labor is looking into things (keep in mind this was over a year ago).

I also know a number of B&H staff recently unionized (at the very least, the ones getting the boxes downstairs, as a salesperson mentioned they were "ironing out the kinks" recently due to unionization of these employees).

Perhaps, quietly, that was the result of the Department's case? Maybe B&H settled, and these employees became free to unionize?

The clerk also mentioned they have new guidelines downstairs, w/ Union mandating warehouse employees can only carry one box at a time, not several as they used to, which was "slowing things down" a bit.

I was actually happy to hear more safety measures has been put in place.

Point is, clearly changes have been made at B&H. The clerk was pretty open about that.

Perhaps that was the result of the US Dept of Labor case?

We'll never know unless B&H confirms, but I can attest personally these changes have happened.

Which at the very least, appear to be a good sign.

 

[Rodrigo Violante]

Also this article form last month by the union

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...ed-brooklyn-warehouse-closures-300395742.html

Ether way I just share something that I believe should not happen

 

[Rodrigo Violante]

Exactly the government is suing! They won't do it without a case.

 

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Exactly the government is suing! They won't do it without a case.

If the Govt. is suing or doing its job, then allow the justice to be delivered. Maligning someone when the matter is sub judice is simply not on. This clearly shows that you have an axe to grind.

 

[Henry Posner]

Nypost sucks ok but what about CNN?

The CNN article, also now ancient, quotes the same sources and repeats the same accusations.

I also know a number of B&H staff recently unionized (at the very least, the ones getting the boxes downstairs, as a salesperson mentioned they were "ironing out the kinks" recently due to unionization of these employees).

Perhaps, quietly, that was the result of the Department's case? Maybe B&H settled, and these employees became free to unionize?

The vote by workers in our Brooklyn warehouses to accept union representation was held Nov 4, 2015 under the supervision of the NLRB. None of the employees in our Manhattan store or the store;s warehouse were included.

 

[David Battistella]

way off topic.