KY Candle factory workers threatened with firing if they left before tornado, employees say

[634-5789]

WHAT? NO UNION? I am SHOCKED!. Well, not that shocked.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kentucky-tornado-factory-workers-threatened-firing-left-tornado-employ-rcna8581

[Buckeye_Democrat]

1. A company representative who WASN'T THERE...

... denies it, of course.


“It’s absolutely untrue,” said Bob Ferguson, a spokesman for Mayfield Consumer Products. “We’ve had a policy in place since Covid began. Employees can leave any time they want to leave and they can come back the next day.”

He also denied that managers told employees that leaving their shifts meant risking their jobs. Ferguson said managers and team leaders undergo a series of emergency drills that follow guidelines of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

“Those protocols are in place and were followed,” he said.

Working in factories in Ohio for years, the reports from the survivors doesn't surprise me at all.

If I was in that situation and survived it, the only silver lining would be if the managers and supervisors didn't make it... so there would be fewer sociopaths in this world.

Edit: My current factory job is actually a joy, with many kind and encouraging people. The woman in charge doesn't behave like some military drill instructor (as if that's necessary to make people work), with signs inside that building that say "BE KIND!" And the employees diligently work to reciprocate the kindness there. It's honestly the FIRST time that I've experienced it at a factory job, and I'm in my mid-50's.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. They haven't learned anything from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

3. I've only recently experienced a pleasant work atmosphere.

I'm quite confident that my current employer -- which is privately owned by a family in Germany that's been in business for centuries, if that helps explain it at all -- wouldn't treat their employees that way.

Pretty much all of my previous supervisors and managers shouldn't have even been allowed to be around other people. Under slightly different life circumstances for them, they might've instead been in prison with other sociopaths.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

6. I agree with all except the part about it's ok for managers to die. Judging them all as

sociopaths worthy of death…I dissent.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

22. If those supervisors indeed told them their jobs...

... were in jeopardy if they left for home when they still had plenty of time to seek shelter there and to be with their families, then they ARE sociopaths. And I'd prefer to never allow such a person to be a supervisor or manager anywhere else!

How about putting them in jail? Is that okay with you?!

And if they're only following orders, the same could be said of Nazis or cruel plantation overseers who were not even the slave owners.

People matter a LOT more than company profits.

[634-5789]

8. On CNN this moment...survivors say they were NOT allowed to leave.

[Luciferous]

12. My husband is a manager in a factory and I think your comment is disgusting. There are generally

rules in place not to let people leave the building for their own safety during a tornado. A few years ago I was at a Wal-Mart and there was a tornado and they wouldn't let us leave the store until they got the all clear. You have a better chance of survival in a building. This was an unfortunate situation, but don't act like those managers were deliberately trying to harm those employees.

[Mary in S. Carolina]

15. The first warning went off hours before the tornado hit.

There were tornada watches before tornado warnings, they should have been allowed to leave. Over the advice of weather experts, management put their employees lives in danger and some died. Major lawsuits coming to Candle Factory (and Amazon) - I hope they take them for everything.

When you don't listen to the experts, people die....covid, tornados, ect.

[taliluna6]

4. Seriously?

I would have made some recommendations about what they could do with their $8/hour job as I ran through the door to get home to my family.

[jimfields33]

5. I understand the reaction but tornadoes are not hurricanes

They don’t have advanced notice. In fact, you leaving may be even a worse scenario in a tornado.

[taliluna6]

9. They had a 30 minute warning

[jimfields33]

10. Wow. Not a lot of time. I feel for everyone.

I live in Florida and feel bad that I complain about hurricanes but we have ten days advance notice typically.

[Luciferous]

14. Yeah, you don't always get much warning with a tornado.

[Mary in S. Carolina]

16. This disinformation - You DO have advanced notice

They had watches and warnings starting at around 9pm and the tornado hit at around 3+/- am.

[uponit7771]

18. +1

[AngryOldDem]

21. No, they're not.

But it was clear by late afternoon Friday that this was going to be unusually bad, way out of the norm for December.

Would it have hurt the company if it had just cancelled that shift out of an abundance of caution? ONE shift? Even if nothing had happened, eight people (maybe more) would maybe still be alive right now. Who cares if orders got backlogged?

But…candles.

This tells me we need to be:1) seriously rethinking severe weather protocols in light of global warming; and 2) OSHA and FEMA need to be directly involved with the planning and inspection of safe spaces in warehouse-type buildings.

But we’ll learn nothing from this, as usual, because workers are expendable.

[Torchlight]

23. I understand your reaction but there were numerous notices the entire evening.

The tornado hit at app. 3am local time. The first warnings were being broadcast at least 4 hours prior.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

7. Seriously? Were you there? Do you know why they worked there? For how long?

What’s their financial situation?

Come on man.

[taliluna6]

11. I didn't mean to disparage the workers,

only the people who threatened to fire them.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

19. Apologies, the workers are mostly all care about but the middle managers are also workers.

Probably had their orders for upper management, focusing there.

[Mary in S. Carolina]

17. Come On Alexander

Are you suggesting that non-union candlemakers, in the middle of Kentucky, are making a significant amount over minimum wage? If they are making more than $10 an hour, I would be shocked.

[smirkymonkey]

13. I hope these workers can sue the living shit out of their employers.

I want to see everyone who was involved in that decision go down.

[malaise]

20. So this morning they line up the company chaplain

To say how wonderful it was for those who died finding peace with their Jebus.
They never fail.