Eric Stevens
On Thu, 20 Mar 2014 21:30:18 -0400, Robert Coe <bob@1776.COM>wrote:

Robert Coe
On Fri, 21 Mar 2014 11:43:07 +1300, Eric Stevens <eric.stevens@sum.co.nz> wrote: : On Thu, 20 Mar 2014 18:10:39 -0400, Tony Cooper : <tonycooper214@gmail.com>wrote: : : >On Fri, 21 Mar 2014 09:08:09 +1300, Eric Stevens : ><eric.stevens@sum.co.nz>wrote: : > : >>On Thu, 20 Mar 2014 08:21:19 -0400, Usenet Account : >><nospam@invalid.invalid>wrote: : >> : >>>On 20/03/2014 4:50 AM, Eric Stevens wrote: : >>>>On Wed, 19 Mar 2014 22:32:54 -0400, Robert Coe <bob@1776.COM>wrote: : >>>> : >>>>>On Thu, 13 Mar 2014 12:31:07 -0400, Usenet Account <nospam@invalid.invalid> : >>>>>wrote: : >>>>>: http://petapixel.com/2014/03/13/calumetphoto-us-declared-bankruptcy-gave-employees-zero-notice/ : >>>>> : >>>>>That's very sad. (I've been pretty busy and hadn't heard about it until now.) : >>>>>Calumet has been very good to CIPNE ("Commercial/Industrial Photographers of : >>>>>New England"), whereof I think I'm still a member. Come to think of it, CIPNE : >>>>>isn't doing too well itself, I'm afraid. Anybody who could spare a few hours a : >>>>>month could probably take over as President, with the heartfelt gratitude of : >>>>>the membership. : >>>>> : >>>>>But anybody who blames Calumet for screwing its employees should get a grip. : >>>>>That's the way capitalism works, and is intended to work. : >>>> : >>>>Rubbish. : >>>> : >>>>>That too is sad, but it's the way it is. : >>>>> : >>>>But not the way it should be. : >>>> : >>> : >>>Employees should be considered as secured creditors, and IMHO should : >>>have a level of protection. : >>> : >>>In an era where we see bank and wall street executives with gold and or : >>>palladium parachutes, while the working class gets nothing? There has to : >>>be some fairness. Don't give me that it's capitalism.. so sad too bad : >>>nonsense. : >> : >>Of course it's not capitalism. It's nonsense to claim that capitalism : >>won't work unless you treat your employees that way. : > : >"Capitalism" is too broad a brush to use to describe this. What went : >down was a strategic move by a company, and we can only guess what : >determined that strategy. It's probably one of two things: : > : >a. Management refused to recognize the seriousness of the problem : >until there was nothing else possible except closing the doors, and : >that was probably forced by creditors. The "strategy", in this case, : >is "do nothing and hope a miracle happens". : > : >b. Management was trying to find a bail-out solution and didn't want : >to jeopardize their position by announcing intended closures or : >lay-offs. : > : >In either case, it was bad strategy. : > : >Realistically, while it may seem unfair, what could have been gained : >if the employees *did* have notice? Their jobs are gone either way. : >It's not like they would have been able to put feelers out with other : >camera stores in the area. They'll be drawing unemployment : >compensation a little earlier. : : If the employees had notice, word would have leaked out into the wider : community and the business would have ground to a halt in a confused : shambles. They would still have been broke but their affairs would : have been in just that more of a mess.

Translation: There wouldn't have been time for the officers to find a way to take care of themselves before the s*** hit the fan. Understand that I don't know that that's what happened in this particular case, but it IS a time-honored capitalist strategem.

Eric Stevens
I don't kknow what the law is in Calumet's part of the world but where I live any attempt to "find a way to take care of themselves before the s*** hit the fan" is recoverable for (I think) up to two years back. The idea behind Calumet's behaviour is to have a sharp cutoff date where nobody gets a chance to jump the gun. That includes, suppliers, contractors, debtors, debt collectors, utility companies etc. After the music stops everyone is ranked in order of priority. The taxman usually comes first.