this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2024
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One worker said Impact Plastics managers would not let employees leave, which company denies

Several employees at a plastics factory in eastern Tennessee were killed during Hurricane Helene or are missing, amid warnings that the storm’s current death toll of more than 130 is likely to rise substantially as subsiding floodwaters allow rescuers to search through the wreckage.

Impact Plastics confirmed there had been fatalities at its plant in Erwin but did not say how many people had been killed. The company said there were missing and deceased employees as well as a contractor.

...

Jacob Ingram, a mold changer at the company, told the Knoxville News Sentinel that as the flooding started, managers instructed employees to move their cars away from the rising water -- but would not let them leave. "They should've evacuated when we got the flash flood warnings, and when they saw the parking lot," he said to the newspaper. "When we moved our cars, we should've evacuated then ... we asked them if we should evacuate, and they told us not yet, it wasn't bad enough.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago

This is literally some triangle shirtwaist shit

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 months ago

113 years ago the Triangle Waistshirt Factory Fire also killed a fuckload of people... and the owners got off scot-free.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Not capitalism, just the south.

They never got over losing their slaves, first they kept going with Jim crow and the KKK, then right to work meant they could treat poor white people bad too.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." -LBJ

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

For a second I thought you were saying LeBron James said that lol

[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's just going to get blamed on whatever mid level manager relayed the instructions.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

"Use your best judgement." WINK WINK

If the manager had sent everyone home and the factory wasn't destroyed, they'd get fired for it.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Name for shame. I only find "plastic factory" and "company"?

People should know where they don't want to work.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago

The south. You don't want to work, or live in the south.

They didn't pass right to work because they love workers.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's in the body of the post; the company is called Impact Plastics.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Ah, thanks! Didn't see that.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Will they be personally accountable for that faulty decision?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Holding people financially accountable for the crimes they pay others to commit is bad for "the economy". I'm not even exaggerating.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

We have performed a detailed investigation and determined the responsibility was entirely the fault of 2nd junior line supervisor Ricky, who was hired last week and has been fired.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Hopefully what's left of the business is sued into the ground for such willful negligence

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago

Not enough. The people implementing that kind of work culture need prison time.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

What loyal employees they would rather die if it means helping their company profit this is who you should to look to for guidance.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 months ago

When you're the one in the household with the job that makes actual money, threats of "leave and your fired" can make you do unreasonable things. This irrationality can only be alleviated by collective bargaining and unionization... the employees standing up and saying "nope, there's a flash flood predicted tomorrow, we're not going to be coming in." Remember, these folks are working hard for a wage; their bosses and the owners are making the real money off their labor. All that matters to the company is the profit that could be lost if they shuttered one day for safety's sake.

Shutting the factory down for a little rain and wind? That could effect output and the bottom line... can't have that... I'm gonna need you to put your life at risk for our wealth or you can start looking for other work. Work that might not pay this well/have health insurance and other benefits you family needs to survive. Everyone who lives through it gets a pizza party!

[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

Your life is more valuable than your livelihood. Idk why in anyone’s right mind would even be there during a hurricane

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You have the disposable income to be able to post online. You can afford some sort of device and internet access. You probably don’t worry about how you are going to eat tonight.

There aren’t a lot of jobs in these shit hole places. There aren’t a lot of social services. Lose your job and starve versus stay and hope things pass over.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Yes I own a home but I’m broke as fuck between paychecks. I have less than $100 in my bank account to last two weeks until my next paycheck. Do I live frugal and have a wife and a son.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 2 months ago

The thing is you never expect it to get so bad that you might die it's more like you think you'll be stuck at work overnight or something like that and unfortunately it's not worth losing your livelihood over having to spend a night at work. Unfortunately by the time people realize how bad it is it's usually too late.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Because they are undocumented and are afraid their employer will have them deported if they don't do what they're told. That's one reason.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

There is no proof of this and no the odds of this being why they didn't leave is so low. Most people in small rural towns don't have options of employment, so factory work is really all they have access to. It's a reason why small rural towns die when the mine or factory shuts down.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Because they are undocumented

I didn't hear that anywhere. Usually it's just people trying not to lose their job in a region where they're scarce, and playing the odds with the severity.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago

I didn't say that the victims in this tragedy were undocumented. I didn't hear that anywhere and I'm NOT trying to start a narrative. It was just the first thing that popped into my head when thinking about why a person would be so conditioned in obeying their employer.

Yours is also a sad but perfectly true reason as well.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

FTA:

The Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) said in a statement that it had seen people affected struggling to get help from authorities.

“TIRRC staff members who deployed to the area witnessed community members struggling to access interpretation services from local and state government agencies, as well as requests by agencies for identification and documentation from immigrant community families that hindered their ability to identify missing loved ones,” the group said in a statement.

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