Originally published at: Workers say managers at candle factory threatened to fire them if they stopped working after tornado sirens went off | Boing Boing
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If an investigation reveals this to be true (and America being America in 2021, I’m guessing it is), these managers should be charged with manslaughter at the very least.
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The fist part indicates the second part will never happen.
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Public pressure and shame can help ensure it does happen. Defeatist approaches to the - admittedly crappy - situation we’re in do not help.
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Kentucky resident here. That candle factory was also the impetus for a prison work program using unpaid/low-pay (basically slave) labor from the local criminal justice system. Their give-a-shit about their employees was extremely low, and this was by design.
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They weren’t managers. They were Kleezantsun.
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The moment this happened it made me think of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire…how much of the tragedy might have been similarly greed induced, and whether we will again be able to do anything about that. It looks like we have the first part. 
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The ‘fist’ was an unintentional typo, but it works. I’m leaving it.
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The cruel irony on top of the capitalist cruelty is that, given the business has been utterly destroyed, those people risked their lives - and died - for jobs that don’t even exist anymore. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that the business will provide no pay or benefits after this point either.
That’s sort of a general motif in the current American work environment - using the threat of the loss of the job to motivate workers, while also not remotely guaranteeing said job, even for those that fully comply (because, if nothing else, they’ll lay everyone off to save a bit of money when it suits them anyways). Gosh, I wonder why people “don’t want to work.”
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I gotta remember to make my replies to some people separate from my other comments.
Anyway. I have no doubt they told people to keep working. If so, there should be lawsuits and possibly criminal charges against the managers.
When I worked at Walmart (25+ years ago), one time the sirens went off and we directed everyone to the bathroom area, as it was re enforced concrete and in the corner of the store. The managers had us workers shut down and go back there, but IIRC, there were some shoppers who wanted to keep shopping. 
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Sounds like they were expected to burn the candle at both ends…
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Too true - was just thinking about Alien Nation the other day. Too bad it wasn’t on long. That was a missed opportunity for ongoing lessons in empathy, positive attitudes towards immigrants, and overcoming racist attitudes.
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