Tennessee plastics factory staff killed in Hurricane Helene reportedly told not to evacuate
Tennessee plastics factory staff killed in Hurricane Helene reportedly told not to evacuate
One worker said Impact Plastics managers would not let employees leave, which company denies
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.
If you’re in danger from humans, fire, or disaster I don’t give a shit if you might lose your job.
Leave.
Totally. My wife works in a skyscraper and they had a fire on the 6th floor and were told not to leave while the firefighters investigate. She's on the 25th, so I told her to leave anyway until they can clear the fire. Why risk it? By the time the FF arrive and clear it, it could be too late with people flooding the stairwells to get out.
Exactly. If firefighters need to check it out, I’m taking that as a reason to distrust the structure.
Live to sue another day.
That's part of the issue. I don't think many people thought the hurricane was going to cause the damage it did until it actually happened.
Can I just kill myself first instead
Another win for greed, capitalism and the American way!
If you think you aren’t just a number. Remember this day.
What's truly sad is that people will defend working through life-threatening conditions and just think of it as American Exceptionalism.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xYfH8nftFpw
Here's an interview with a survivor. It is infuriating.
I wonder if Terry was okay during the storm, since it took him ten fucking minutes to call back to say they were allowed to go home.
NBC news had an article that not once mentioned that employees said they were not allowed to leave. Just that the company said what the company said publicly. Totally pro-corpo.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/hurricane-tennessee-deaths-plastic-factory-rcna173351
Holy crap, I didn't believe you until I read this.
I hope future Google searches for Tavleen Tarrant and Suzanne Gamboa show this comment. Those journalists are disgusting scum of human beings. I would be ashamed to work at the same company as them.
We need to get united in boycotting media companies that don't put the people first. No viewers, no advertisements will keep being bought, and they will change their rhetoric real quick.
In this case, I hope the family members and employees file a massive lawsuit against Impact Plastics.
It wouldn't surprise me if the business is leveraged so that any lawsuit, while successful, would be like squeezing blood from a stone.
And unless they can pierce the corporate veil, the CEO can't be held personally liable.
God, I fucking hate corporate personhood.
I think in this case an argument could be made for personal culpability, and I for one hope they are charged with manslaughter.
tragic company name
My siblings live in an area affected by Helene, and I thank fucking god the one that works in a warehouse has the Gen Z attitude of “get fucked lol” when it comes to employers.
When the worst of the storm was coming through the stance of county 911 was that if you call they’re not coming unless someone is about to die. And yet some of these companies expect people to risk their lives to show up for $10-15 an hour? It’s insane.
I understand why everyone can’t just tell their employer to go fuck themselves, it’s just a horrible situation if you ever find yourself in the position of having to make the call of, ‘do I lose my job for what may or may not be a genuine emergency?’
Another insane thing is that emergency personnel get paid pennies as well. I have a friend who used to work as an EMT in Boston (~2021), and he was paid $15/hr.
Hopefully what's left of the business is sued into the ground for such willful negligence
Not enough. The people implementing that kind of work culture need prison time.
It's just going to get blamed on whatever mid level manager relayed the instructions.
"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.
Your life is more valuable than your livelihood. Idk why in anyone’s right mind would even be there during a hurricane
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
At least they died making a line go up in the bank account of some rich people who already have more than enough money than they know what to do with.
The line must always go up.
And by line, I mean ladder. Pulled up by the people who got in early or had nepotistic connections. While they tower above us and demand we run inside a hamster wheel for the privilege of being alive.
Oh boy do I love our currently-fucked society.
Name for shame. I only find "plastic factory" and "company"?
People should know where they don't want to work.
It's in the body of the post; the company is called Impact Plastics.
Ah, thanks! Didn't see that.
The south. You don't want to work, or live in the south.
They didn't pass right to work because they love workers.
Doesn't this exact thing keep happening? Yay capitalism! \s
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/13/kentucky-tornadoes-candle-factory-search-survivors
113 years ago the Triangle Waistshirt Factory Fire also killed a fuckload of people... and the owners got off scot-free.
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.
This is literally some triangle shirtwaist shit
What loyal employees they would rather die if it means helping their company profit this is who you should to look to for guidance.
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!
Will they be personally accountable for that faulty decision?
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.
Holding people financially accountable for the crimes they pay others to commit is bad for "the economy". I'm not even exaggerating.
When I worked at a shop we always joked (/s) that toolboxes had wheels on them so if the shop ever catches on fire we can just roll tf out and find new jobs down the street.
I suppose it depends on the job, but for mechanics that's just true, since they own their tools (or will once they finish paying off the snapon guy).