Candle factory. owned by white supremacist scammers and grifters. what a surprise

[kpete]

Last edited Sun Dec 12, 2021, 04:41 PM - Edit history (1)

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Updated to add more info:

[malaise]

1. Get thee to the greatest page

for visibility

[mucifer]

2. We need more evidence than an anonymous reddit post.

[uponit7771]

5. +1

[sinkingfeeling]

9. +100

[pandr32]

10. Agreed

[DashOneBravo]

12. +100

[JI7]

14. Yes

[AncientAndy]

17. We need at least two anonymous tweets to confirm the story.

[jeffreyi]

40. Lemme look, gotta be one in this here tablet somewhere...

[kcr]

19. Here's a news article

that makes them look pretty scammy to me:

https://fox17.com/news/local/tennessee-sues-candle-maker-auto-parts-firm-over-incentives

[Backseat Driver]

39. Nice fluffy stuff, blast from the past, with which to go exploring here too?

https://www.businesstoday.in/magazine/features/story/manipal-group-satish-and-gautham-pai-44221-2013-10-26

How Gautham Pai built the business at a blistering pace
K.R. Balasubramanyam
Print Edition: Nov 10, 2013

"It was some time in 2003. Mary V. Propes, founder of the US-based home fragrance company, MVP Group International Inc, was not happy with the way her China joint venture was faring. She was looking for a reliable partner outside China. A friend mentioned this to Gautham Pai, son of The Manipal Group Chairman T. Satish Pai, and arranged a brief meeting with Propes in Atlanta. It went well, and Gautham floated the joint venture, Primacy Industries Pvt Ltd. In June 2005, the start-up began producing scented candles at its factory in Mangalore, Karnataka. By 2009, Primacy was doing so well that the owner duo rejigged ownership of the company, giving the junior Pai controlling interest and even subsuming MVP into his group. The 61-year-old Propes still has a significant stake in the joint venture, and faith in Pai. "I trust his judgment," she says. "He has brought global perspective to our business." [snip]

[BlackSkimmer]

21. Agree 100%.

Anybody remember the Christmas tree thread from years ago?

[Takket]

31. absolutely. There are some pretty heavy accusations made here and it is irresponsible to just accept

them as truth.

[Oneironaut]

37. Redditors are completely full of shit.

99% of the stories on there are so obviously made up.

[Boomerproud]

48. Isn't Serena Williams' husband the founder or Reddit?

[Oneironaut]

52. Yep! ☺️

[Tanuki]

49. Some info:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article256531471.html

"A demand for workers, $8 hourly wage: What we know about the Mayfield candle factory"
......

[Yoyoyo77]

61. All I can say is keep an eye on that fund for the employees that the company started!!

[dalton99a]

3. Kick

[oldsoftie]

8. Those names certainly dont look like white supremecist supporters

Probably another bullshit meme

[kcr]

20. What do names of white supremacists look like?

[oldsoftie]

24. Not like "Ramachandran".

[ProfessorGAC]

28. I Thought The Same

The subsidiary listing is a different matter, but I'm thinking that first listing contains non-white people in the executive ranks.

[Lithos]

56. Not to burst any bubbles

But they are one and the same - there have been a lot of officer changes in the past year.

https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ga/14090032/events

[IronLionZion]

4. Mayfield Consumer Products

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2021/12/12/mayfield-consumer-products-candle-factory-collapse-kentucky-tornado-workers-inside/6476729001/

[kpete]

6. Thanks IronLionZion

for the link,
kp

[bluecollar2]

7. $8.00 per hour, mandatory overtime...

Company needs investigating.

[DashOneBravo]

15. I think it should be checked

$8-10 / hour is common for unskilled labor.

Almost all of plants are running mandatory overtime because of the shortage of workers.

Most of the plants are not union . So it’s done by state and federal rules.

[Autumn]

25. They used convict labor. Plenty of info in the article linked above. nt

[DashOneBravo]

27. I missed that part

Thank you!

I use a phone only

[gldstwmn]

47. Awful. With OT you get $12 which still isn't a living wage.

[Yoyoyo77]

62. And prison labor? At what pay rate?

[maxrandb]

11. I doubt they were "scamming" the Chamber of Commerce and Dept of Labor

The more appropriate word would probably be colluding

[DanieRains]

23. How Do I Say This?

Considering where this is, what's the chance something shady is going on....

I'm not saying there was kickbacks. Couldn't possibly be kickbacks. A Mitch state. Couldn't happen.

[DashOneBravo]

13. They for sure should check it out

The KY Gov seems to be a good solid dude.

[Midnight Writer]

16. Actually, it is not a good idea for people to leave a building during a tornado.

However, there should be a designated safe room in the facility where employees can take cover.

A designated safe room not only offers protection, but gives rescuers a specific area to concentrate on.

[PatrickforB]

18. More slave labor. This is sick.

Kluxers are scum.

[Ziggysmom]

22. They got a huge PPP loan all forgiven. What a miracle!

[grantcart]

26. More helpful information here

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tornado-survivor-kentucky-candle-factory-speaks-video-rcna8457

1) Workers were not "forced" to stay inside, they were told to go to an area of the factory that was designed for storm security

2) Rather than being automatically opposed to the use of prison labor I would like to see more details before condemning the idea as I could see a pre release work assignment as an excellent tool to help prepare prisoners for release by giving them a place that they could use for a job reference and some spending money.

Interesting the worker, who displayed great courage during the collapse in helping other workers stay calmed, praised the prison-workers who worked hard to assist other employees.

[reACTIONary]

43. +10 nt

[mountain grammy]

29. Yeah, it's only one anonymous post

but something tells me there's a lot more to this story.. already a few posts on this thread.

Life is cheap in America...

[Zeitghost]

30. This whole...

Call everyone we don't like or think we don't like a white supremacist thing is going to backfire big time if we don't real it in.

[NJCher]

32. betcha' anything

they make candles for walmart.

[LogicFirst]

33. Their FB post said that they were hiring at $8.00 an hour and you had to work a

10 to 12 hour shift. A news story from the Courier said they employed prisoners from 2 local jails.

[AverageOldGuy]

34. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire . . . .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history.[1] The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers – 123 women and girls and 23 men[2] – who died from the fire, smoke inhalation, or falling or jumping to their deaths. Most of the victims were recent Italian or Jewish immigrant women and girls aged 14 to 23;[3][4] of the victims whose ages are known, the oldest victim was 43-year-old Providenza Panno, and the youngest were 14-year-olds Kate Leone and Rosaria "Sara" Maltese.[5]

The factory was located on the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of the Asch Building, at 23–29 Washington Place, near Washington Square Park. The 1901 building still stands and is now known as the Brown Building, which is part of and owned by New York University (NYU).[6] The building has been designated a National Historic Landmark and a New York City landmark.[7]

Because the doors to the stairwells and exits were locked[1][8] – a common practice at the time to prevent workers from taking unauthorized breaks and to reduce theft[9] – many of the workers could not escape from the burning building and jumped from the high windows. The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers.

[Yoyoyo77]

63. Was just thinking about this outrage.

[AverageOldGuy]

35. Did Mitch McConnell have a finger in this???

Asking for a friend.

[llashram]

36. sounds like

the old south where parolee's and jailed 'vagrant' people were leased by local law enforcement to corporations for a fee. Those corporations and businesses usually worked people to death.

[LeftInTX]

38. Candle factory before and after

It was wiped out

[Ms. Toad]

41. So the tornado knew to hit places owned by white supremacist scammers and grifters?

No one who lives in an area frequented by tornadoes shuts down for a watch.

No one who lives in an area frequented by tornadoes sends people outside of the building when there is a warning. The employees were sent to a safety area before the storm hit. That is standard procedure for a tornado, regardless of political beliefs.

There is way too much ignorance about tornadoes on DU based on the tons of posts about the candle factory.

I've lived in places frequented by tornadoes all of my life. Every drill I've been subjected to or later led, urged AGAINST evacuation and moved people to the designated safety area (in a basement if available, or against inside walls if there was no basement). Within the last month, as a member of the building's emergency response team, I helped move 100 fellow students staff, and faculty members into the basement where we spent a bit more than an hour when the first warning was extended twice as more clouds with circular rotation were spotted on radar.

We may, of course, find out that the safety area was not chosen appropriately, or there were structural problems, but nothing we know currently suggests the factory owners/managers acted inappropriately. As much as everyone would like to blame these deaths and injuries on political affiliation.

[ShazzieB]

45. The idea of sending people outside when a tornado is coming is ludicrous.

As far as I know, the only kind of natural disaster where going outside is advised would be an earthquake. (I guess to avoid being buried in the rubble?)

I've lived in the tornado prone midwest most of my life, and the last place I would ever want to be in a tornado is outdoors.

[Lithos]

58. Same here

But they also advise moving to interior sections of the building which are not exposed to the exterior and which have internally strong structures in case of roof collapsing, etc. That's why people are told to go to a bathroom, interior hallway, or basement.

Not trying to disagree, just say that I'm not sure enough information is out at the moment. You are most certainly correct that being outside is definitely not the place to be in an active tornado.

What is not known is the advice or instructions given to the workers at the time of the Tornado. For instance, if they kept them out in an unprotected work area that would be a huge issue. If they had told them to get into an interior portion of the building that had additional structural support, then not so much.

[forthemiddle]

51. I think too many equate tornadoes with hurricanes

I also have lived through tornado warnings my whole life. We generally have several within a year, yet even with all those warnings, I’ve never been directly hit.
Tornados are not like a hurricane where if you are in the path every thing is hit, just the opposite, the majority of buildings in the path of tornadoes are not hit. And whoever says they should have gone outside is spreading extremely dangerous advice.
The threat of the tornado is minuscule in any given area, but the threat of lightning, and flying debris is very real.
The best advice is go to an interior area (bathrooms are the safest place), on the lowest level.
Try and cover your head, and pray that you aren’t hit.

[Rabrrrrrr]

42. Remember years ago when WalMart was so generous they had collection buckets for their employees

so that they could afford a nice Christmas dinner?

Fuck that company. Asking us to donate money to your employees? Why don't you fucking help them out? you have insurance, you cheap asshole fucks.

[cinematicdiversions]

50. Was does a foreign run Candle company using prison labor have to do with Walmart? NT

[Rabrrrrrr]

54. Never said the two companies are related - the relation is their shitty attitude toward employees.

Both expecting the public to do the needed support for their employees.

[AngryOldDem]

44. What bothers me the most about this...

There was days’ notice about how bad this storm could be — plenty of time for the candle company and Amazon to make contingency plans. Sounds to me they really didn’t.

Schools and businesses have been known to close early in anticipation of situations like this. But…it’s Christmas. People need their candles and their Amazon orders. So, sorry…profits and order fulfillment trump safety. Stay on the job in literal deathtraps and keep up production.

I saw where the candle company had some kind of “safe space” — I’d like to know where the employees were supposed to go in a building like that, and how much notice they got before it was too late.

This tells me that we are headed quickly backward to the days of treating labor as expendable parts in the machine. Lives ultimately mean nothing, if money is to be had.

[ymetca]

53. We are "Human Resources" now

like bauxite or coal.

Moved from the Asset to the Expense column decades ago.

[Ms. Toad]

55. Educate yourself about tornadoes.

Tornadoes are not like hurricanes. If you live in areas with frequent tornadoes, emergency plans are not created when there is a suggestion of bad weather. Most bad weather does not produce tornadoes. Plans are set long in advance - and involve a safe area to go to - because it would be ludicrous once an warning is issued to go outside - and similiarly ludicrous to shut down a plant because bad weather capable of creating tornadoes was expected. Typically the safe space is a basement. In buildings without basements, it would be in the lowest level, preferably small rooms or inner hallways.

As for notice - you get notice of a real chance that a tornado will hit when radar shows that a tornado has been sighted or the presence of conditions statistically likely to cause a tornado + a storm path that is heading toward your direction. Typically this is measured in minutes, not hours or days. Tornadoes are extremely erratic both as to speed and direction. That means it they are not predictable, the way hurricanes are.

Within the last month, as a member of our building emergency team, I helped direct staff and students to the basement where we stayed until the warning was terminated about an hour later. During that hour, there were three distinct warnings based on new radar sightings. The first warning lasted no more than 30 minutes. That's an average to long-ish warning.

Directing employees to a safe space inside - even with minimal warning - has nothing to do with treating labor as expendable parts. It has to do with the rapidly changing and unpredictable nature of tornatoes.

Now - it is possible the employers did not communicate the safe location to the employees (or that staff changes meant many employees didn't know where they were). (The last tornado warning we had was challenging because most of our students were new since the last time we were in the building and did not yet know where to go.) It is possible they don't have a PA system that can sound an immediate alert (and word of danger could not be instantaneously transmitted.) It is possible it will come out that the location designated was not safe.

BUT as someone who has lived in tornado-prone areas for 63 of my 65 years, nothing I have heard so far rings alarm bells. Certainly not the fact that bad storms had been expected for days.

[Farmer-Rick]

57. Why would you live in tornado prone areas?

I chose to live in the mountains for 2 reasons. No tornadoes and no hurricanes. I hate tornadoes ever since one came through Virginia and almost wiped out my house and family.

Never been any tornadoes record in my area.....at least for now.

[xmas74]

59. Why wouldn't I live in a tornado prone area?

That's like asking someone on the coast why they would live in a hurricane prone area, someone on the West Coast about earthquakes, someone in the mountains about blizzards, etc.

Why do you choose to live in an area prone to extremely frigid temps and blizzards?

[Farmer-Rick]

65. Well, actually we don't get many blizzards

But I really do love cold weather and the seasonal changes. The very minor risk of getting a bigger snow storm is actually kind of something I love about the mountains.

Just wondered if there was something about the place you lived that you loved so much it's worth the risk to you.

To tell you honestly, I was never into beaches and oceanside living.... especially in hurricane prone areas. I just figured people who lived in those areas really, really love the beach.

People in other risk areas probably just love those evironments. Just curious what you loved about your area.

[Ms. Toad]

60. Family, work, school -

And - tornadoes are not like hurrricanes, which have relatively predictable vast targets which are hit every few years.

Roughly half of the country is tornado prone (from somewhat east of the rocky mountains to the east coast). While they are devastating, they also tend to be micro-events - and the likelihood of a tornado hitting any one location is pretty small. In Nebraska (#1 and where I used to live), per square mile there were .00063 tornadoes in 50 years. Ohio, where I currently live, per square mile there were .00041 in 50 years. There have only been two significant tornadoes in each state in my lifetime. (The Nebraska ones each killed 10 or fewer people; the Ohio ones killed 39 and 60 (from 11 separate tornadoes), respectively)

[AngryOldDem]

64. I've lived in a tornado prone area all my life, too.

Last edited Mon Dec 13, 2021, 07:29 AM - Edit history (1)

Some weather events show signs early on that they have the potential of being more severe than others. This was one of those times — it was being talked about for at least two days here in Indiana, we were told to keep aware — and I still think those workers were not adequately protected, either in Kentucky or Illinois.

But thanks for the lecture!

EDIT — Also, depending on the judgment of those in charge, schools here have been known to dismiss early ahead of possibly tornadic storms, which actually did save the lives of a lot of kids some years ago. And businesses have cancelled or delayed shifts. Of course you don’t shut things down for garden-variety watches…but unusual events call for a different responses.

[Ms. Toad]

66. Hindsight is 20/20.

Even with watches which suggest a potential for more severe wather, the area of the watch is generally so broad (both geographically and duration) as to be useless in identifying specific areas of risk severe nough to warrant the closing of businesses.

Unless you know more than has been published in any description I've seen, there isn't yet any suggestion either the tornado plan or execution of that plan was inappropriate. What I see on DU is largely people are reacting (1) out of ignorance about tornadoes, or (2) out of confirmation bias related to the owners of the plant.

(Schools are a bit different than a workplace. Schools frequently close based on the anticipation of snow, as well. Businesses - not so much.)

[gldstwmn]

46. When I heard that someone from the sheriff's office was there

supervising workers on work release that set the alarm bells off for me. A small county in Kentucky has so many people on work release that they have to be supervised by the sheriff's department? Nope. Hopefully there is a way to donate to the victims directly. I wouldn't trust where the donated funds might go.