"Republic Windows and Doors workers require the support of all working people. They fight for our rights as they fight for their own rights."
Maggie Bird
President,
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council
Idled workers occupy factory in Chicago
By RUPA SHENOY, Associated Press Writer Rupa Shenoy, Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO – Workers laid off from their jobs at a factory have occupied the building and are demanding assurances they'll get severance and vacation pay that they say they are owed.
About 200 employees of Republic Windows and Doors began their sit-in Friday, the last scheduled day of the plant's operation.
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.
Workers also 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, she said.
During the peaceful takeover, workers have been shoveling snow and cleaning the building, Fried said.
"We're doing something we haven't since the 1930s, so we're trying to make it work," Fried said.
Union officials said another meeting with the company is scheduled for Monday.
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.
Crain's Chicago Business reported that the company's 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."
Workers Occupy Factory
Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2008
Incidences similar to this may soon be taking place across the United States. Seize the day, seize the hour, seize the means of production.
The workers of Republic Windows and Doors are right this minute occupying their factory, which was due to close at 10:00 AM this morning. The workers are fighting for pay for their lost vacation days and for the 75 days notice that they are guaranteed under Illinois law. This is the first time in many years workers have taken the bold, militant strategy of occupying their place of work to demand justice. The plan to occupy the plant until the hear the results of the next round of negotiations Monday afternoon. THEY NEED TO KNOW THEY HAVE OUR SUPPORT!!!
A rally has been planned for 12:00 Noon tomorrow.
Please attend.
BUT WE SHOULD ORGANIZE A CONSTANT PRESENCE OF COMMUNITY MEMBERS PICKETING OUTSIDE THE FACTORY! BRING FOOD AND COFFEE FOR THE WORKERS. It is our presence and the press that is the workers best defense against the police raiding the factory.
These workers are fighting for all of us!!! As the economic crisis deepens we need to launch a working class fight back.
These workers are the starting point and deserve our full support.
Go to…
Republic Windows & Doors
1333 N. Hickory
On Goose Island, near the intersection of Division & Clyborn
Chicago factory occupied
December 6, 2008
WORKERS OCCUPYING the Republic Windows & Doors factory slated for closure are vowing to remain in the Chicago plant until they win the $1.5 million in severance and vacation pay owed them by management.
In a tactic rarely used in the U.S. since the labor struggles of the 1930s, the workers, members of United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) Local 1110, refused to leave the plant on December 5, its last scheduled day of operation.
"We decided to do it because this is money that belongs to us," said Maria Roman, who's worked at the plant for eight years. "These are our rights."
Word of the occupation spread quickly both among labor and immigrant rights activists--the overwhelming majority of the workers are Latinos. Seven local TV news stations showed up to do interviews and live reports, and a steady stream of activists arrived to bring donations of food and money and to plan solidarity actions.
Management claims that it can't continue operations because its main creditor, Bank of America (BoA), refuses to make any more loans to the company. After workers picketed BoA headquarters December 3, bank officials agreed to sit down with Republic management and UE to discuss the matter at a December 5 meeting arranged by U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill), said UE organizer Leah Fried.
BoA had said that it couldn't discuss the matter with the union directly without written approval from Republic's management. But Republic representatives failed to show up at the meeting, and plant managers prepared to close the doors for good--violating the federal WARN Act that requires 60 days notice of a plant closure.
The workers decided this couldn't go unchallenged. "The company and Bank of America are throwing the ball to one another, and we're in the middle," said Vicente Rangel, a shop steward and former vice president of Local 1110.
Many workers had suspected the company was planning to go out of business--and perhaps restart operations elsewhere. Several said managers had removed both production and office equipment in recent days.
Furthermore, while inventory records indicated there were plenty of parts in the plant, workers on the production line found shortages. And the order books, while certainly down from the peak years of the housing boom, didn't square with management's claims of a total collapse. "Where did all those windows go?" one worker asked.
Workers were especially outraged that Bank of America, which recently received a bailout in taxpayer money, won't provide credit to Republic. "They get $25 billion from the government, and won't loan a few million to this company so workers can keep their jobs?" said Ricardo Caceres, who has worked at the plant for six years.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
THE MEMBERS of Local 1110 have a history of struggle. In 2004, they decertified the Central States Joint Board--a union notorious for corruption and sweetheart contracts with management--and brought in UE, a far more democratic organization.
In May of this year, Local 1110 mobilized for a contract by organizing a "practice" picket, and 70 workers used their lunch break to confront the boss with a petition listing their demands. The workers were able to turn back company's effort to win major concessions and won solid pay increases.Now, management is trying to get revenge by pocketing money that belongs to the workers.
UE officials and workers acknowledge that it will be difficult to stop the plant from closing. But they're determined to get the money owed to them--and they believe that by fighting, they can set an example for other workers facing layoffs and plant closures as the recession deepens.
Negotiations are set for Monday, December 8. Whatever happens, however, the workers have already sent a message to employers that if they violate workers rights and the law, they can expect a fight.
"This is a message to the workers of America," said Vicente Rangel, the shop steward. "If we stand together, we will prevail until justice is done, and we get what we're due."
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
What you can do
If you live in the Chicago area, come to a rally on Saturday, December 6, at 12 Noon at Republic Windows, 1333 N. Hickory in Chicago, on Goose Island.
If negotiations with Bank of America fail to resolve the issue, there will be a picket of BoA's Chicago headquarters at 231 S. LaSalle on Tuesday, December 9 at 12 noon.
Members of Local 1110 need your support.
Make checks payable to the UE Local 1110 Solidarity Fund, and mail to:
37 S. Ashland, Chicago, IL 60607.
Messages of support can be sent to leahfried@gmail.com.
For more information, call UE at 312-829-8300.
At the Jobs with Justice Web site, you can send a message of protest to Bank of America (http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/bankofamerica/).
Workers occupy factory in Chicago
PWW newspaper
CHICAGO — Workers at Republic Windows and Doors in the Goose Island neighborhood began occupying the plant Friday morning Dec. 5 to regain pay for lost vacation days after the plant was abruptly closed.
They plan to continue the occupation until the results of the next round of negotiations with management on Dec. 8 are known.
Bank of America (BA) is chief investor and controls the day-to-day finances of Republic Windows and Doors, a manufacturer for the home construction market. BA refused to extend a line of credit and as a result the company was forced to close its doors December 5. Three hundred workers were thrown onto the street. This action came on the heels of a $25 billion emergency bailout of BA from the federal government.
On Dec. 3 100 Republic Windows workers, their families and supporters picketed BA Chicago headquarters on LaSalle Street. The workers, represented by United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) stretched a city block as they marched beneath the ornate bank columns and carried signs saying, “Billions for BA, $0 for workers” and “You got your bailout, we got sold out.”
According to Armando Robles, a maintenance employee and local union president, “Just weeks before Christmas we are told our factory will close in three days. Taxpayers gave Bank of America billions and they turn around and close our company. We will fight for a bailout for workers.”
The mostly Latino and African American workers are demanding at a minimum, the bank allow the company to pay worker vacation pay and other monies owned under WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act). BA instructed the company not to issue payments. In addition, the union is demanding the company comply with the requirement to give 60 days notice before closure of a workplace or 60 days pay in lieu of notice.
But the union believes the jobs can be saved. The company has said the closure is due to the deepening economic crisis and especially in the housing and construction industry. Orders have plummeted and according to the company, declining revenues would have ended in bankruptcy.
But according to a UE spokesperson, while the company’s new construction sales have suffered due to the slowdown, sales of replacement windows have remained steady. CEO Rich Gillman had just told the union that they company had customers willing to buy windows and they could stay in business if BA continued financing.
Observers say BA’s callousness is a clear example of the need for greater regulation of the bailouts being extended to Wall Street banks to prevent such outrageous acts of abuse.
Supporters can join a vigil Dec. 6 at noon and show their support for the workers by going to:
Republic Windows & Doors
1333 N. Hickory
On Goose Island,
near the intersection of Division & Clyborn.
Contact UE: ue@ranknfile-ue.org
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008480710_chicago08.html
Laid-off workers continue to occupy Chicago factory
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 the factory was closing.
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 the factory was closing.
Some of the plant's 250 workers stayed 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 closure, 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 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 did not receive the 60 days' notice of layoffs generally required by
federal law.
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 workers' plight drew sympathy and support from President-elect Obama
and community leaders Sunday who called it a symbol of the nation's
financial disarray.
"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 elsewhere in Chicago.
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 the company was really in financial straits, and
they suggested it would reopen elsewhere with cheaper costs and lower pay.
advertising
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 they were monitoring the situation but had no reports of a criminal
matter to investigate. About 30 workers sat in folding chairs. They came in
shifts around the clock. They tidied things. They shoveled snow. They met
with visiting leaders, including U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a Democrat from
Chicago, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who brought turkeys and groceries to
them Sunday.
Throughout the weekend, people came with donations of food, water and other
supplies.
Many employees said they had worked in the factory for decades. Lalo Munoz
said he arrived 34 years ago.
The workers — about 80 percent of them Hispanic, with the rest black or
of other ethnic and national backgrounds — made $14 an hour on average
and received health-care and retirement benefits, Fried said.
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."
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