Thread: 250 union workers refuse to leave Republic Windows Factory

CHICAGO — Workers who got three days' notice that their factory was shutting its doors have occupied the building and say they won't go home without assurances they'll get severance and vacation pay.

About 250 union workers occupied the Republic Windows and Doors plant in shifts Saturday while union leaders outside criticized a Wall Street bailout they say is leaving laborers behind.

Leah Fried, an organizer with the United Electrical Workers, said the Chicago-based vinyl window manufacturer failed to give 60 days' notice required by law before shutting down.

During the two-day peaceful takeover, workers have been shoveling snow and cleaning the building, Fried said.

"We're doing something we haven't done since the 1930s, so we're trying to make it work," she said, referring to a tactic most famously used in 1936-37 by General Motors factory workers in Flint, Mich., to help unionize the U.S. auto industry.

Fried said the company can't pay its 300 employees because its creditor, Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, won't let them. Crain's Chicago Business reported that Republic Windows' monthly sales had fallen to $2.9 million from $4 million during the past month. In a memo to the union, obtained by the business journal, Republic CEO Rich Gillman said the company had "no choice but to shut our doors."

Bank of America received $25 billion from the government's financial bailout package. The company said in a statement Saturday that it isn't responsible for Republic's financial obligations to its employees.

"Across cultures, religions, union and nonunion, we all say this bailout was a shame," said Richard Berg, president of Teamsters Local 743. "If this bailout should go to anything, it should go to the workers of this country."

Outside the plant, protesters wore stickers and carried signs that said, "You got bailed out, we got sold out."

The Chicago-based Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a civil rights group, announced in a news release Saturday that Jesse Jackson planned to visit the workers Sunday morning to offer his support.

Larry Spivack, regional director for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31, said the peaceful action will add to Chicago's rich history in the labor movement, which includes the 1886 Haymarket affair, when Chicago laborers and anarchists gathering in a square on the city's west side drew national attention after an unidentified person threw a bomb at police.

"The history of workers is built on issues like this here today," Spivack said.

Representatives of Republic Windows did not immediately respond Saturday to calls and e-mails seeking comment.

Police spokeswoman Laura Kubiak said authorities were aware of the situation and officers were patrolling the area.

Workers were angered when company officials didn't show up for a meeting Friday that had been arranged by U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a Chicago Democrat, Fried said. Union officials said another meeting with the company is scheduled for Monday afternoon.

"We're going to stay here until we win justice," said Blanca Funes, 55, of Chicago, after occupying the building for several hours. Speaking in Spanish, Funes said she fears losing her home without the wages she feels she's owed. A 13-year employee of Republic, she estimated her family can make do for three months without her paycheck. Most of the factory's workers are Hispanic.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/0 ... 48972.html

"We're going to stay here until we win justice," said Blanca Funes, 55, of Chicago, after occupying the building for several hours. Speaking in Spanish, Funes said she fears losing her home without the wages she feels she's owed. A 13-year employee of Republic, she estimated her family can make do for three months without her paycheck. Most of the factory's workers are Hispanic

I wonder how many are illegals?

Obama backs laid-off workers

December 7, 2008 at 7:04 PM | Comments (10

The plight of workers at the shuttered Republic Windows & Doors plant in Chicago drew sympathy and support from President-elect Barack Obama and community leaders today who called it a symbol of the nation's financial disarray.

Republic Windows workers have been staging a sit-in at the Chicago plant since Friday over vacation and severance pay they say they are owed. The company told workers on Tuesday that Bank of America canceled Republic's line of credit because of a severe downturn in business at the plant, and that they would be out of jobs by the end of the week.

"I think that these workers, if they have earned these benefits and their pay, then these companies need to follow through on those commitments," Obama Said at a news conference.

As union officials vowed to seek damages over the abrupt shut-down that left about 300 people jobless, people who apparently have ties to the financially strapped Republic Windows formed a limited liability corporation in Illinois last month, Echo Windows & Doors, that has bought a similar plant in western Iowa.

Sharon Gillman, who shares an address with Republic President and CEO Rich Gillman, is listed as an officer of Echo Windows & Doors LLC, which was incorporated in Illinois on Nov. 18, according to secretary of state records.

Neither she nor Rich Gillman could be reached for comment on Sunday. A secretary who answered the phone at the Iowa plant purchased by Echo said that Rich Gillman was not in on Sunday, and that she did not know when he would be in next.

An "echowindows.com" Internet domain has been registered, but no content has been placed on the site. The administrative contact on the domain registration is Amy Zimmerman -- the same name as the vice president of sales and marketing at Republic. Zimmerman could not be reached for comment on Sunday, but said last week that, "Banks are in the business to make money and at some point they have to make a business decision and that's what this is."

"Certainly the new construction segment didn't help," Zimmerman said on Wednesday. "If the bank saw some type of light at the end of the tunnel, maybe the bank would have extended a line of credit to Republic."

Several picket signs filled the foyer of the company, and ex-employees stood in huddles discussing a meeting between Bank of America and workers scheduled for Monday afternoon.

"Bank of America, don't steal Christmas," said a sign on the wall.

"They expect us to just walkout with our heads down and do nothing," said 9-year employee Donald White. "We're going to stay here until we get the justice we deserve."

Apolinar Cabrera, who has worked at the company for 17 years, said the layoffs came as a surprise. His wife is due to deliver a baby in three weeks, and without health insurance, he said he doesn't know how they will afford to pay the bill.

"I'm in shock. I'm sad. I'm angry," Cabrera said. "I never imagined that after being open 45 years this business would close. All I want is what I worked for. I want my money."

Local politicians eager to burnish their pro-labor records scurried Sunday to draft measures that would punish Bank of America, which said in a statement on Saturday that it isn't responsible for Republic's financial obligations to its employees.

Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley (D-Chicago) said he would introduce a proposal Monday to cut all business ties between county government and Bank of America.

"They've done wrong by the community and by a county that has done well be them," he said of Bank of America. "Their first action after the bailout was to turn their back on this company and on these workers. The bailout of Wall Street needs to help Main Street, too."

Ald. Ricardo Munoz (26th), one of the sponsors of the City Council proposal, said officials should cut business ties and look closely at Bank of America's requests for zoning changes.

Echo Windows officials told employees at the former TRACO manufacturing plant in Red Oak, Iowa, on Thursday that the work force would be doubled from the current 50 employees because they already have production orders lined up.

"They're bringing in machinery from a facility that is closing somewhere else," said Sandy Schoonover, who works in the glass department at the Red Oak plant.

At least 15 temporary employees were brought in on Friday, Schoonover said.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson brought turkeys and groceries to the workers in Chicago on Sunday.

Jeff Long and Deanese Williams-Harris

John McCormick and Dan Mihalopoulos contributed to this report.

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2008 ... otest.html

I got this newsletter from a local group. As it turns out this protest is actually the doings of local Marxist groups. At the end of this post is a link to the UE site. It talks of how Obama is behind this action.

2008-DEC-07

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
SPECIAL ALERT:
Republic Windows Chgo factory takeover by Mexican-dominated UE union workers
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Friends & Allies:

The Chicago Goose Island factory facility of Republic Windows & Doors was taken over by workers Friday, December 5th, by the Mexican-dominated UE union workers who had received notice that the factory was shutting down. Factory workers responded by refusing to leave the facility, and are engaged in what they are calling an "occupation" of the business.

Revolutionary Marxist socialist & communist party activists embedded in these unions across the U.S., are hoping that this "occupation" will trigger "the workers' revolution," nationwide and around the planet, in order to "destroy capitalism for good." They are using the global economic recession as an opportunity to fan the flames of discontent and economic hardship in order to spark a "war of the proletariat" against the "oppressive racist white capitalist class." They are decrying the "bankers' bailout" as further fattening the rich at the expense of the poor. These Marxists seek a "workers takeover" of facilities across the globe, as the recession deepens.

I managed to get into the facility late this afternoon (Sunday, Dec. 7th). I took photos as I could.

Labor activists are supposed to stage a rally at the facility entrance on Monday at noon. I will try to be there to document the event:
A labor rally will be held at the factory door on Monday, Dec. 8 at noon, called by Chicago Federation of Labor president Dennis Gannon and SEIU state council head, Tom Balanoff.

The next negotiations between the company, the bank, Local 1110 and Representative Gutierrez will take place on Monday, Dec. 8 at 4:00 pm. If the company does not agree to the workers’ demands for justice, the occupation will continue. The workers will rally on Tuesday, Dec. 9 at noon in front of the Bank of America, 231 South LaSalle Street in Chicago.

I understand that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is rushing to the rescue. (After all, she wants all their votes when she runs for election as the Illinois Governor's office!)

The website of the company is here:
http://www.republicwindows.com/

Here are other web sites talking about this. Some are valid news sites, and others are Marxist / Socialist / Mexican Labor.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/chic-d08.shtm

http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/14110/

http://www.wrex.com/Global/story.asp?S=9473717

http://www.fightbacknews.org/2008/12/su ... pation.htm

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?a ... 4977528902

http://progressillinois.com/2008/12/7/r ... takes-seat

http://www.chitowndailynews.org/Chicago ... ment,19612

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/ ... in_chicago

The UE union website is http://www.ueunion.org/. The website homepage gives its spin.

Great... The hits just keep on coming!

This is pretty amazing that persons can occupy the property of another without action from law enforcement. What this company does should be ordered by a court and not by a communist mob that believes in turnip bleeding. BHO seems to be OK with this action. There's our change?

Originally Posted by loservillelabor

This is pretty amazing that persons can occupy the property of another without action from law enforcement. What this company does should be ordered by a court and not by a communist mob that believes in turnip bleeding. BHO seems to be OK with this action. There's our change?

Yes! and no one will touch them. With a Congressman and Jesses Jackson in there, Mayor Daly knows it would be political suicide if he sends in the Chicago Police. That actually goes for Stroger (Cook County President) with the County Police, and Governor Blagojevich with the state police. It may be Socialist / Marxist backed labor, but most of it is Latino, and the Latino vote is the hottest item in Illinois these days. (Chalk one up for Socialism)

And the Saga continues............


Jilted workers refuse to leave closed factory
OCCUPATION: Protesters say they were denied notice and are owed pay
By MONICA DAVEY THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: Monday, December 8, 2008 at 1:00 a.m.

CHICAGO - The scene inside a long, low-slung factory on this city's North Side this weekend offered a glimpse at how the nation's loss of more than 600,000 manufacturing jobs in a year of recession is boiling over.

Workers laid off Friday from Republic Windows and Doors, who for years assembled vinyl windows and sliding doors here, said they would not leave, even after company officials announced that the factory was closing.

Some of the plant's 250 workers stayed all night, all weekend, in what they were calling an occupation of the factory. Their sharpest criticisms were aimed at their former bosses, who they said gave them only three days' notice of the closing, and the company's creditors. But their anger extended to the government's costly corporate bailout plans, which, they argued, had forgotten about regular workers.

"They want the poor person to stay down," said Silvia Mazon, 47, a mother of two who worked as an assembler here for 13 years and said she had never before been the sort to march in protests or make a fuss. "We're here, and we're not going anywhere until we get what's fair and what's ours. They thought they would get rid of us easily, but if we have to be here for Christmas, it doesn't matter."

The workers, members of Local 1110 of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, said they were owed vacation and severance pay and were not given the 60 days of notice generally required by federal law when companies make layoffs.

The workers voted Friday afternoon to stage the sit-in. Company officials, who were no longer at the factory, did not return telephone or e-mail messages. A meeting between the owners and workers was scheduled for today. The company, founded in 1965, once employed more than 700 people, but had struggled in recent months as home construction dipped, workers said.

Still, as they milled around the factory's entrance this weekend, some workers said they doubted that the company was really in financial straits, and they suggested that it would reopen elsewhere with cheaper costs and lower pay. Others said managers had kept their struggles secret, at one point before Thanksgiving removing heavy equipment in the middle of the night but claiming, when asked about it, that all was well.

Workers also pointedly blamed Bank of America, a lender to Republic Windows, saying the bank had prevented the company from paying them what they were owed, particularly for vacation time accrued.

"Here the banks like Bank of America get a bailout, but workers cannot be paid?" said Leah Fried, an organizer with the union workers. "The taxpayers would like to see that bailout go toward saving jobs, not saving CEOs."

In a statement issued Saturday, Bank of America officials said they could not comment on an individual client's situation because of confidentiality obligations. Still, a spokeswoman also said, "Neither Bank of America nor any other third-party lender to the company has the right to control whether the company complies with applicable laws or honors its commitments to its employees."

Inside the factory, the "occupation" was relatively quiet. Chicago police said that they were monitoring the situation but that they had no reports of a criminal matter to investigate. About 30 workers sat in folding chairs on the factory floor. (Reporters and supporters were not allowed to enter, but the workers could be observed through an open door.) They came in shifts around the clock. They tidied things. They shoveled snow. They met with visiting leaders, including U.S. Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, a Democrat from Chicago, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Throughout the weekend, people came by with donations of food, water and other supplies.

The workers said they were determined to keep their action -- reminiscent, union leaders said, of autoworkers' efforts in Michigan in the 1930s -- peaceful and to preserve the factory and its equipment.

"The fact is that workers really feel like they have nothing to lose at this point," Fried said. "It shows something about our economic times, and it says something about how people feel about the bailout."

Until last Tuesday, many workers here said, they had no sense that there was any problem. Shortly before 1 p.m. that day, workers were told in a meeting that the plant would close Friday, they said. Some people wept; others expressed fury.

Manuela Rivera, 58, who had worked at the factory for 13 years, said her blood pressure had risen dangerously high from the stress, the prospect of paying this month's bills and searching -- "Where?" she said -- for a new job. "There are no jobs," Rivera said.

Many employees said they had worked in the factory for decades. Lalo Munoz, who was among those sleeping over in the building this weekend, said he arrived 34 years ago. The workers -- about 80 percent of them Hispanic, -- made $14 an hour on average and received health care and retirement benefits, Fried said.

"This never happens -- to take a company from the inside," Mazon said. "But I'm fighting for my family, and we're not going anywhere."

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20 ... EWSSITEMAP

Had I been working for one company for many years, only to have the rug pulled out from under me in a couple of days, I don't really blame any of these folks, legal or illegal, for not leaving. Their hope is that the sale of the machinery and the products not sold will compensate them.
There is the legal question, though, of people allowed on the property for years are no longer eligible to enter to try to claim pay they say is due to them. My train of thought is that if you allow a neighbor to drive across your property to get to theirs for 5 years and suddenly decide they cannot do that any longer, according to FL law, you have granted them squatter's rights for that path to their property.