B&H Photo Video will cut staff as it begins retreat from Brooklyn

The photo and electronics retailer, which has been in a dispute with its unionized workers, will close its Bushwick warehouse in August.

http://www.crainsnewyo​rk.com …ins-retreat-from-brooklyn

B&H Photo Video, whose Midtown shop has served the needs of gadget hounds for 20 years, will close its warehouse in Bushwick in August. Fifty-seven employees will lose their jobs, according to a filing with the state Department of Labor.

The announcement was expected. B&H said in January that it would close its Brooklyn storage facilities and relocate them to New Jersey, affecting 335 jobs. The decision came a little more than a year after B&H warehouse employees voted to join the United Steelworkers union.

Jacob Mittelman, vice president for operations, said B&H has put together a severance package for some employees who don't want to move to New Jersey, but the steelworkers union hasn't signed off.

That should come as little surprise because B&H and the union have been battling for a long time.

B&H doesn't need the union's opinion/approval to close the place.

I worked for a non-union shop in the late '70s. UAW organized a vote. Workers approved the union almost 2:1. The day after the vote was announced, all gates were chained and padlocked, and the business was for sale. Everyone was out of a job.

I worked for a union shop for 28 years. I have mixed emotions about the entire thing, but I'll never work for another union shop.

Wonder Why they're moving to New Jersey,Union mobsters rule there too. I'd be outta there to a right to work state.

Thanks for posting this, Rick.

I really appreciate that you described the situation in detail, rather than just copying and pasting a link. That was very thoughtful of you, and allows me to stay here on this site instead of having to go off-site to see what is going on (which I probably wouldn't bother to do).

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PNPhotography wrote in post #18353275
Wonder Why they're moving to New Jersey...

As far back as 2010 we knew we were outgrowing our Brooklyn warehouse space. Then, our landlord told us not to expect an option to renew. We began looking, and enlisted the aid of one of the largest commercial real estate companies in the tri-state area and the NY Economic Development Corp. We were unable to locate a suitable space in NY, and we looked throughout the area.

We eventually settled on the space in NJ. It's 500,000 square feet and when complete will be very suitable for our purposes.

A 2013 article from Crain's New York Business (http://www.crainsnewyo​rk.com …rd-tenant-bhto-go-upstate) documents this and reports that when the article was written we'd already been looking for several years. A the time we were still hoping for a space upstate. That did not work out.

And now New Jersians (sp?) have to pay tax like the rest of us New Yawkers.

we are already paying the sales tax.

This is the first I have heard of this? Thanks for posting this Mr Reno.