Warehouse workers at B&H Photo & Electronics who are about to lose their jobs are counting on one last maneuver to save them.
Union organizers have filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board claiming that B&H management never told them that they were scouting for a new warehouse outside of the Big Apple.
The United Steelworkers has been bargaining with B&H for the past year.
“Management had an obligation to tell us that they were looking outside the city,” said Del Vitale, a USW official. “When they told us, they said they were moving and we believe that violates NLRB rules.”
Last month, B&H told its 375 employees at its Bushwick and Brooklyn Navy Yard warehouses that it’s closing those facilities and moving to Florence, NJ.
The company said it couldn’t find a building in the city and that it’s lease at the Navy Yard was expiring next year.
The new location is 75 miles from the city, where all of its workers live.
“We value them and hope they will come with us to this new facility,” said vice president of operations Jacob Mittelman said in a statement.
Last year the Department of Labor sued the retailer for treating its minority workers — mostly Hispanic employees — unfairly including making them use a separate, unsanitary bathroom, according to the complaint.
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