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B&H worker abuse rumors

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jintoku

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If this was just about the union complaints I'd take the complaints with a grain of salt.
But reading about the history of complaints will make me think twice.
--
Good w/o a god.
 
Wow. This is really bad. I've spent a couple thousand $ at B&H over the past few years. Very depressing.
 
Notice that neither Fstoppers, SLR Lounge, DP Review, nor Peta Pixel are reporting about this workers abuse. Guess that's what happens when B&H is your richest partner and you don't want to be blacklisted from getting gear from them.

Only Resource Magazine and The Phoblographer are reporting about this.

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www.thephoblographer.com

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resourcemagonline.com
 
When I visited B&H in New York City, I saw several Latino employees. I would take these accusations with extreme caution knowing that Al Jazeera which is publishing them is a Muslim news organization whose own employees have accused management of anti-semitism and the fact that B&H is a business owned and operated by orthodox Jews.

I've bought from B&H for many years, and I have found them to be honest and trustworthy.
 
Peculiar comment given that Amazon (the owners of this site) is a direct competitor of B&H
 
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M. Mitchell said:
When I visited B&H in New York City, I saw several Latino employees. I would take these accusations with extreme caution knowing that Al Jazeera which is publishing them is a Muslim news organization whose own employees have accused management of anti-semitism and the fact that B&H is a business owned and operated by orthodox Jews.

I've bought from B&H for many years, and I have found them to be honest and trustworthy.
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Let me say that i have no direct knowledge of these matters. I am an NYC resident and I have occasionally shopped and attended talks at B&H and knew them from their prior location. (Their current location is a former YMCA.) I have never been treated poorly there, or personally observed or experienced discrimination.

The complaints cited, however, are not at the 34th St. store, but at B&H warehouses in Brooklyn, and it is entirely plausible that conditions there are far different from those at 34th St, far from the public eye. The article was published by Al Jazeera, but does include several links. One, linking to the Laundry Workers' Center appears to longer be valid, however another, reporting a past discrimination settlement by B&H (http://www.wnyc.org/story/92977-bh-photo-employees-say-not-everything-picture-perfect/) was published by WNYC, which is New York City's public radio station and generally an accurate source of news. Another does report the tractor trailer fire.

If anyone can respond to this article on behalf of B&H, it would certainly be helpful. If not, anyone attending Photo Plus Expo on Thursday, 10/22 (or possibly early Friday - I don't know whether they will be present then) can certainly ask their staff.

Personally, I would not take the article at the definitive statement on the matter, but nor would I dismiss its claims out of hand.
 
ArtieD said:
M. Mitchell said:
When I visited B&H in New York City, I saw several Latino employees. I would take these accusations with extreme caution knowing that Al Jazeera which is publishing them is a Muslim news organization whose own employees have accused management of anti-semitism and the fact that B&H is a business owned and operated by orthodox Jews.

I've bought from B&H for many years, and I have found them to be honest and trustworthy.
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Let me say that i have no direct knowledge of these matters. I am an NYC resident and I have occasionally shopped and attended talks at B&H and knew them from their prior location. (Their current location is a former YMCA.) I have never been treated poorly there, or personally observed or experienced discrimination.

The complaints cited, however, are not at the 34th St. store, but at B&H warehouses in Brooklyn, and it is entirely plausible that conditions there are far different from those at 34th St, far from the public eye. The article was published by Al Jazeera, but does include several links. One, linking to the Laundry Workers' Center appears to longer be valid, however another, reporting a past discrimination settlement by B&H (http://www.wnyc.org/story/92977-bh-photo-employees-say-not-everything-picture-perfect/) was published by WNYC, which is New York City's public radio station and generally an accurate source of news. Another does report the tractor trailer fire.

If anyone can respond to this article on behalf of B&H, it would certainly be helpful. If not, anyone attending Photo Plus Expo on Thursday, 10/22 (or possibly early Friday - I don't know whether they will be present then) can certainly ask their staff.

Personally, I would not take the article at the definitive statement on the matter, but nor would I dismiss its claims out of hand.
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You do realize this is the 21th century and you're referring to a practice allegedly happening in the USA? And even within the logic that it's OK in this country for a jewish run business to discriminate against other religions (going out on a limb and assuming for a sec that this is what actually happened at B&H) the sentence "So Muslims and Mexicans are upset with a Jewish run business. What a stretch." makes no sense! What do Muslims and Mexicans have in common? The M?
DenWil said:
When I see complaints regarding discrimination I almost always am on the side of the purported oppressor. I believe every business should have the right to hire exactly who it wants and for whatever reason it chooses.

Nine out of ten times it is a person making a political statement that has nothing to do actual discrimination. I find this to be particularly true with name companies who when hit the media will jump on.

Poor headscarf wearing Muslin girl marginalized by A&F. Because all deeply religious women want to work at a highly sexualized, physically objectified as a lifestyle clothing store. LGBT denied service by Christians. Anyone who believes gays will go out of their own community and people they know, their friends know, to buy from total strangers who live in a different world just for their product, is delusional.

So Muslims and Mexicans are upset with a Jewish run business. What a stretch.

I agree up believing that that sh$t kicking cowboy bars were for cowboys and if a someone else was not welcomed what did they expect? I have no problem with folks wanting to be with similar minded company. As long as the company is not owned by the government/ funded by taxpayers or providing essential services I have no problem being excluded from some and welcomed by others.
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I had visited BH in the fall of 2014.I was very much impressed by the scale of operation and the efficiency.

But often with efficiency comes ruthlessness and loss of human touch and sensitivity,it is sad if "profits" take precedence over people at BH and if all that has been alleged is true.
 
If this is even remotely true, then my future business will be taken somewhere else. Any truly successful business should always take care of their employees, even those that don't get to interact with your customers directly. Your employees and how they feel about the business often says a lot. For example, if I asked the majority of people here if they would rather shop at Costco or Sam's Club. The majority would say Costco, and if asked why, plenty would state because Costco takes care of their employees.
 
DenWil said:
When I see complaints regarding discrimination I almost always am on the side of the purported oppressor. I believe every business should have the right to hire exactly who it wants and for whatever reason it chooses.

Nine out of ten times it is a person making a political statement that has nothing to do actual discrimination. I find this to be particularly true with name companies who when hit the media will jump on.

Poor headscarf wearing Muslin girl marginalized by A&F. Because all deeply religious women want to work at a highly sexualized, physically objectified as a lifestyle clothing store. LGBT denied service by Christians. Anyone who believes gays will go out of their own community and people they know, their friends know, to buy from total strangers who live in a different world just for their product, is delusional.

So Muslims and Mexicans are upset with a Jewish run business. What a stretch.

I agree up believing that that sh$t kicking cowboy bars were for cowboys and if a someone else was not welcomed what did they expect? I have no problem with folks wanting to be with similar minded company. As long as the company is not owned by the government/ funded by taxpayers or providing essential services I have no problem being excluded from some and welcomed by others.
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Let me just say that, if the story turns out to be legitimate, and that's a big IF, B&H was not hiring Hispanics and possibly undocumented workers against its will; it likely sought them out as cheap labor over whom they could exert greater control. It's highly unlikely that they were affirmative action hires, forced on B&H management, who would rather have a staff of Hasids doing the dirty work in their warehouses. Aside from the religious aspect, warehouse working conditions are hardly a B&H issue only. Just ask Jeff Bezos.
 
Joe fotosiamo said:
Notice that neither Fstoppers, SLR Lounge, DP Review, nor Peta Pixel are reporting about this workers abuse. Guess that's what happens when B&H is your richest partner and you don't want to be blacklisted from getting gear from them.

Only Resource Magazine and The Phoblographer are reporting about this.

http://www.thephoblographer.com/201...otest-unsafe-working-conditions/#.Vh1DWXpVhBc

http://resourcemagonline.com/2015/1...fety-conditions-rampant-discrimination/59243/
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PetaPixel has reported this.

Now, about the issue at hand. It's fresh, none of us know exactly what's going on outside of there are some clearly disgruntled workers. But what large employer doesn't have them? The answer? None. I'll reserve judgment until a third party is able to really look into what's going on....not B&H, not the union, not A.J. news (who "may" be a bit biased, but I'd like to think it's not the case).

I've been a B&H customer since about 2001 and have never had a bad experience (via mail and then the internet). I've never been to the store in person. I'm also a long time Amazon customer and have done some business with Adorama as well.

I'm not making any changes until the real facts are known and made public. Until then, it's business as usual for me...but I'm curious as to those facts. IF they are found to be undeniably true, I will cease to be customer UNTIL they are corrected and documented. And NO, I am not a fan of unions. They have a place (sometimes) but, IMO, most of the time they cause more problems than not.
 
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