Pages: [1] 2   Go Down

Author Topic: B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.  (Read 5380 times)

buckshot

  • Guest
B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.
« on: October 15, 2015, 03:51:20 pm »

Here and here.
Logged

jjj

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4728
    • http://www.futtfuttfuttphotography.com
Re: B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.
« Reply #1 on: October 15, 2015, 06:57:31 pm »

The reports that have been coming out re B+H seem very damning.

If true, which the evidence seems to indicate. Are places like LuLa going to continue to accept their advertising?
« Last Edit: October 15, 2015, 07:00:56 pm by jjj »
Logged
Tradition is the Backbone of the Spinele

AlterEgo

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1995
Re: B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.
« Reply #2 on: October 15, 2015, 07:26:11 pm »

If true, which the evidence seems to indicate. Are places like LuLa going to continue to accept their advertising?

money don't smell...
Logged

amolitor

  • Guest
Re: B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.
« Reply #3 on: October 15, 2015, 08:22:33 pm »

I think you would be hard pressed to find a warehouse operation that's not basically identical to B&H's.

Why do you think the cameras/books/blenders/auto parts/tomatos are so cheap? Because they're crushing costs up and down the supply chain, and a cost that can be crushed is warehouse workers.
 
It's us. Ultimately, it's us.
Logged

mediumcool

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 770
Re: B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.
« Reply #4 on: October 17, 2015, 11:06:03 am »

There seems to be opposition to trade unions in the US that is so emotionally based as to yield to no logic. Whilst the far Right in Australia (more moderate than the Tea party BTW) continually tries to demonise unions, the fact is that they act as a counterbalance to the immense employment power enjoyed by large businesses. One person against a company the size of B&H? No contest.

Since the concept of structural unemployment is nowadays an integral part of government economic management in many jurisdictions, the “go and get another job” meme becomes a touch laughable.

I have bought from B&H before, but will not again.
Logged
FaceBook facebook.com/ian.goss.39   www.mlkshk.com/user/mediumcool

Rob C

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 24074
Re: B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.
« Reply #5 on: October 17, 2015, 03:34:08 pm »

It's the problem of the expectation of constant growth, with the idea that to keep making a good living out of a business is not enough, you have to grow it!

I don't believe it for a moment. There's nothing wrong with making the same reasonable turnover every year; what is wrong is that prices keep getting shoved north because of the bloody growth concept, and so you have to join in too. It becomes a chain reaction, and you then have to grow to stand still.

I used to enjoy the services of an excellent local photographic dealer near Glasgow. He was a rare outlet for Leica, Hasselblad and Nikon. One day I went to see him about some 'blad stuff I needed.  He told me he'd lost them. (500 Series days.) I asked him why, and he said that he couldn't sell enough anymore because the big photo dealers in London and Leeds could sell retail at prices he couldn't buy from Hasselblad. That's crazy. If you are big, then make your profits and price cuts from economies of internal scale, efficiencies; you shouldn't have the manufacturers cutting prices for you. As Hasselblad were the only people making Hasselblads, there was no goddam reason to cut prices for the big guys! A single price would have been fair to all outets, made 'blad more money, and the folks buying would still have been buying.

The bottom line? Greed and Fear.

Rob C

David Anderson

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 715
    • http://www.twigwater.com
Re: B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.
« Reply #6 on: October 17, 2015, 03:56:56 pm »

Whilst the far Right in Australia (more moderate than the Tea party BTW)

But just as greedy and evil.  ;)





Logged

Telecaster

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3686
Re: B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.
« Reply #7 on: October 17, 2015, 04:34:18 pm »

I've been involved with two companies that eventually blew themselves up due to not knowing when to stop trying to get bigger…and not being able to stop once reality smacked 'em upside the head. This stuff is part of the extremist business ethos we're currently enduring. The pursuit of profit unhindered by ethical or rational restraint or constraint.

This morning I heard a recap of the preliminary findings of an ongoing study of anorexia nervosa. The researchers have found that long-term anorexic behavior is more akin to an addictive habit than a strong-willed refusal to eat healthily. The anorexics know they're doing themselves harm, committing slow suicide even, but can't break free from deeply engrained behaviors.

I suspect runaway greed works much the same way. The question is whether or not we'll be able to figure out how to effectively treat this kind of addiction before its sufferers blow up the entire world economy.

-Dave-
Logged

jjj

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4728
    • http://www.futtfuttfuttphotography.com
Re: B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.
« Reply #8 on: October 17, 2015, 05:16:12 pm »

It's the problem of the expectation of constant growth, with the idea that to keep making a good living out of a business is not enough, you have to grow it!
If you know some basic maths, you will quickly realise how really dumb the concept of constant growth is.
The metric that only *growth* matters is idiotic nonsense. If you are comfortably making a billion pounds a year or whatever it takes to pay for everyone's wages and future investment, research etc, it is actually OK to not grow. [Not saying one shouldn't protect market share or anything]
This nonsense is a large part of why I loathe shareholders and their stranglehold over companies. If is isn't growing it must be failing, so shares need to be sold mentality is short sighted and usually makes stocks plummet, so undermining the business and possibly causing finance problems that were not there before.

Quote
The bottom line? Greed and Fear.
Nope stupidity.

I suspect runaway greed works much the same way. The question is whether or not we'll be able to figure out how to effectively treat this kind of addiction before its sufferers blow up the entire world economy.
Nope stupidity is the same answer.   ;)

Logged
Tradition is the Backbone of the Spinele

Telecaster

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3686
Re: B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.
« Reply #9 on: October 18, 2015, 05:41:09 pm »

Nope stupidity is the same answer.   ;)

I think it's more complex. There's a compulsive aspect to greed whereby people who succumb are carried off by it beyond their own conscious intention or even desire. Just calling it stupidity makes it easy to judge & condemn & feel superior but does nothing about getting to the root of the problem. Now some people are just sociopathic. In these cases resource hoovering is more likely part of a strategy, a means to an end. IMO our oligarchs belong in this category. But in my experience most "greedy people" don't have any end in mind. Nor are they stupid. But they have lost perspective…and control.

-Dave-
Logged

jjj

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4728
    • http://www.futtfuttfuttphotography.com
Re: B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.
« Reply #10 on: October 18, 2015, 05:57:02 pm »

They are stupid in thinking endless growth and such like is possible.
Nothing to do with feeling superior either, just describing how I see it.

The problem with capitalism [or any other political system] is that they do not take human behaviour into account. Governments trying to prevent boom and bust are to use the S word again stupid. That's simply  how unfettered capitalism works when humans get involved with it. Rather than trying to stop crashes happening which only delays the inevitable and now bigger bust, realise that is what is part of the system and try and work with it. A similar example would forest fires. By stopping all the natural small fires, you often end up having a huge conflagration a bit further down the line that is catastrophic.

There's an interesting book [and a film] about business The Corporation, which posits that if you judge businesses like you would a human, they are actually psychopathic.
Logged
Tradition is the Backbone of the Spinele

amolitor

  • Guest
Re: B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.
« Reply #11 on: October 19, 2015, 01:25:36 am »

Capitalism requires constant growth. It also requires constant failure and destruction to balance things out. It is the nature of competition.

The second bit is usually left out of the brochures.


Logged

BobShaw

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2218
    • Aspiration Images
Re: B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.
« Reply #12 on: October 19, 2015, 01:46:00 am »

 ....  He says he never received any training on how to operate the forklift
You would not be allowed to operate a machine without a licence in Australia.
Doesn't the US have industrial relations laws?

Logged
Website - http://AspirationImages.com
Studio and Commercial Photography

jjj

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4728
    • http://www.futtfuttfuttphotography.com
Re: B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.
« Reply #13 on: October 19, 2015, 05:54:04 am »

....  He says he never received any training on how to operate the forklift
You would not be allowed to operate a machine without a licence in Australia.
Doesn't the US have industrial relations laws?
Not if businesses can help it.
Logged
Tradition is the Backbone of the Spinele

Telecaster

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3686
Re: B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.
« Reply #14 on: October 19, 2015, 06:06:37 pm »

The problem with capitalism [or any other political system] is that they do not take human behaviour into account. Governments trying to prevent boom and bust are to use the S word again stupid. That's simply  how unfettered capitalism works when humans get involved with it. Rather than trying to stop crashes happening which only delays the inevitable and now bigger bust, realise that is what is part of the system and try and work with it. A similar example would forest fires. By stopping all the natural small fires, you often end up having a huge conflagration a bit further down the line that is catastrophic.

One thing I'd note is that capitalism is a human creation. We didn't find it lying about waiting to be put to use. We made it up. Which means we can modify it. After all, is it an economic system to be deployed & employed—within rational & moral boundaries—or an object of worship to be genuflected in front of? The former, of course. The "unfettered free market" is a utopianist's delusion…no real-world economy does or can work that way. Best to admit this and then get on with setting up well-considered boundaries. This way you can have controlled burns, greatly reducing the possibility of scorched earth outcomes.

-Dave-
Logged

Dale Villeponteaux

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 378
Re: B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.
« Reply #15 on: October 19, 2015, 07:33:20 pm »

B&H have had their problems with labor in the past, so I suppose it is coincidence that this set of news stories is associated with a United Steelworkers unionization drive. Whatever the truth of the allegations, weakening a company by alienating its customers is an effective tactic. Already, a number of LuLa
readers have stated their intention to stop buying from B&H.

I'm not sure who is David and who is Goliath here, B&H or United Steelworkers, but at least power and organization are not limited to one side only.

Regards,
Dale
Logged
My avatar isn't an accurate portrayal; I have much less hair.

jjj

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4728
    • http://www.futtfuttfuttphotography.com
Re: B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.
« Reply #16 on: October 19, 2015, 07:36:41 pm »

The "unfettered free market" is a utopianist's delusion…no real-world economy does or can work that way. Best to admit this and then get on with setting up well-considered boundaries. This way you can have controlled burns, greatly reducing the possibility of scorched earth outcomes.
My point entirely. The issue is that people do not get this fundamental aspect of economics.
Logged
Tradition is the Backbone of the Spinele

Rob C

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 24074
Re: B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.
« Reply #17 on: October 20, 2015, 04:25:46 am »

My point entirely. The issue is that people do not get this fundamental aspect of economics.


Oh, I think that many do; what happens, though, is that for those not actually doing anything on their own, the myth of capitalism, as in the red-toothed, hooded monster, is all they get to know and, consequently, to hate.

One of my pet (but impossible) wishes in the past was that everybody should have the compulsory experience of having to run their own business for a year. The learning curve of how things work would be an eye-opener, especially regarding the concept of the world owing one a living, not to mention lining up behind some union and demanding pay rises.

Alas, the world will forever remain divided between those who tried and those who did not, with all the consequential baggage that decision creates.

The way it is.

Rob C

jjj

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4728
    • http://www.futtfuttfuttphotography.com
Re: B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.
« Reply #18 on: October 20, 2015, 03:36:24 pm »

Oh, I think that many do
Really? As I've see very little to no evidence of that.

Quote
what happens, though, is that for those not actually doing anything on their own, the myth of capitalism, as in the red-toothed, hooded monster, is all they get to know and, consequently, to hate.
Uh, it's not a myth. That is simply how it works. Even if you do work for yourself.
I think if you were trying to be a pro photographer today, you'd sing a very different story.

Quote
One of my pet (but impossible) wishes in the past was that everybody should have the compulsory experience of having to run their own business for a year. The learning curve of how things work would be an eye-opener, especially regarding the concept of the world owing one a living, not to mention lining up behind some union and demanding pay rises.
I agree that many people do not get that working for yourself is not the sinecure they think it is and unions can be self destructive certainly. But without some counterpoint to the goal of making businesses as profitable as possible, people will always be screwed over by 'The Man'. Unfettered capitalism and unfettered union power are both appaling and socially disruptive, albeit in slightly differing ways.


« Last Edit: October 20, 2015, 03:38:19 pm by jjj »
Logged
Tradition is the Backbone of the Spinele

PeterAit

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4559
    • Peter Aitken Photographs
Re: B&H faces unwanted exposure over worker safety.
« Reply #19 on: October 20, 2015, 04:15:25 pm »

Corporations are interested in one thing and one thing only: profit. That's just the nature of the beast, corporations are designed and intended to make profit. Damn the workers, damn the environment, profit comes first!!!
Logged
Pages: [1] 2   Go Up